Transcript Filipinos in the United States

Filipinos in the United States
A History
Miguel Llora
Department of Asia/Pacific Studies
San Diego State University
Copyright © 2006 Miguel B. Llora. All Rights Reserved.
What will be covered?
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Beyond Push/Pull
The Manila Men
Pensionados
Manong Migration
The Navy and the Merchant Marine
The Tydings-McDuffie Act
The Nurses
Post 1965
The Future
The Past
Beyond Push/Pull
 Due to strong
colonial ties, the
United States
remains the number
one “settling point”
for most Filipino
migrants.
I. The Manila Men
 The first arrival of the “Manila Men” to this
hemisphere occurred in what is currently New
Orleans, at an astonishingly early period. These
sojourners worked on the Manila-based Spanish
Galleons that sailed back and forth between the
Philippines and Mexico, as early as 1565 until as
late as 1815.
II. Pensionados
 In October of 1903 the initial group of Filipino
students arrived in the U .S. as Pensionados.
 The majority of graduates returned to the
Philippines.
III. Manong Migration
 The first major stream of
migration began with the end of
the Spanish-American war.
 Large scale recruiting in 1907
provided opportunity to work in
Hawaii.
 Annexation of the Philippines
by the US instantly gave
Filipinos status as “American
Nationals.”
III. Manong Migration
 Finances allowing, the new
status resulted in seamless
entry in and out of the United
States, giving the sojourners
unimpeded movement
between the Philippines and
the United States.
III. Manong Migration
 Aguinaldo was captured in 1901,
and the fighting wound down
somewhat, although mopping up
campaigns continued for several
more years. As a civilian
government replaced military rule,
along with bureaucrats came
hundreds of idealistic American
teachers. Their mission was to
impart Western civilization to
Filipinos under a policy of
“benevolent assimilation” and
political tutelage. One group of
Americans who seemed quite
aware of events in the Philippines
were Hawaii’s plantation owners.
III. Manong Migration
 Filipinos were particularly attractive because of
their unusual legal status. As U.S. “nationals”
they traveled with American passports, so that
the existing immigration laws and the
Gentlemen’s Agreement, which barred other
Asians, were not applicable to them.
III. Manong Migration
 The HSPA’s choice of where to seek workers
explains in part why 60 percent of the Filipino
emigrants to Hawaii came from the Ilocanospeaking provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La
Union, Abra, and Pangasinan, while 30 percent
originated from the Cebuano-speaking provinces
of Cebu, Bohol, and Negros Oriental.
III. Manong Migration
 The Ilocano provinces in mountainous
north-western Luzon were among the
country’s most densely populated. Since
their narrow coastal plains are not
suitable for the large-scale cultivation of
export crops, their hardworking people,
who long ago developed a tradition of
outmigration in search of work, have
been the main natural resource the
region has relied on for survival.
III. Manong Migration
 The Cebuano
provinces in the center
section of the
Philippine archipelago,
on the other hand,
were where the
Spanish and the
Americans established
sugar plantations, so
their inhabitants were
familiar with sugar
cultivation.
IV. The Navy and the Merchant Marine
 An alternative route for
entrance into the United
States was made available
by service in the Merchant
Marine and the United
States Navy.
 After WW I, Filipinos were
worked as stewards and
mess boys. When their
service on board ship
ended, they were allowed
to remain in the US.
IV. The Navy and the Merchant Marine
 This policy lasted until
1936.
 During the 1920s and
1930s, the number of
servicemen was
around 4000.
 Military recruitment
increased dramatically
with the start of the
World War II.
V. The Tydings-McDuffie Act
 Immigration into the United
States was nearly stopped
in 1932, when the Great
Depression severely
curtailed recruitment of
Filipino workers abroad.
 The passage of the
Tydings-McDuffie Act by the
US Congress granted the
Philippine Commonwealth
independence, thus
recategorizing Filipinos as
aliens.
 It also limited their entrance
to the United States to 50 a
year.
VI. The Nurses
 U.S. colonials at the turn of the century effectively formed the
foundation for subsequent migrations through the creation of an
American-style infrastructure and training program, initiating an
American-style nursing work culture, by effectively gendering
the nursing industry and relegating nursing to "women's work.”
VI. The Nurses
 Moreover, this move,
perhaps as an
unintended
consequence
developed fluency
among the nurses in the
use of English, and by
starting programs such
as the Exchange Visitor
Program (EVP) that
eventually brought
Filipino nursing
students to the US for
advanced training.
VI. The Nurses
 Ongoing demand in US
hospitals, who relied on
the labor of foreigntrained nurses, may have
been one but certainly not
the only reason for the
massive exodus out from
the Philippines and into
the US.
VI. The Nurses
 Changes in the immigration laws via the 1965
Immigration Act, travel in the US by skilled
workers was made much easier and becoming
permanent residents of the US made easier
still.
The Present
VII. Post 1965 to present
 The majority of Filipinos
currently living in San
Diego arrived in the last
50 years.
 Filipinos in San Diego
organized several
associations in the latter
half of the 20th Century
whose starting point is
ethno-linguistic or regional
and/or based on other
shared agendas.
The Present
VII. Post 1965 to present
 These agendas could be
among professionals,
such as nurses and
teachers or those in the
military, such as
Veterans and the Navy
personnel.
 In categorizing
themselves “as such,”
Filipinos look for the
companionship of their
peers and reassuring
conversation in “home
bound” languages.
The Future
VIII. What can the Fil-Am become?
 Filipino American (and
arguably the Philippines) is
a “community without
unity.”
 Filipinos need to look deep
into the values that make
us a “community” and
create, uncover, or
“invent” notions of “unity.”