Union Activism and Organization: Legacies from the Manong Generation

Facing intolerable working conditions, the Manongs who had sought employment in California’s agricultural fields came to recognize that they occupied the bottom of the wage scale, were being met with increasing discrimination, and lacked a sovereign government to speak on their behalf. These Manongs, disillusioned by the harsh reality of working in the fields, were ready to bring about social change.

"The manongs who came in the 1920s were children of colonialism," Abba Ramos, a veteran organizer in the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, says. "They were radicalized, because they compared the ideals of the U.S. constitution, which they were taught in the islands, and of the Filipinos' own quest for freedom, with the harsh reality they found here."[i]

Many white farm owners viewed Filipinos as docile and unintelligent because the Manongs had often accepted wage-scale cuts without question. Adding to this perception was the debilitating fact that Manongs usually worked usually under a contractor who dealt with the farmer. Farmers enjoyed this system as it relieved them of the responsibility of contact with their own employees. In turn, the contractors made a substantial salary by keeping part of the Manong’s pay as an “agent’s fee.”[ii] Most farmers believed that Filipinos, by nature, would be unwilling to join unions and that labor organization would prove too complex for the Manong, who often not yet out of their teens, to ever master. These farmers, mistaken in their belief, were in for a rude awakening!

The Manongs of California’s agricultural fields took action. Citing the example of three thousand Filipino and Japanese sugar plantation workers who had struck in 1919 to demand that Hawaiian sugar planters pay higher wages, provide an eight-hour work day, create an insurance fund for retired employees and offer paid maternity leave, Californian Manongs united in hopes of improving their living and working conditions.

They first turned to the all white American Federation of Labor (AFL). However, AFL leaders viewed Filipinos as direct competition and made it abundantly clear that the “Filipino labor menace” would never be included in their union.

This rejection did not sway the determination of the Manongs who set about creating their own unions. One of the first was the Agricultural Workers League which was organized in 1930. Other Manongs found support from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (CAWIU) which had ties to the communist Trade Union Unity League.[iii]

In August 1930, the American Legion in Monterey began a campaign to ban the employment of Filipinos in sardine canneries claiming they were “Reds.” Protests made by the Filipino National Society declared that Filipino employees were exposed to public hostility and threatened with violence. However, the protests fell on deaf ears and thirteen canneries eliminated their Filipino employees “as far as possible.”[iv]

In May 1932, pea pickers in Half Moon Bay lead a 24 hour walk-out asking for wage increases, improved housing and medical services in exchange for their return.[v] This strike proved unsuccessful due to poor organization and presences of armed deputies.[vi]

Undaunted, the CAWIU carefully organized a November orchard pruner’s Strike in Solano County. The unsuccessful strike lasted until January 1933. Manongs requested “basic minimum wage of $2.50 for an 8 hour day, time and a half for overtime, free transportation and work implements, union recognition, cessation of evictions, and rehiring without discrimination on grounds of race, color, or union affiliation.”[vii] Violence marked the strike. Police often clashed with the strikers and local vigilantes kidnapped the union organizers, shaved their heads, and painted their bodies red.[viii]

The CAWIU regrouped and called for a militant state wide “general strike” in 1933. On April 14,1933 pea pickers in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties struck, asking for wage increases.[ix] Uncle Raymond vividly recalled this strike, declaring, “That was us!” He also found it laughable that anyone would believe him to be a Communist.

