What are the Manongs and what does it mean? Is it a type of fruit or a game? How did they end up in California? 

No! In Tagalog, A Manong is first born eldest son in a family. Not too different from a kuya. 

After a long war for independence, the Philippines became a US colony in 1898. The Philippines was not very well off because of their Colonial masters, many of its people could not afford land in their own home country. 

But many Filipino children where still hopeful for a good life, their teachers had given them dreams of working in America. The missionary Teachers told the Filipino students that in America, they could pick gold off of the ground and send money back to their families.

The Philippine economy was bad (and still is) so many Filipinos left for America in the 1930s. This first generation of Filipino American Immigrants where called the Manongs. 

Many Manongs came to work in the farms of California, and they faced many hardships. They harvested many Labor intensive crops like grapes and Asparagus. All day in the hot sun they would work, rain or shine they had to keep going. 

Life in California was hard, and people where not very welcoming. Not many Filipinas came with the Manongs, and it was illegal for them to marry women outside of their race. They where lonely bachelors who still had dreams of giving their families in the Philippines a better life.  

Even Though the Manongs where paid very little compared to white farmers, they tried to make the very best out of their situation. Together they formed small unions in order to negotiate for better wages. When they had days off they wore dashing suits and danced when they could 

But as time went on, the Manongs where getting treated worse by White growers. So together the Manongs held a strike, and in retaliation the white farmers hired Mexican's to cultivate the lands instead. The white growers also treated the Mexicans bad, so when they went on strike, the white growers would hire Manongs instead