The Most First Generation Filipino Americans

When an earthquake destroyed the area in 1906, natives thought that they would be able to reclaim the area and kick the immigrants out. To their surprise, the old, run-down Chinatown was rebuilt in the exact same location but had an entirely different feel. The new Chinatown was bright, cheery, and characteristically oriental with “curved eaves, colorful street lanterns, recessed balconies, and gilded facades” (Bancroft). The new Chinatown brought to California exactly what it was intended to: more attraction, more people, and therefore more business. With filling the job spots that were difficult and grueling and then attracting tourism to California, the immigrants were now boosting our economy in more way than one.

Having thought of all the offers that were thrown on the table to them as they made their way into the United States of America, like being told that if Puerto Rican men joined the army they would have better possibilities in having a more prosperous life on the mainland. Even though the U.S. tried to promote Puerto Rico as a glamorous tourist destination, in the early 20th century the island of Puerto Rico suffered a severe economic depression. Because of this depression, poverty was widespread, and few of the island’s residents could afford the long boat journey to the mainland, therefore because of the continuing depression in Puerto Rico made many Puerto Ricans eager for a fresh start, and this then led to the fast recruiting of U.S. factory owners and employment agencies on the island. In addition, the postwar years saw the return home of thousands of Puerto Rican war veterans, whose service in the U.S. military had shown them the world. But perhaps the most significant cause was the sudden availability of affordable air travel. After centuries of immigration by boat, the Puerto Rican migration became the first great airborne migration in U.S. history.

The U.S. colonized the Philippines between 1900 and 1934. This had a significant impact on the mass immigration of the Filipinos. The Filipino immigrants were then made U.S. nationals and granted the opportunity of settling in the U.S. and protected by its law and constitution. The increase in demand for labor in California farmlands and Hawaiian plantation led to a surge of Filipino immigrants seeking these jobs (Abraham 14). They mostly came from the provinces of Cebu and Ilocos. The demand for labor in these farms was attributed to the exit of the Japanese work force from the plantations. The immigrants from Philippines mostly comprised of a subgroup known as Sakadas, who entered Hawaii as U.S. nationals. However, they did not enjoy

At the age of eight, the rest of my family moved to the U.S, it was not a completely foreign country to us, American movies were played in Filipino theaters and I’ve heard plenty of stories about the country through my parents. Surprisingly, although Philippines is one of the third world country, almost everyone can speak English due the fact that English is one the primary languages spoken alongside

Many cultures search for better opportunities for themselves and their families. These are opportunities such as a higher income, educations, and a safe environment. In most occasions us as human posses the instinct to relocate from a habitat if it demonstrates unfavorable results. During the 1970’s Americans’ began noticing the immigration population rising tremendously after World War II. In the late 1960’s most immigrants came from Europe, however after the 1970’s immigrants were arriving from the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. The 1965 Immigration Act favored many people with educations and skills.

They move to America because they have heard stories of other immigrants who make prosperity, and want to do the same for their family. They move into a settlement in Chicago known as Packingtown, a ghetto full with rundown housing and polluting industrial factories where laborers risk their lives inside and work for low wages. They are unconscious of the hustle of the citizens to cheat anybody they can and are taken advantage of by a couple of them. America isn't exactly what it appears to be, yet they are determined to start their new life in American since coming to America was the fantasy of numerous workers of this period.

A popular belief among immigrants is America is a place full of opportunities that leads to a “better life”. Most immigrants often come to America to escape from their poverty and hoping to find better jobs and a richer education. Instead antithesis to their American dream, they endured many hardships and discrimination. Among these people were the Filipinos, who thought that the streets of America were painted in gold and money was made out of tree before they arrive in the 1920s. Much like the African Americans and Mexicans, the Filipinos took on jobs that the whites did not want to work. Some of the common jobs were agriculture, canning, domestic work, migrant work and farming. Not only was there inequality with the color of the Filipinos

During the old time, many companies in San Fransico needed many labors for the transcontinentual road and the gold rush. Therefore, Peter, like other Chinese, was attracted to immigrate to America for work. Besides the need of labor, economic opportunities also attracted Peter to come. As I mentioned in above paragraphs, Chinese workers in America usually were paid higher than they were paid in China. Thus, Peter was attracted to immigrate to America for work. Moreover, Peter with higher salary could send more remittances back to his family and improve his family's life condition. As for the family and kinship network, the Chinatown was a place where the network was big enough for Chinese to contact with each others. Therefore, living inside the Chinatown can prevent Chinese suffering from uncomfortableness towards a new place and attract more Chinese people to

During the 1840s to 1850s, Chinese moved to California because of the California gold rush. They were poor but nice, “Chinese were nice and they desperately wanted money, but the had been discriminated against.” (Chinese worksheet). Chinese went to California in search for wealth, food, and protection, but they faced many hardships. Despite the hardships they had, they stayed there and spread their culture.