By August 1933 more groups joined the general strike. Lettuce workers in Salinas and Watsonville and grape pickers in Kern County struck for wage increases. Beet workers in Oxnard demanded the elimination of labor contractors and the recognition of their Union. In all there were twenty five strikes. Twenty one of the strikes resulted in wage increases and only four of the strikes were lost.[x] Sadly, the pea pickers strike in Alameda County, in which Uncle took part, was lost. Many acts of violence and intimidation were perpetuated upon the Manongs during the general strike. Police visited the labor camps arresting or evicting any Filipino who refused to immediately return to work. Even the local charities conducted a most uncharitable survey aimed at refusing aid to “able-bodied men who refuse to work in the fields.”[xi]

“The Filipino is a real fighter and his strikes have been dangerous... Once the Filipino attempted to organize, he ceased to be a desirable worker.”[xii]

During the general strike of 1933, farmer owners were plotting their own strategies. The newly formed Farmers Association (which was controlled by the biggest farm corporations) pushed through anti-picketing legislation in 20 rural California counties and pressured courts and police to arrest CAWIU leaders.

“In 1933 Rufo Canete and other Filipino labor leaders met in Salinas and formed the Filipino Labor Union (FLU). In less than a year, the FLU launched a drive to organize farm workers of all nationalities around the goals of an increased minimum wage (to 35 cents per hour), an eight-hour day, employment without racial discrimination, recognition of the union as a bargaining agent and the abolition of labor contractors.

Under the leadership of Canete, D.L. Marcuelo, Johnny Estigoy, Nick Losada and others, the FLU grew rapidly to seven chapters and over 2,000 members. Soon after the demands were rejected, the FLU called the first strike. Almost 7,000 men and women employed in the lettuce fields and packing sheds in Salinas went on strike. The Salinas Lettuce Strike completely shut down the lucrative industry and the union's demands were soon granted.”[xiii]

In January 1934 spinach cutters in San Mateo County struck for wage increases and in February brussel sprout workers in Pescadero also demanded wage increases.[xiv]

One evening, as I sat chatting away in the warm, sweet smelling kitchen while he shuffled about making dinner, I was caught off guard when Uncle Raymond suddenly held a brussel sprout far above his head. “You like these?” he asked and without waiting for a response he was swept away in a rushing tide of vivid memories, telling me of working in a wide field filled with brussel sprouts plants. Uncle’s speech grew increasingly more rapid and his Tagalog accent more staccato as his story unfolded, “We cut with a big knife, long!” he exclaimed, showing the size of the knife then making sweeping motions with his hand and arm to demonstrate, “Like this!” I could see the stalks falling about his feet. Turning the brussel sprout to it’s butt end Uncle pushed it toward my face, wanting me to see, “And then here! Each one!” Uncle stared into my eyes for a moment, emphatic that I understand how much labor, exactly how many cuts, went into gathering that little bowl full of brussel sprouts. Satisfied, he toss the brussel sprouts into a pot of boiling water and his attentions again returned to making the family meal. The “way back machine” moment was over. Everything continued as placidly as if the intensity of his conversation, the fluid dance of farming gestures, and my close encounter with a brussel sprout’s bottom had never happened. But ,it was my turn to feel excited. Uncle had let me in again, given me another glimpse of his world, trusted me with the significance and magnitude of his story. So I just keep sitting there, listening, watching, and glowing.

The low wage earning Manongs were often the preferred employees of farmers who grew the most labor intensive crops. Filipinos comprised nearly the entire asparagus-picking work force in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. The asparagus growers found it profitable to employ increased numbers of Manongs per acre, ensuring an efficient and more productive harvest. However, this profit-making strategy decreased the already low wages of the Manongs. Therefore, in March 1934 asparagus cutters in Sacramento County struck for wage increases.[xv]

When in April 1934 Strawberry pickers in Sacramento County struck for wage increases, local authorities used tear gas to disrupt altercations in the fields.[xvi]

Remembering the traditional Filipino values of team work and laboring for the good of the entire community, members of the Filipino Labor Union (FLU), who handled over 80 percent of the Salinas Valley lettuce crop, formed an alliance with white packing shed workers backed by the AFL.[xvii] The two groups stuck demanding union recognition and improved conditions. Both Unions agreed to work together. Neither Union was to sit down at the bargaining table without the presence of the other. Weeks later, the farm owners and shippers agreed to meet with the Union and a tentative agreement was reached on a Saturday night. The meeting ended with farmers and shippers declaring, “Send your workers back to work immediately, and we'll negotiate on Monday."[xviii]

As the following day was Sunday, and by past practice had been a day of rest, none of the workers from either Union returned to their jobs until Monday morning. A curious shift of tone over took the negotiation. Farmers and union representatives from the packing shed workers sat down to negotiate. However, these same farmers refused with Union representatives for the Filipino lettuce pickers claiming that the Manongs had "violated the agreement to return to work immediately."

