Filipino Americans are those people in the US whose families came from the Philippines. In 2014 they made up 17% of all Asian Americans, the third largest after Indian and Chinese Americans.
Filipinos first landed in California 33 years before the Mayflower. Back then California and the Philippines were part of the Spanish Empire and its trade across the Pacific Ocean carried by Manila galleons. By 1763, Filipinos had settled in Louisiana.
Starting in the 1800s, Asian labourers came to Hawaii and California in three main waves:
- 1849-1882: Chinese
- 1882-1908: Japanese
- 1908-1934: Filipino
Demand for cheap labour came up against White racism:
- 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act – kept out Chinese workers.
- 1908: The Gentlemen’s Agreement – kept out Japanese workers.
- 1934: Tydings-McDuffie Independence Act – kept out Filipino workers.
Hawaii grew sugar, which requires a huge labour force in one place. California grew much of the country’s fruits and vegetables, which requires a labour force on the move, planting and picking at the right place at the right time. Filipino and Mexican Americans were the backbone of California’s migrant labour force from the 1920s to the 1970s. The Delano grape strike of 1965 that made Cesar Chavez famous was started by Filipinos.
In the 1900s, Filipinos came to the mainland in three main waves:
- 1906-1934: Farm workers – settling particularly in and near San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Mostly young, single, working-class men. Back home, many of their families had lost their land or livelihood because of Spanish and American policies.
- 1934-1965: Servicemen and war brides – settling particularly in and near San Diego.
- 1965-present: Nurses and doctors and other professionals – settling particularly in and near New York and Washington, DC. Mostly middle-class women who brought their families.
These were not the only people who came, but they were the heart of each wave. War brides, for example, were still arriving well after the 1960s. Some Filipinos came as students, not farm workers. And so on.
During the Second World War, Filipinos and Americans fought together against the Japanese. The courage of Filipinos was known throughout the US.
After the war, the amount of racist violence against Filipinos dropped. There was nothing like the Watsonville Riot of 1930. It did not disappear altogether, though, as the murder of Joseph Ileto in 1999 showed.
In 1946, the Luce-Celler Bill became law. That was huge. Before then, those born in the Philippines could not become US citizens except through military service. In California, not being a citizen meant you could not own land or buy a house or get a professional licence. This shut Filipinos out of the middle class. (The Chinese and Japanese had arrived before these laws were passed.)
The Immigration Act of 1965 allowed Filipinos to come in large numbers again, for the first time since 1934. The law favoured those who already had family in the US and those who had a skill the US needed. That is why there are so many Filipino nurses: the US does not produce enough nurses while the Philippines produces more than it can hire. This made the Philippines part of the Asian brain drain.
– Abagond, 2015.
Sources: Mainly “Strangers From a Different Shore” (1998) by Ronald Takaki; “Filipino American Lives” (1995) by Yen Le Espiritu
See also:
- US ethnic groups
- Asian Americans
- Manila galleons
- Chinese Exclusion Act
- Watsonville Riot
- Philippine-American War
- Black Eyed Peas: Bebot – the video is set in California in 1936
- The Asian quota
- Settlement of Asians in the Deep South (1763 – 1882)
- Asian brain drain
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It might be instructive to expand upon some background to this to understand more fully what happened.
1898 – Philippines becomes US territory following the Spanish-American War. Resistance to US occupation continued during the Philippine-American war until 1902 (with skirmishes continuing until 1913).
1898-1935 – Filipinos become US Nationals with the right to live and work in the USA. However, they are not permitted full citizenship (e.g., including the right to vote in national elections or have representation in Congress). European descended Filipinos (ie, those who were mostly of Spanish or other European descent) immigrated without much opposition, but opposition escalated against BROWN Filipinos.
1935 – Filipinos are reclassified as “Aliens” (ie, stripped of US nationality) following the Tydings–McDuffie Act (1934), and thus are barred from immigration to the USA along with other Asians.
1942 – In recognition of Filipino efforts to join the Americans to fight the Japanese in WWII, they are restored with US Nationality. This was necessary from the viewpoint of the USA so that Filipinos could join the US military.
1946 (February) – After the war, Rescission Act of 1946 retroactively annulled US Nationality, which terminated eligibility to any benefits to Filipino veterans (many who gave their lives to fight the Japanese with the Americans). Filipino Veterans opposed this for decades, but it has never been rescinded.
1946 (July) – Luce-Celler Act – Similar to the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, this allowed a small quota (100 Filipinos per year) to immigrate to the USA. It also permitted a small quota of Indians (100 per year) to immigrate from India.
This was invalidated in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965.
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The Watsonvile Riot (https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/the-watsonville-riot/) is in the links list with no link attached.
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The Filipino accent is distinctive, pretty much, right? Off-shore telephonic customer support for American companies by Filipino industry is undeniable, up there or a little more than Indian, maybe?
My buddy, a white guy, married a girl from the Phillipines, they came back to New Jersey, turns out her cousin already lived one county over!
