“Manong” is an Ilokano word meaning “older brother”. The manong generation was just that, they were older the brothers, examples, and role models for those who followed in their footsteps in their quest for a better life in America. The term manong is used to show our respect and admiration for those who were courageous enough to leave their families and the familiarities that they left behind in the Philippines. The manongs immigrated during the 1920s and 30s and were the first wave of Filipinos to come to the United States.
The United States was viewed as a beacon of success, wealth, and opportunities – all aspects that were absent in the Philippines due to the economic, social, and political hardships that many people faced. While many struggled to make ends meet, only the brave were daring enough to migrate to the land of opportunity, where they can receive an education, obtain a job, and gain wealth. The manongs populated the states of Hawaii, California, Washington, and Alaska. They all hoped that they could return home to provide for their families financially.
However, life in America didn’t equate to their idea of instant wealth. The racial conflicts and socioeconomic conditions of the US made it difficult for the manongs to fulfill their dreams of “making it big”. Employment opportunities that the manongs had hoped to obtain were not at all as glamorous as they had thought. They resorted to taking up jobs as dishwashers, busboys, domestic workers, factory workers in canneries, and workers on farms. Some worked for wages as little as 10 cents an hour for 10 hours a day.
In addition, the manongs came at one of the worst times for the US economy. The United States experienced economic difficulties when the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. This was the start of the Great Depression and the continuance of mistreatment towards the immigrant Filipinos. Many places had put up signs saying, “No Filipinos Allowed,” prohibiting manongs from obtaining jobs and a place to hang out. Life got harder and harder – loneliness, despair, alcoholism, and addiction to gambling plagued some manongs. In addition, laws had been passed in order to prevent interracial marriage, which caused a lot of violence and arrests of Filipinos who were found intermingling with white American women. Some men lived above the law and had families despite the laws prohibiting them from doing so.
For others, starting a family in the US was nearly unfeasible. Many had waited years, and even decades, to marry a woman and start a family. Because of this, Filipino men were having children as old as 81 years old. Some went back to the Philippines to rekindle flames from former loves. Some had women throwing themselves at them. Often times, the appeal of these men was their US citizenship and a fast way to a green card and access to the United States.The manongs had a profound impact on Filipino Americans in America and abroad. Not only were they the first to explore the United States but they also provided Filipinos with ideas, stories, and images of what to expect from this new world. They were unselfish and shared their stories of triumph and failures in order for others to learn from their experiences. They provided a foundation that future Filipinos could build upon. The manongs made it known to the Americans of the Filipinos’ presence.
Written by: LD
Source:
http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/eloisa.borah/EarlyImages.htm
http://www.littlemanila.net/resources/comin_of_age/
http://kasamakitchen.com/manongs.html
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