Physical description:
Satchel. Description: Exterior is of open weave Abaca fiber, interior lined with plastic raffia, two handles of braided Abaca, with loop and wood button closure, envelope flap is decorated with multicolored floral embroidery of plastic raffia. Dimensions: 17" x 12" x 7 1/2
Content description:
History: Mrs. Penny Mendoza brought this bag to California when she immigrated from the Philippines in 1981. Throughout the 20th century, California has attracted Filipino emigrants. Around 35,000 of them worked as farm laborers in the 1930s. But other displaced workers blamed Filipinos for taking their jobs, and eventually a racist exclusionary law was passed offering Filipinos free passage to the Phillippines on the condition that they not return to California. Strict immigration quotas were enforced to limit Asian immigration for the next 30 years. It was not until national quotas were abolished in 1965 that Filipinos once again came to America in significant numbers.
