~ Carlos Bulosan
Rising in the moonlight, the men of the Manong Generation prepared for another long day in California’s agricultural fields. Each morning they faced a brutal ten hour work schedule under a merciless sun. Due to their short physical stature, Manongs were stereotyped as “fit for stoop labor.” This meant working with the short hoe, work that was literally back breaking, for a mere ten cents an hour. In short order, their lives became “Another day, another dollar.” Most of this money was sent home to support mothers, fathers, brothers, or sisters.
Here in California, the work season was never ending. Immigrants could find work year-round planting, tending and harvesting asparagus, citrus fruits, peaches, grapes, tomatoes, celery, peas, and lettuce. In the 1930s, Mexicans and white migrant workers from the South and Midwest worked alongside Filipinos. However, farmers regarded Filipinos as highly skilled "specialists" in labor-intensive crops.
At night the men tried to sleep in crowded wooden shacks while others around them smoked, drank, or gambled. Uncle recalled that in the summer, the bunk houses were “hot like an oven.” Insects, especially mosquitoes, pestered the men. In the winter, wind and rain came in through cracks in the walls and ceiling. The men often stuffed bits of newspaper into the walls, forcing it deeply into the crack with the tip of a knife. This only helped a little bit, but when you are miserably cold, every little bit helps.
There were other problems in the bunk houses, behaviors that Uncle Raymond could not tolerate.
“These guys they smile at you. They act like they your friend but… (eyes averted and barely above a whisper)… they take things.”
“They stole from you? What did they take?”
“Clothes, money, whatever you have.”
~Informal Interview with Uncle Raymond, early 1990’s
This betrayal by his own countrymen deeply disturbed Uncle. By the time of the 1930 Census, Uncle Raymond, who had just turned 17, and Uncle Del age 39, were sharing a rental on Telegraph Road. The ability to trust a friend was paramount to a young man alone in a new country.
Dressed for a Sunday morning in town. (Note the spigot from the water tower above their heads)
Regardless of how tired the Manongs became during the day, when evening came they were washing in the communal showers, putting on their suits, slicking back their hair, and heading for the pool halls, gambling dens, cock fights, boxing matches, or taxi dances in search of a little fun. These places of acceptance during a time of overt racism were “niches of autonomy where they fought against restrictions on space, expanded the opportunities for alternative expressions, and, in the process, established identities of their own.”[i]
“Boxing played an important role in Filipino immigrant culture: Filipino prizefighters became heroes for Filipino immigrants, and the sport bolstered notions of heterosexual masculinity for both middle-class and working-class Filipino immigrants.”
~Dawn Mabalon[ii]
According to Uncle Raymond, Uncle Del was one of the few Filipinos who could gamble and actually win sometimes. Uncle Raymond however preferred to get dressed up go dancing. Uncle Raymond never missed a chance to flirt with a pretty girl!
“In his spare hours, he [the Filipino] seeks… the places and companionship that can make him forget, even for a moment, that he has become a slave, not in name to be sure – but what is in a name?”
~D. F. Gonzalo, November 1929[iii]
These evenings of leisure and relaxation offered momentary escapism. Because they had dark skin, Filipinos “had difficulty gaining access to public parks, beaches, theatres, restaurants, nightclubs, and other places of public and commercial leisure.”[iv] Thus the dance halls, gambling houses, and pool rooms took on pivotal roles as social gathering spots. Surrounded by friends, the Manong could temporarily forget racism, economic problems, and homesickness. These were magical moments, a time of male bonding at its finest. Slowly a fraternity of validation, belonging, and acceptance was formed. Thus, these “boys nights out” became the first steps in creating a permanent Filipino-American community.
Uncle Raymond sits in the center. When dressing for a night out, Uncle and his friends strove to copy the styles of popular Hollywood Movie Stars.ENDNOTES
[i] Espana-Maram, Linda “Creating Masculinity in Los Angeles’s Little Manila: Working-Class Filipinos and Popular Culture, 1920s-1950s”
[ii] Mabalon, Dawn. Review of Linda Espana-Maram’s “Creating Mascullinity in Los Angeles’s Little Manilia” H-Urban, February, 2007
[iii] Gonzalo, D. F. “Social Adjustments of Filipinos in America” Sociology and Social Research, Vol14, No. 2 (November 1929) p.170
[iv] Guevarra, Rudy, Jr. “Skid Row: Filipinos, Race and the Social Construction of Space in San Diego” The Journal of San Diego History
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