Thus, at the very moment the AFL broke their word and sat down to negotiations without the FLU present, organized gangs of white vigilantes burned Filipino labor camps, drove Filipino union organizers out of town, and brought in scabs to pick the lettuce. The Manongs had been rejected by the AFL once more.

“Violence was common during other strikes, as well. In 1933, 700 Filipino lettuce pickers struck in Salinas Valley, California. This union grew to 2,000 workers and joined the 1934 strike in Monterey with an AFL affiliate union, the Vegetable Packers Association. During this latter strike, labor leaders were arrested, two workers were shot, and the labor camp where hundreds of Filipino farm workers lived was burned to the ground.”[xix]

By the end of 1934, many of the CAWIU leaders had been arrested for criminal syndicalism and the Union became inactive.[xx] While short lived, the CAWIU left an important legacy to all unions by fostering interracial cooperation between Mexican, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Japanese, and white farm workers.[xxi]

The indomitable spirits of the Mangos would not be broken. With awe inspiring courage they continued to organize and cry out against unfair labor practices. In February of 1935, pea, celery, lettuce pickers in Santa Ana stuck for wage increases to 25¢ per hour and a nine-hour work day.[xxii]

1935 also saw the passage of the Wagner Act which made unionization legal. Filipino labor leaders were overjoyed. They strongly believed that the right to demand better wages would lead to social equality. Grudgingly, the AFL agreed to grant a charter to a Filipino – Mexican union of fieldworkers in 1936 and in 1937 a Cannery Union was formed by Manongs working in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

“Wage earners must be organized to have rights and promote their own welfare whether the method is collective bargaining with employers or the administration of law. With organization labor is all powerful: without organization it does not have power, authority or rights."

~ American Federation of Labor

Still the fight for a living wage raged on. In February 1936, Manongs struck against H.P. Garin Company in San Diego County, seeking Union recognition, 30¢ per hour, and 60% union preference. This action showed courage as H. P. Garin Company owned three packing sheds and twenty two cottages for employees. They shipped fruits and vegetables all over the country using refrigerated railcars. Garin was a powerful company, controlling more than 30,000 acres across the state of California with a headquarters in Brentwood. [xxiii]

The right to legally for unions did not guarantee change for the better. In the fall of 1936, Filipino Union members in Santa Cruz and San Joaquin Counties struck for higher wages. For the most part, their demands were ignored.

The Filipino Labor Union also staged another lettuce strike in Salinas. Even with the backing of legislation and unions, minority farm laborers continued to face an onslaught of ruthless discrimination.

"When the sob sisters of America, particularly those of California, could not get rid of the Mexicans in any other way, the Filipino was brought in to displace him, the most worthless, unscrupulous, shiftless, diseased, semi-barbarian that has ever come to our shores."

~Pacific Rural Press, May 9, 1936[xxiv]

Feelings of Unionism became so strong that in Kern County, during the summer of 1937, Filipinos were warned that unless they were able to present union cards, or join the union local there, they would not be employed.[xxv]

“In 1938 representatives from all the Filipino organizations on the Pacific Coast voted to form the Filipino Agricultural Laborers Association. However, Filipino organizers such as Francisco Varona, Macario Bautista and Lamberto Malinab believed inclusion of all farmworkers was critical, and invited Mexican workers and other ethnic groups into their ranks. They later changed the union's name to the Federated Agricultural Laborers Association (FALA).”[xxvi]

By 1938 Woody Guthrie was making appearances in support of labor unions and wrote such songs as I Ain’t No Home in This World Anymore, inspired by his visits to migrant labor camps.



