The Filipino Migration

From the early 20th century to the mid 20th century, Filipinos began migrating to the United States in the hopes of creating an adequate and stable future for themselves. However, the biggest barrier was attempting to join the mainstream of the American economy, as well as being ethnically and culturally accepted by the white Americans. Overtime, the Filipinos did manage to gradually become a part of the American culture and society, but the process of this took a lot of time and adjustments to the way people perceive other people. Ultimately, the Filipinos had to overcome three difficult obstacles in order for them to reach the dream that many of them had and that dream was: migrating to America, finding a job and working in America to survive,

Filipinos depended upon the hopes of ascertaining a safe and adequate lifestyle by doing whatever they can to move to the United States. Many Filipinos moved to America because they needed to, “Amid promises of monetary success, young displaced male Filipinos with minimal educations and bleak economic futures readily chose to immigrate to the United States” (Dela Cruz, Melany and Pauline Agbayani-Siewart). Another major problem for the Filipino migrants was the early racism that existed in the American law enforcement, “The Tydings-McDuffy Act of 1935 limited immigration from the Philippines by granting it independence, which reclassified Filipinos as aliens, and then limiting their immigration to 50 individuals per year” (Dela Cruz, Melany and Pauline Agbayani-Siewart). Not only did the American laws make it difficult for Filipinos to migrate over to the United States, but the migration itself meant that some of the Filipinos had to sacrifice, to some extent, their familial bonds or leave other portions of their family behind. Thus, the process of the migration was one that many Filipinos had to commit to as their only hope to

In the early 1900s, the Filipinos worked in very difficult, unskilled, blue-collared jobs. Filipinos were given many job opportunities, but the opportunities that they had before them were very harsh, “The first wave of Filipinos to enter and remain in significant numbers immigrated to Hawaii from 1906 to 1935, working in sugar and pineapple plantations and later the farms of California as migrant laborers” (Dela Cruz, Melany and Pauline Agbayani-Siewart). Although, there were plentiful blue-collar jobs available to the Filipinos, they definitely did face opposition from the American people. Furthermore, as more Filipinos came to America, more and more Americans did not like having them come to work, “However, beginning in the 1920s and exploding by the 1930s, sentiment against Filipinos took a decidedly hostile turn. Legislative testimony in California documented negative stereotypes that focused on the sexual prowess of Filipino males” (Dela Cruz, Melany and Pauline Agbayani-Siewart). This was not the only barrier that marred the ability of the Filipinos to perform labor in the United States. Filipino laborers were probably treated the worst compared to other ethnicities, “Particularly the Filipinos, who were rapidly becoming the dominant plantation labor force, had deep seated grievances. As the latest immigrants they were the most discriminated against, and held in the most