-
Period: to
1962-1881
-
*Leaving Manila
There was a harsh depression in the Philippines where the rich were wealthy and the poor where without food and clothes. Many children are being abducted from their homes and families needed safety. Families didn’t have food or houses to protect them from raids. Many diseases were killing our farm stock and crops. We needed new land to help support their houses and children. We landed in Hawaii first becuase we needed to re-stock the boat -
Sickness on the boat
My brother Carmelo and others have gotten sick from the disease that the rats have brought onto the boat. We tried to spray them with rat poison but it just made people get sicker. A woman even lost her baby to the poison that was sprayed on some of the food, not knowing it was poisonous to humans. -
Angel Island
Carmelo, my mother, and I were detained because we had to prove that our father was related to us. This took many hours and the smell of the hall was very “pungent.” Since Carmelo was sick 2 weeks later, he has still trying to get over the small amount that was left in him. The guards didn’t mark him with chalk because he wasnt very ill. -
*Father Dies
Father dies from cholera causing all of us to get new jobs. Since we are in the outer parts of the city, we are not able to bury him peacefully, we were lucky we found a small field about 100 miles out. Our family made an oath that we would dedicate the rest of our life to him since he was here in America for a small amount of time. -
Winter
This is the coldest winter we have had in years. We don’t have any food, water and we still have the clothes that we carried on our backs from 10 years ago. We all work in the crop field and since there is thermafrost we are constantly having black feet. We are saving a large loaf of bread for Christmas that mother made 2 weeks ago, it is all we can afford. -
Page Act of 1875
The Page Act of 1875 didn’t let my mother’s brother come to the United States because he was an alleged criminal and they wouldn’t let him through. Since he was traveling with his family, we didn’t get to see them either. My mother said it is going to take about a year for him to get pass and explain the crime that he did in the past. -
*School Discrimination
When I came to America, I was only 2 years old. My first day of school was very difficult since I was in the lower class of English being only. Many Europeans would bully me and cut me with scissors only because I couldn’t speak English. Carmelo was punished by the school for defending me by punching an Irish during Language. I soon graduate school by age 27 -
Mother Re-marries
Mother meets a rich rancher while we move to a new job in the fields. She soon marries him; he is English and has 2 other children. He owns a large ranch where he has much crop.