“In 1939 FALA won its most significant victory with a successful strike of the asparagus industry. After a one-day stoppage involving thousands of workers, all 258 growers signed an agreement guaranteeing unprecedented worker rights. The success in the asparagus industry prompted other victories in the celery, brussels sprouts and garlic fields from San Mateo to San Benito counties. By 1940, there were nearly 30,000 FALA members.”[xxvii]

In 1940, the AFL chartered the Filipino Federated Agricultural Laborers Association.

“Filipino labor activists not only organized unions, but fought to make them clean and democratic, responsive to the needs of their members.”[xxviii]

Not even in WWII were Filipinos treated with dignity. In the 1940’s, Filipino military recruits from both the United States and the Philippines were promised U. S. citizenship in return for their service to the nation. However in 1946 this promise was rescinded by the Rescission Act which took away Filipino WWII veterans benefits, services, and privileges. Futhermore, discrimenation against Filipinos was so rampant that all of the sixty-six countries allied with the United States during the war, the Philippines was the only country that did not receive military benefits from the United States.

The U. S. economy improved after WWII but the trickle down to those on the bottom rungs of the social ladder was minimal.

In 1956, Larry Itliong founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in California. By 1959, Itliong had become a key Filipino labor organizer. Working in collaboration with Philip Veracruz and Pete Velasco, Itliong advocated for Filipino Unions to join with the AFL-CIO. Eventually his efforts lead to the creation of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC).

"On September 8, 1965, at the Filipino Hall at 1457 Glenwood St. in Delano, the Filipino members of AWOC held a mass meeting to discuss and decide whether to strike or to accept the reduced wages proposed by the growers. The decision was 'to strike" and it became one of the most significant and famous decisions ever made in the entire history of the farmworkers struggles in California. It was like an incendiary bomb, exploding out the strike message to the workers in the vineyards, telling them to have sit-ins in the labor camps, and set up picket lines at every grower's ranch… It was this strike that eventually made the UFW, the farmworkers movement, and Cesar Chavez famous worldwide."

~ Philip Vera Cruz[xxix]

On September the 8th, 1965, Larry Itliong lead the grape strike in Delano in which began with a Filipino farm-workers sit down strike in the Cochella Vineyards.Two weeks later, the AWOC and Cesar Chavez's National Farm Workers Association combined efforts. The strike lead to a national boycott of California Table Grapes and the formation of the United Farm Workers (UFW).

“Together with another Filipino - Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong convinced Cesar Chavez's predominantly Mexican NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) to join the strike and boycott in the Delano grape fields in 1965, demanding better pay and benefits from the grape growers. Thereafter, the Filipino and Mexican farmworkers groups joined together to form the United Farm Workers (UFW).”[xxx]



In 1967, with the formation of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) Larry Itliong became an Assistant Director to Ceasar Chavez.

“You are never strong enough that you don't need help.”

~ Cesar Chavez

Larry Itliong resigned from the UFW in 1971 when Chazer held meetings with Phillipine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. However, Itliong remained active in his fight for social justice supporting the cause of retired Manongs and community and civic projects.

In 1972, Itliongs distrust of Marcos proved well founded. Marcos declared martial law, prompting hundreds to flee in a search for political freedom.

Writing this section has been particularly poignant. My husband volunteered with the United Farm Workers in the 1970’s handing out information at grocery stores regarding the grape strike and unionizing farm workers. He is now the president of our local teacher’s union. I am also involved with the teacher’s union in a minor role, acting as a site representative. Would Uncle be proud of our service? Would he feel that we follow in his footsteps, embodying the ideals set forth be the Manong Generation? I hope so.

