Filipino Americans have been part of American history for hundreds of years. Filipinos arrived in what is now California in 1587, making Filipinos the oldest Asian group in the United States. They also settled in the bayou in New Orleans as early as 1763. After the Philippine-American War, which lasted from 1899 to 1913, the United States colonized the Philippines. As a result, thousands of Filipinos began immigrating to Hawaii and United States in large numbers. By World War II, almost 100,000 Filipinos were living in Hawaii and the United States.

Stockton, a city in California's Central Valley, became the largest Filipino American community in the nation, because it was near agricultural work. Many Filipinos found that the only job open to them was in the agricultural fields, planting and harvesting asparagus, celery, peaches, grapes, tomatoes, and more. Racism against Filipinos was extreme, and Filipinos were not allowed to become citizens, own land, or live in white neighborhoods because Stockton was heavily segregated. Signs on restaurants and hotels such as "Positively No Filipinos Allowed" warned Filipinos against entering. In response, Filipinos created their own community: a six block area in downtown Stockton known as "Little Manila", centered around Lafayette and El Dorado Streets.

Thousands of Filipino immigrants and their families lived in the area in apartments and residential hotel rooms. Filipinos owned restaurants, grocery stores, churches, beauty salons, barbershops, pool halls, card rooms, meeting halls, gas stations, ice cream shops, candy stores, labor union headquarters, clothing stores, and dance halls. The neighborhood drew thousands of Filipinos from all over the nation. Very few Filipino women immigrated before World War II, so young Pinoys (a nickname for Filipino immigrants) searched for female companionship in the many dance halls, where they could pay a dime to dance with young white, black, and Mexican women. From the 1920s to the 1950s, dance halls such as the Rizal Social Club, named after the Philippine National Hero, drew hundreds of Pinoys every night. Filipinos were known for their sharp suits and smooth moves on the dance floor.

But in the 1950s, the city of Stockton bulldozed several blocks Little Manila to "improve" downtown, and evicted thousands of poor, elderly Filipinos and businesses. In the 1960s, the state of California built a freeway through more of Little Manila, destroying more homes and businesses. Filipinos had to find other places to live in Stockton, and the vibrant community was almost gone. By the 1990s, only two blocks and several dozen oldtimers remained. Many young people in the community never learned about the historic significance of the neighborhood, because it had been wiped off of the map.

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