The Most First Generation Filipino Americans - 2517 Words

San Francisco today is not the same place it was hundreds of years ago. This is obvious in terms of the city’s modernization, but a change that is equally as important, is the huge amount of diversity in cultures. Chances are, if you were to ask a student at Skyline College if their parents were born in the United States, many of them would answer no. Every immigrant has their own story of how they ended up in San Francisco, but the most important are the stories of the very first groups. Most first generation Filipino Americans hear about the stories of how their families ended up in the United States, but never the stories of how the very first Filipinos got here. Why did the first group of Filipinos leave all that they had in the the†¦show more content†¦colonial period began and immigration to the States was pushed in many different aspects of everyday Filipino culture. Another reason for leaving the Philippines was due to the economic problems many had in the Phi lippines. America was advertised as the â€Å"Land of Paradise† on posters all throughout the Philippines, and many labor recruiters assured natives that money could be made quickly in the states. The first batch of Filipino immigrants who ended up in San Francisco was relatively small and consisted mostly of students. Travelling from the Philippines to the San Francisco was tough, as it was expensive to pay for and was a long distance from home. The trip from the Philippines to San Francisco took nearly a month by ship, meaning their stay would be long term. Those brave enough to travel to America did so in hopes of living a more prosperous life than they did in the Philippines. Of the immigrants that arrived in San Francisco, a good number of them ended up relocating to states with more of a focus on agriculture, where they were responsible for taking care of the fields. However, there were a number of those who preferred urban life that ended up staying in San Francisco. For those that stayed in San Francisco, they were situated in apartments around and on Kearny Street. Larger rooms were provided for those starting their families, and many Filipino-owned businesses began to emerge around where