Education: The Impossible Dream

Many Manongs, who had begun their schooling with American Thomasites in the Philippines, came to the United States with the intention of furthering their educations as they worked. However, with ten hour work days in the fields, these dreams soon vanished. Economic necessity obliterated their educational goals.

A small group of Manongs who worked in Mt. Eden standing in front of
Brentwood High School.

As US nationals, many teenage Manongs had planned to avail themselves of a free public education and finish high school while working in the United States.

Uncle reported that these pictures were taken very early on a Sunday morning. It was the only time he ever dared visit the school.

All three photos above were taken in the late spring, 1928.

Photos from Mt. Eden, California c. 1928

The top photo (more gray toned) is a restored version of the original (sepia tones at bottom). Here the Uncle Raymond, Uncle Delf, Uncle Math, and an unidentified man stand in the fields in Mt. Eden. Note the shadow of the photographer. When I asked Uncle about him he responded, “I knew this guy. He had a camera.” Sometime later we saw an old Brownie camera in a store window. Uncle grew excited, “My friend, his camera was like this.” Sadly, I’ve never learned the photographer’s name.

Standing near the farmer’s home in Mt. Eden

Wearing expensive and highly fashionable clothing became the symbol of having achieved manhood in the face of a society that looked down their noses and addressed Manongs as “Boy.” Note the progression of fashion and body language in the photo above. Allow your eyes to rest for a moment on the recently arrived Uncle Raymond in the middle with his hands shyly stuffed into the pockets of his well worn his pants. Now move to the gentleman at the right dressed rather conservatively in well ironed spring whites and Panama hat, his hand resting reassuringly on Uncle Raymond’s shoulder. Finally, take a moment to study the gentleman at the left with “machismo” in his posture and a hat foreshadowing the “zoot suit” style of the 1930’s and 40’s. This photo certainly makes a case for the old adage “Clothes make the man.”

The zoot-suit was a refusal: a subcultural gesture that refused to concede to the manners of subservience.

~Stuart Cosgrove[i]

While whites addressed men of color as "boy," zoot-suiters addressed each other as "man." This term, of course, has been appropriated into common slang, and its historical reasons forgotten.

~ Kenny Tanemura[ii]

Standing in front of the farmer’s perfectly manicured lawn. Note that this slightly later photo shows all three men in crisp summer whites and displaying postures of strength and assuredness.

ENDNOTES
[i] Cosgrove, Stuart. “ The Zoot-Suit and Style Warfare” History Workshop Journal. Vol. 18 (Autumn 1984) pp. 77-91. by permission of Oxford University Press.
[ii] Tanemura, Kenny. “Creating Masculinity” AsianWeek, November 24, 2006

Documents Showing Arrival

Document showing Uncle's arrival on the SS President Madison

(click on image to enlarge)

Coming To America

But he's moving on full steam
He's chasing the American dream
And he's gonna give his family the finer things

~Casting Crowns, “American Dream”

In 1928, when he was only 15, Raymondo G. Perla lied about his age. Claiming to be 18 years old, he boarded the American Mail Lines ship President Madison with two friends from Janiuay, Iloilo; Eduardo Pacificar and Carlos Palmejar. Uncle Raymond and Uncle Eddie had been promised jobs by a farm labor contractor. Now, all three boys were sailing off to America.

SS President Madison

Uncle Raymond and Uncle Eddie had been lucky to find jobs before they left. Few employment opportunities were available to the men of the Manong Generation. All of the available choices were low paying. So what could a poor boy do? If a Manong cast his lot in a large city, he was doomed become a dishwasher, busboy, or domestic servant. If he was lured to the promise of beautiful Hawaii, he would work endless hours the sugar cane fields under the relentless sun. If he went north to Washington or Alaska, he would work in the canneries with the stench of fish and discomfort of cold, damp conditions. Finally, like Uncle Raymond and Uncle Eddie, a Manong could become a farm worker in California’s inland valleys following the crops and enduring back breaking work with the short hoe.

“One of the worst experiences for farm workers was the use of the “short handle hoe.” Many disabilities and pains can still be directly connected to bending down to weed the fields with the short handle hoe.”

~ The Ceasar Chavez Foundation

Excited by the prospect of having found employment, Uncle Raymond and Uncle Eddie were bound for California. They left Manila on April 7th and arrived at the port of San Francisco on May 3, 1928. Uncle Raymond and Uncle Eddie knew they were the lucky ones, two town mates together who would look out for each other. They would not be alone in America. They were confident that everything was going to go well. Besides, they had the address of the farmer who had promised them work: P. O. Box 61, Mt. Eden, California.

“Saan ka pupunta?"
("Where are you going?")

Mt. Eden, once a site of shipping and salt harvesting, has now been incorporated into Hayward. The first European settlers in Mt. Eden, California were pioneers from Mt. Eden, Kentucky who came to California as part of the Gold Rush. Unfortunately, this group of pioneers arrived a bit too late. When the group reach the San Francisco Bay, the men selected to go their separte ways. However, a small number choose to settle right there at the cross roads where they stood. Their first action was to nail up a sign reading "Mt. Eden" between two trees. Thus the new town bore the name of their old Kentucky home.

“it should be said, that in this vicinity there is the finest soil in the whole valley, as the magnificent orchards, splendid gardens, and ripe grain-fields indicate.