"America is not bound by geographical lattitudes. America is not merely a land or an institution. America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world."

~ Carlos Bulosan[xxxi]

Dahil Sa Iyo! was the song the heard in the Delano Grape Strike film clip. Nat King Cole sings it like an Angel.



Dahil Sa Iyo
Lyrics and rough tanslation

Sa buhay ko'y labis
Ang hirap at pasakit, ng pusong umiibig
Mandin wala ng langit
At ng lumigaya, hinango mo sa dusa
Tanging ikaw sinta, ang aking pag-asa.

Long have I endured in my life
The pain and sorrows from Love arise
Then you came and redeemed me, my dear,
My only hope in my darkest fears

Dahil sa iyo, nais kong mabuhay
Dahil sa iyo, hanggang mamatay
Dapat mong tantuin, wala ng ibang giliw
Puso ko'y tanungin, ikaw at ikaw rin

Because of you, I yearn to be alive
Because of you, ‘till death (you) must realize
In my heart I know there is only you
And ask my heart, you’ll know that this is true

Dahil sa iyo, ako'y lumigaya
Pagmamahal, ay alayan ka
Kung tunay man ako, ay alipinin mo
Ang lahat ng ito, dahil sa iyo

Because of you, I found happiness
That to you I offer this love that is so blessed
Though indeed I may be a slave for loving you so true
It matters not to me, ‘cause everything’s because of you

Imagine my surprise when my husband, Rico, told me that Auntie Cora and Uncle Santos Beloy recorded this song in the 1960’s. Here’s Auntie Cora and Uncle Santos with their version of Dahil Sa Iyo in English and Tagalog. The green album cover from their 1964 record will be featured from second 6 to 13.
.


ENDNOTES
[i] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unions in American Agriculture” p.129
[ii] The Brawley News, December 19, 1935.
[iii] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unions in American Agriculture” p.129
[iv] The San Francisco Examiner, August 25, 1930.
[v] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p.129
[vi] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p.85
[vii] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” pgs. 85-86
[viii] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p. 86
[ix] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p.129
[x] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p. 87
[xi] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p. 89
[xii] McWilliams, Carey. “Factories in the Fields” p.133
[xiii] Salomon. Larry. “Filipinos Build a Movement for Justice in the Asparagus Fields” Third Force, Vol. 2, # 4, Oct, 31, 1994, p.30
[xiv] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p.129
[xv] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p.129
[xvi] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p.111
[xvii] DeWitt, Howard A. “The Filipino Labor Union: The Salinas Lettuce Strike of 1934” Amerasia Journal, Vol. 2, #5, 1978
[xviii] The Farmworker’s Website http://www.farmworkers.org/strugcal.html.
[xix] Kim, Marlene. “Organizing Asian Americans into Labor Unions” U of Massachusetts, Boston
[xx] Ruiz, Vicki and Korrol, Virginia Sanchez. “Latinas in the United States: a historical encyclopedia: Vol. 1 pgs. 117-118
[xxi] Gonzales, Gilbert G. “Company Unions, The Mexican Consulate, And The Imperial Valley Agricultural Strikes, 1928 -1934” The Western Historical Quarterly, 27, Spring 1996
[xxii] Jamieson, Stuart Marshall. “Labor Unionism in American Agriculture” p.123
[xxiii] Leighton, Kathy. “Footprints in the Sand”
[xxiv] “The Farm Labor Problem Grows Acute” The Pacific Rural Press, May 9, 1936.
[xxv] The Farmer Labor News, Modesto, April 23, 1937
[xxvi] Salomon. Larry. “Filipinos Build a Movement for Justice in the Asparagus Fields” Third Force, Vol. 2, # 4, Oct, 31, 1994, p.30
[xxvii] Salomon. Larry. “Filipinos Build a Movement for Justice in the Asparagus Fields” Third Force, Vol. 2, # 4, Oct, 31, 1994, p.30
[xxviii] Bacon, David. “ The Living Tradition of Filipino Union Activism” http://dbacon.igc.org/Phils/06LivingTradition.htm
[xxix] Scharlin, Craig and Villanueva, Lilia. “The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement”
[xxx] DFA Press Release.“California Assembly Honors Late Filipino Labor Leader Larry Itliong” April 6, 2006
[xxxi] Bulosan, Carlos. “America Is In the Heart”

Why Did the Manongs Stay Single?