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^^^ Very good that you can tell. It’s very a distinctive accent indeed. Literally 95% of all customer service when I call in for support I’m greeted by a Filipino on the other side. More so than Indian/Desi. I’m guessing Filipinos are willing to work for much cheaper than even Indians? Their language somehow enables them to speak the most comprehensive English of the Asians. Filipinos are also far more educated on average when compared to their other Malay Brethren such as the Indonesians and Malaysians thus why they are offered these jobs.
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In my area there is a huge community of Filipinos. More so than the Chinese. It is odd because at one time there were hardly any.
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@ Jefe
Thanks.
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“In my area there is a huge community of Filipinos. More so than the Chinese. It is odd because at one time there were hardly any.”
~Sharinalr
Here where I’m situated all of the kids I grew up with (Black, Puerto Rican, white, etc) were born in this country. The only influx I witnessed were some of these kid’s young kin folks visiting for the summer from the West Indies. Mexicans were non-existent. And no Mexican restaurants anywhere. It wasn’t until I joined the military that I saw a Mexican in person and had my first taste of Mexican food at an Air Base in Texas. It was the just about the same scenario with Filipinos.
The demographics here have CHANGED so drastically that people from EVERYWHERE outside the country seem to now out number by a wide margin those who were born here… at least in the neighborhoods I’m familiar with. I left town for a few years. When I returned It was as if nearly everyone I knew (.. born here) either packed up and moved, or otherwise vanished.
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@Jefe
Thanks very informative. But the brown vs light thing is ever present in us policy isn’t it?
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@Fan …
I am glad to here that someone shares a similar experience as me.
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“I am glad to here that someone shares a similar experience as me.”
What … you were stationed at an Air Base in Texas, too?
j/k 😉
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@Fan …
“What … you were stationed at an Air Base in Texas, too?”—To be honest I wish. I like to travel and I often regret not taking the chance to join the Air force when I could. Just for the traveling though, which might may not be a good enough reason. 😉
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@Jacque,
It only goes to show that even though the US tried to legislate immigration according to country (as a proxy for race), but in practice it turned out to be based on colour and race. Filipinos who could pass as white did not enrage white people as much as those they thought came straight from the jungle (based on their brown coloured skin).
The Chinese Exclusion Act, for example, was reworded a few years after it was issued to refer to people not from China, but of Chinese descent. So, say, native born Canadians (who enjoyed unlimited access to the USA) who were only partly of Chinese descent could be refused at the border.
The Japanese American internment camp imprisoned children with as little as 1/4 Japanese ancestry.
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..This post explains why so many o’ my Filipino friends were enrolled in my ROTC class (in the Bay Area, CA.) during high school. I knew that the Philippines and the U.S. had a “close” relationship, but the need for citizenship (and consequent military enrollment) drives the point even further home. Sidenote: Some o’ the best food, kindest and funniest peepz o’ mine just happen to be of Pinoy descent!
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Correction: In 2014 Filipino Americans made up 17% of all Asian Americans, the third largest after Indian and Chinese Americans. That does not count hapas.
I had that they were 20% in second place. Indian Americans have passed them. That 20%, though, might include hapas, but I cannot remember where I got it from.
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_13_1YR_DP05&prodType=table
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Yay, my peeps! 😀 Finally, a post about Filipino-Americans. I swear we’re almost like the forgotten Asians or something.
Mz. Nikita:
I am biased as I’m of Filipino descent, but compared to other Asian Americans, we tend to be the most relaxed, fun, and most accepting of non-Filipinos. Yeah, I said it! If you hang around Filipinos, we’re going to show you a good time! 🙂
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I can attest that there are many Filipinos in the nursing industry. Many relatives on my mother’s side and my father’s side are nurses. And it’s not uncommon for my Filipino friends to have family members who are nurses as a profession.
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..”compared to other Asian Americans, we tend to be the most relaxed, fun, and most accepting of non-Filipinos. Yeah, I said it! If you hang around Filipinos, we’re going to show you a good time!” @leigh204, Palakpakan-I will gladly drink to that, mamas! 😀
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I highly recommend a 2010 (historical drama) movie called AMIGO, dir. by John Sayles, about the US invasion of the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century.
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There’s a prominent Filipino community in Carson, California. Some of my co-workers are Filipino-American. This past spring, I prepared a former student of mine – who’s Filipino-American – for his first bodybuilding competition. Btw, he won the two competitions that he entered – the novice (beginner) and teenager competitions.
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@MC,
I have visited my Filipino-American godmother’s brother’s family in Carson. Her brother was my Dad’s buddy when he was young.
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If I hear or read one more comment that Filipinos aren’t really Asian, I’m going to scream!
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The certain Filipinos who claim to be Pacific Islander tend to be the US born Filipinos who lack knowledge of their history. It’s odd considering the Filipinos living in Canada (or at least the ones in my province) do not consider themselves Pacific Islander but Asian. I also asked my relatives living in the Philippines if they consider themselves Pacific Islander or Asian, and without hesitation, they always say Asian. While it is true, the Philippines is in the Pacific, true Pacific Islanders they are not.
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I’ve never heard of Phillipinos referring to themselves as Pacific Islander here in Canada either.
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