Day 116: Little Manila, Stockton, California
đź“ŚAPIA Every Day (116) - Situated in Stockton, California, lies the ethnic neighborhood of Little Manila. In the 1930s, waves of young Filipino men arrived in California after the 1924 Immigration Act, attracted to agricultural jobs in the Central Valley. As the demand for cheap labor grew, the pool dwindled due to the legislation, and Filipinos filled the need for able-bodied workers. Facing racism and discriminatory laws that barred Filipinos from entering areas exclusively for White people, Filipino Americans built their own community south of Main Street, where they opened businesses and created a strong Filipino community known as Little Manila.
Throughout the next century, many Filipino men organized labor unions and held strikes against exploitative farmers. Infamous Filipino leaders such as Larry Itliong, Andy Imutan, Chris Mensalvas, Ernesto Mangaoang, Carlos Bulosan, and Philip Vera Cruz worked out of Stockton and led the strikes and unions that occurred in the area. By 1946, after anti-miscegenation laws were changed, Filipino women began migrating to the area as well, making Stockton’s Little Manila the largest Filipino community in the U.S.
Unfortunately, in the next decade, large sections of Little Manila, as well as Stockton’s Chinatown and Japantown, were bulldozed by the city to create space for the Crosstown Freeway, gas stations, McDonald’s and, ironically, an Asian-themed strip mall. Generations of Filipinos were heartbroken to see the thriving Filipino community subjected to these changes and the loss of its rich history. In 2001, Filipinos worked together to have the city designate the site as the Little Manila Historic Site which was designated in the following year.
While Little Manila’s original buildings no longer exist, efforts are being made by nearby Filipino organizations, such as Little Manila Rising, to remember the longstanding Filipino history in Stockton. The site was named by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as "one of the eleven most endangered historic sites in America" in 2003 and recommended by the NPS AAPI National Historic Landmark Themes Study as a potential National Historic Landmark.
LEARN MORE:
Little Manila Rising: More Than History
PBS SoCal: How L.A.'s Little Manila Disappeared Without a Trace
YouTube: When the Building Came Down
Smithsonian: Undiscovering the Hidden Histories of California’s Filipino Community
Smithsonian: Why It Is Important to Know the Story of Filipino-American Larry Itliong
PBS KVIE: Little Manila: Filipinos in California's Heartland - KVIE (YouTube)
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