Not all Filipinos in the United States during the 1920’s and 30’s remained single however, because of the negative social currents and open racism against them, starting a family in America was extremely difficult for most Manongs. Filipina wives and girlfriends were forbidden by U. S. law to join their sweethearts.

Matters became worse in 1926 when the state of California passed anti-miscegenation laws that prevented Filipinos from marrying white women, including Hispanics. However, some men simply drove out of state in order to marry their white sweethearts. On January 26, 1930 a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled that all marriages between Filipinos and Caucasians performed since 1921 were invalid.[i]

Desperate, some Manongs attempted to pay a bride pay and enter arranged marriages:

Early on the morning of 2 December 1929, police raided the room of Perfecto Bandalan, 25, and found in the darkness two scantily attired white girls, Bertha and Esther Schmick, ages ten and sixteen. To a shocked public it was announced in court that the father of the girls had wanted to sell Esther to Bandalan for $500.[ii] Subsequently he charged that his wife had urged the deal so that she could “live on easy street.”[iii]

A flood of what editor David P. De Tagle coined “Filiopinomania” swept the state.

“…if the present state of affairs continues….there will be 40,000 half breeds in the State of California before ten years have passed”

~Judge D. W. Rohrbach, The Watsonville Evening Pajaronian, 10 January 1930

Until 1931, women who dared marry foreign born men with dark skin faced being stripped of their own U.S. citizenship.

While many whites also hardened their stance, young white girls still fell in love with their ardent “little brown brothers,” causing the occasional scandal: Dorcia Wilson (15) eloped on 21 March, and Velma Espinosa (15), “a mere slip of a child with golden brown curls falling to her shoulders, and blue eyes filled with tears,” was dragged into Salinas court on 1 July for marrying Rufo Canete.[iv] [v]

In 1932 Salvador Roldan filed suit in Los Angeles County, testing the anti-miscegenation laws.[vi] An Appellate Court ruled that Roldan could marry Marjorie Rogers, an Anglo woman because Filipinos are "Malays, not Mongolians." Marriages between Chinese men and white women were prohibited by existing anti-miscegenation laws.

This ruling did not sit well with the white majority. Anti-Filipino forces soon persuaded California lawmakers to pass legislation adding to the existing anti-miscegenation laws. Filipinos were again prohibited from marrying white women. All marriages between Filipino and white Californians were legally invalidated in 1933.

By 1936, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington also enacted laws prohibiting marriages between Filipinos and whites. Consequently, some white women became common-law wives.

Other Manongs, believing they had no alternative but to remain single, lavished their attentions on taxi dancers. Given that in 1920 the ratio of Filipino males to Filipina females was twenty to one and the 1930 rate was fourteen to one, it was only natural that the Manongs would seek companionship with women of other races. However many white citizens believed that meetings between the young Filipinos and taxi dancers, women whose morals were assumed to be questionable, led to “inappropriate behavior.”

“The Filipino male is often still portrayed as a rake, especially by the Western male observer. But this stereotype too does not account for the majority of Filipino men who are good fathers and husbands. In many ways, what attracted white women in the 1920s and 30s was not so much the sexual passions of the Filipino male, but their ability to care for and treat a woman, of any race.”[vii]

Not being able to find a wife was not always a matter of race. The opinion of some young Filipinas toward men of the Manong generation were not favorable. They too looked down upon Manongs and “fished” for all gifts, clothing, and jewelry they could get.