America is a beacon for immigrants like my Filipino parents who courageously desired to better themselves by seeking opportunity in the United States. Their older siblings toiled in rice farms in order to make a living and were supportive in ensuring better lifestyles for their younger siblings. Their siblings’ salaries successfully paved my parents’ path to becoming the first in their families to graduate with degrees in civil engineering and enter Canada; however, this step was just the beginning. A graveyard shift at the 7-Eleven gas station and a McDonald’s uniform were only a few of the hardships my parents were forced to come to terms with, but they became inured to adversity, and eventually, their determination was rewarded with a job opening in Brownsville, Texas.

During the 1930’s to the 1940’s the great depression was affecting many mass migration movement towards the west coast. According to, “The Migrant Experience” by Robin A. Fanslow, the migrants that were known to be concentrated

Many would gather up all that they had in order to pay for their voyage across the ocean. Even then, they usually would only have enough money to purchase a ticket on an over-crowded boat where living conditions were close to intolerable (Brinkley). Their lack of funds not only effected their quality of life during the expedition, but it also effected them after they had landed. They could not afford to purchase property, so they were shoved into urban cities all around America (Irish and German). Usually thrown into the less desirable housing, the immigrants were the typical occupants of the poorly kept tenements. There they would spend their scarce moments away from their dangerous minimal paying occupations trying to get a few moments rest. Though tenements were already crowded for a single family, the low pay forced many to rent out their limited living space to others in order to help themselves financially (Abbott). In addition to the already disastrous apartments, cities would have awful infrastructures. Sewage would run through the streets, crime would go unpunished, and fires would burn unimpeded. The immigrants could not do much to improve their living conditions, and the people who could help often did not, due to their belief in nativism (Brinkley). Immigrants persisted through all of this in an attempt to make a better life for themselves and their

Just half were Americans; the rest originated from Britain, Australia, Germany, France, Latin America, and China. Units of troopers forsook; mariners escaped; spouses left wives; understudies fled from their lords; agriculturists and businessmen abandoned their jobs. By July, 1850, mariners had relinquished 500 ships in San Francisco Bay. Inside a year, California's populace had swollen from 14,000 to 100,000. The number of inhabitants in San Francisco, which remained at 459 in the late spring of 1847, achieved 20,000 inside a couple of

Returning sojourners to America told alluring tales of jobs that can feed the hungry mouths at home and even buy back the land that had been confiscticated by taxpayers. Therefore, many decided to also become sojourners and signed up as contract laborers, imported workers who would work for a required number years on a plantation on the mainland or on Hawaii. Unfortunately, the ride on the boat was cramped and the laborers were mostly kept below deck, which sometimes led to famine and filthy conditions. As they arrived to the harbor of San Francisco Bay (“The Ellis Island of the West”), they were stopped at Angel Island, “a detention and interrogation center for an estimated 175,000 would-be immigrants of America.” Over a hundred immigrants of the same gender were crowded into a small rectangular room, so privacy was an unattainable luxury. Then, a cross-examination with simple, trivial questions like “where did you brush your teeth” and “where did your brother hide when he lost his shoe”. These inquiry were used to trip up the immigrant, so they could then authorize a deny them access. Weeks, months, or in some rare instances, years can pass before there is an announcement of whether entering was allowed or denied. “Approximately 10 percent of all the Chinese who landed on Angel Island were forced to board oceangoing ships and sent back to China.” In most instances, finally entering the port of San Francisco was not any better because they were called names by the European (white) children. The fetters of prejudice continued to hold down the Chinese’s acceptance into

During the Industrial Era, there were twelve million immigrants who longed for the idea of freedom and to live among the free. Many immigrants came to America to live their lifelong dream, but instead they realized that America was not as utopian as it seemed from afar. America had been a countryside agricultural nation and had transformed into an industrial, urban, fast paced life in the city. There was a sudden change from farms to factories in a matter of years. Immigrants traveling from all over the world to California, New York, Chicago, Florida, and New Jersey, made these cities become the most popular unauthorized populations in the United States of America. More than two-thirds of the immigrants landed in New York. Most of the immigrants came from either Ireland, Germany, or England. A big chuck of their people fleeted because of crops dying due to natural causes, not enough land or job for works, famine, or religious and political persecution. Since 1880 the number of foreign born immigrants increased to nearly 14 million. These immigrants had to work tremendously hard in order to receive a small paycheck in the end of the day to support themselves or their entire family. Rather than being received with welcoming arms, along with a wealthy lifestyle, these immigrants instead found themselves living in a vicious cycle of poverty.