~1883 History of Alameda County, California

By 1928, immigrants were nothing new to Mt. Eden. Danish, German, and Azorean families had settled in the area. All of these immigrants faced discrimination towards new comers, discrimination towards those of lower social classes, discrimination towards those who practiced non-protestant religions, and discrimination towards those who spoke another language or spoke English with an accent. When Japanese and Filipino farm laborers arrived, they faced the added stigma of being visually different.

While still rural, Mt. Eden was not cut off from the rest of the world. The South Pacific Railway Company service running from Santa Cruz to the Oakland waterfront passed through Mt. Eden. The train made both travel and the transportation of crops quite easy. Uncle Raymond and Uncle Eddie rode it into town.

Author's Aside: Having been born and raised in Kentucky, only 32 miles from the original Mount Eden, I find myself wondered if Uncle’s first job in Mt. Eden, California was an amusing trick of cosmic foreshadowing. Who could have imagined during 1928, a period of overt racism, that Uncle’ s future American born godson would one day marry the great great daughter of Southern slave owners? And they say there are no happy ending!

A staged photo in front of the fields in which they worked was taken to reassure friends and family of Uncle Raymond’s safe arrival in California.

What Does Manong Mean?

One of the first photos Uncle sent home from California

Manong is an Illacano title of respect which roughly translates to “older brother.” The term “Manong Generation” refers to the young men who left the Philippine Islands in the 1920’s and 30’s in hope of improving the economic situations for their families. For members of Philippine society, the interests of the family are the priority rather than the interests of the individual.

“…the Manongs — Filipino American pioneers who came to the states in the 1920s — a generation of men who, because they loved their families so much, braved the coldness of the new world in search for an extra penny and a glimmer of a significant life.”

~R. Bong Vergara, MSW, MA[i]

The Manong’s sole objective was to find employment. They wanted to earn money to send home to their mothers and fathers so that mortgages could be paid off or farm land purchased. This sacrifice would improve the lifestyle of the entire family. Most Manongs planned to return home as just as soon as they had earned money enough to enable their families to live comfortably.

Many Manongs were laborers and farm workers whose move to the U.S. was prompted by the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924. This Act excluded Japanese immigrants from obtaining U. S. citizenship. Farmers in California and cannery operators in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska who had depended on cheap Japanese labor began recruiting workers from the Philippines after the Immigration Act was past.

Kung may intinanim, may aanihin
~ Tagalog proverb
(“If you plant a seed and nurture it, you will reap the harvest in the future.”)

ENDNOTES
[i] Vergara, R. Bong. “A significant life: A eulogy for John Delloro” FuedArt, June 12, 2010 http://feudart.com/2010/06/12/a-significant-life-a-eulogy-for-john-delloro/

Decades of Struggle

Uncle leans back against the windshield with his foot upon the fender

I see the Manongs as a foundation for being Filipino American. Their dreams are deferred through us.”

~ Dillon Delvo


During the 1890’s, the Philippines were governed by Spain. However, Filipinos were growing resistive to Spanish rule. Under the leadership of such men as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy a struggle for independence began. By November 1897 a truce between the Spanish government and the principal revolutionary leaders had been signed. Yet, when the Spanish sunk the USS Main in Havana Harbor on Feburary 15, 1898, all hopes for a quick return to peace and prosperity vanished.

Almost a year later, at the conclusion of the Spanish American War , the United States Congress purchased the Philippine Island, Guam, and Puerto Rico from Spain for $20 million. The economy of the Philippines was again crippled. Filipinos, still desireing self determination, fought back against this return to colonization. Warfare broke out and resulted in the Philippine-American War. An estimated one-sixth of the Filipino population had perished by the end of this second war.

The United States, entering an imperialist phase, was intent upon rebuilding the islands and establishing a Naval Base. Thus an intensive “Americanization” of the Philippines was initiated. Part of the American indoctrination program involved the restructuring of the public education system which had been instituted by the Spanish. In 1901, six hundred American teachers were sent to the Philippines aboard the USS Thomas to accomplish this mission. The teachers, who became known as the Thomasites, taught in English. Far from being benevolent instructors, the Thomasites became infamous for their condescending views towards all things Filipino. As a replacement for national pride, the Thomasites promoted a vision of the United States as a vastly advanced nation overflowing with unlimited opportunities for success.

"Education became mis-education because it began to de-Filipinize the youth, taught them to regard American culture as superior to any other, and American society as the model par excellence for Philippine society."

~ Renato Constantino

Thus, with the majority of the population struggling for survival, many of their male students saw immigration to the United States as an opportunity to get an education, support their families financially, and eventually return to the Philippines as wealthy men. From roughly 1906 to 1934 an exodus of young men, often only in their teens or early 20’s, left the rural areas of the Philippines in search of jobs in the promised land of the United States. This group is often referred to as the “Manong Generation” or the “Old Timers.” They, however, referred to themselves as Pinoy.

At that time, Pinoy was not just a word meaning Filipino male. It was a spoken recognition of having become expatriates. In referring to themselves as Pinoy, the Manongs distinguished themselves from Filipinos still living in the Philippines. They had become a band of unwelcome strangers in a strange and hostile land.

Very little of the “Old Timer” history has been recorded. In publishing this blog, I attempt to share the story of Uncle and the men he worked with. These scattered accounts and yellowing photos are pieces of American history which have been purposely omitted from State adopted text books. Sadly, history is written by those in control. Our nation’s sanctioned history has been neatly sanitized in an attempt to save the reputations of the powerful. There is rarely a mention of the sweat and blood shed by the underclass who spent their lives in pursuit of “the American Dream.”