When I was a young girl, my father would tell me about the struggle within early Asian American history and the heroic work of the first Filipino leaders in America.

When I was your age, my parents immigrated here from the Philippines.

There were many Filipino leaders who fought for the rights we have today.

He painted a picture of how and why Asian immigrants, and Filipino immigrants like himself, came to the United States. 

Early Asian immigrants arrived in the early 1900's. Specifically, early Filipinos immigrated from 1909 to 1931 (Lee, 44).

Filipino immigrants like me came to the U.S. for the "American Dream" of education, employment, and living space, but struggled to maintain our culture coinciding with American culture (Lee, 46).

My father emphasized how Asian minority groups struggled to fit into American society as they suffered from racism and unfair treatment, such as underpaid (Tsu, 7-9). 

For instance, Filipino immigrants had to working for ninety-nine cents in scorching hot fields (Little Manila: Filipinos in California's Heartland).

My father's favorite Filipino leader is Larry Itliong. Itliong was a Filipino labor leader who began the Delano Grape Strike with labor union members in September 8, 1965. He led the Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, which later collaborated with Cesar Chavez and his organization to strike against grape growing due to unfair labor treatment and pay (Romasanta).

Cesar Chavez

Larry Itliong