Discrimination Against Filipinos
During the late 1920s and early 1930s, anti-Filipino sentiment was growing in the United States. At the time, the Philippine Islands were considered a possession of the U.S., therefore Filipinos had an immigration status of “American Nationals” instead of foreign aliens. This mean they could enter and exit the country without a passport or any other restriction, and at the time, more than 120,000 Filipinos were living here, predominately on the west coast. When the Great Depression began, discrimination against Filipinos grew, marked by violence including “…beatings, rock-throwings, burnings, knifings, shootings, bombings, riots and killings.” Hotels posted signs that said, “Positively No Filipinos Allowed” (see pp. 115-116, Filipinos: Forgotten Americans by Fred Cordova) and House Bill No. 301 was introduced into the Senate, which sought to make marriages between whites and “negroes, Mongolians or Oceanics” (as defined in the bill) illegal in Washington State (Philippine-American Chronicle, February 15, 1935)
The Tydings-McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act; Public Law 73-127) approved on March 24, 1934 provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence (from the United States) after a period of ten years, during which the US would maintain military forces in the Philippines. Furthermore, during this period the American President was granted the power to call into military service all military forces of the Philippine government. The act permitted the maintenance of US naval bases, within this region, for two years after independence. The act reclassified all Filipinos that were living in the United States as aliens for the purposes of immigration to America. Filipinos were no longer allowed to work legally in the US, and a quota of 50 immigrants per year was established. Furthermore, the Act paved the way for the Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tydings-McDuffie_Act"
The Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935 called for the United States government to pressure Filipinos to return to the Philippines by offering them free passage back to their native country. Under the Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935, Filipinos could leave the United States with free transportation and were subject to the quota system established by the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934 if they intended to re-enter the U.S. Family reunification was halted, keeping many Filipinos waiting for years to see family members. A legal change occurred in 1943 allowing Filipinos in the U.S. to lease land, most of which had been owned by Japanese Americans who were in internment camps. In the 3 October 1938 issue of TIME Magazine, an article entitled "Philippine Flop" reported that 1,900 Filipinos had returned to the Philippines. The repatriation program was declared unconstitutional in 1940, after some 2,190 Filipinos had returned to the Philippines (my father, Martino, and his family among them). Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_Repatriation_Act_of_1935"
To see the full-text of the Tydings-Mc Duffie Act, click here: http://www.chanrobles.com/tydingsmcduffieact.htm
To see the full-text of the Welch Repatriation Act of 1935, click HERE.
To learn more about discrimination against Filipinos in the United States, click on any of the following links:
http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01272/brian/McDuffieAct.htm
http://www.kqed.org/w/pacificlink/history/angelisland/philippines.html
http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=409
http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/laborpress/Stotts.htm
http://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/discrimination.html
http://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/riots.html
http://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/miglinks.htm
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/5-2/5-2_1.htm
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,760236,00.html