“The "ladies of the evening" saved young Filipinas from the sexual aggression of the manongs in the 1930s and 1940s.

They were reviled as "taxi dancers" or "ladies of the evening," the women who fulfilled the sexual proclivities of the manongs (Filipino farmworkers) in the 1930s and the 1940s. But to us, Pinay and mestiza (mixed race Filipinas) teenagers growing up in Stockton, California at that time, they were our buffers and saviors. Without them, we would have been aggressively and sexually pursued by the lonely bachelors, ages ranging from 17 to 30 years old, who outnumbered us girls by 14 to 1.”

~Anita F Bautista[viii]

Not all Filipinas held such catty notions. Just as women today hold a wide varity of opinions on any given subject, so did the women of yesteryear. Having grown up in the “Skid Row” section of San Diego, another Filipina claimed it was “not a scary place because it was home.” She and her siblings walked the streets without care, even after dark or when carrying shopping money. She recalled members of the Manong Generation as friendly, kind, and frequently purchasing candy for the neighborhood children.[ix] Our perspectives color our memories of the past. It is important to listen carefully to all points of view. Sometimes, there is more than one “truth.”

Not until after WWII was the constitutionality of anti-micegenation laws challenged.

Before the 1st Regiment departed for the western Pacific in May 1944, Colonel Offley had a major dilemma on his hands. Even though his regimental chaplains were prepared to perform marriage ceremonies between the Filipino soldiers and their white girlfriends, the strict anti-miscegenation laws in California prevented the men from applying for marriage licenses. Colonel Offley solved this by sending his soldiers and their sweethearts to Gallup, New Mexico on chartered buses that soon came to be called the "honeymoon express."[x]

Finally, in 1948, the California Supreme Court, in Perez v. Sharp, ruled that the Californian anti-miscegenation statute violated the Fourteenth Amendment. California repealed it’s law. Some Manongs chose to finally begin a family, often marrying women one or two generations younger than themselves.

However, it was not until 1967, during the height of the civil rights movement, that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Loving v. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional. Horrifyingly, on that date, 38 states still had such laws on their books.

Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

~ The United States Supreme Court

Statistics today show that U.S.-raised Filipino Americans have a very high level of intermarriage with people of other races.[xi]

Let us always cherish the memories of all early interracial couples. We too must stand with courage and tenacity in order to prevent injustices from continuing as couples today fight for right to marry.

ENDNOTES
[i] Mabalon, Dawn Bohulano, Phd. “A General Timeline of Filipina/o American History” http://magnorubiounit.wikispaces.com/Timeline
[ii] “Salinas Index-Journal”, 2 December 1929 and 6 Decmber 1929
[iii] Meynell, Richard B., “Remembering the Watsonville Riots” http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=271:remembering-the-watsonville-riots-&catid=40:history&Itemid=56
[iv] “Salinas Index-Journal”, 11 August-24 September 1930.
[v] Meynell, Richard B., “Remembering the Watsonville Riots” http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=271:remembering-the-watsonville-riots-&catid=40:history&Itemid=56
[vi] Mabalon, Dawn Bohulano, Phd. “A General Timeline of Filipina/o American History” http://magnorubiounit.wikispaces.com/Timeline
[vii] Manasala, Paul Kekai. “New Historical Perspectives” http://asiapacificuniverse.com/pkm/phil.htm.
[viii] Bautista. Anita F. “Love in the Time of Taxi Dancres” Filipinas, Oct. 2007
[ix] Hemminger, Carol. “Little Manila: The Filipino in Stockton Prior to World War II”, Part II The Pacific Historian, Vol. 24 (Spring 1980) p. 214
[x] Fabros, Alex. S. “california and the Second World War: California’s Filipino Infantry” http://www.militarymuseum.org/Filipino.html
[xi] Le, C.N. "Interracial Dating & Marriage" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. http://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml

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

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.”