Dec. 20, 1906: The first group of 15 sakadas (contract laborers) recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association to work on the sugar plantations arrive in Honolulu aboard the SS Doric and were assigned to the Olaa plantation on the Big Island.

1915: The Philippine Government (under U.S. colonial rule) expresses concern about labor outflow and recruitment abuses. HSPA works out a system of individual contracts.

1919: Filipino labor leader Pablo Manlapit organizes the Filipino Labor Union to demand higher wages and better working conditions for sakadas.

1920: Manlapit and Japanese labor leaders form the Higher Wages Movement but HSPA rejects the demands. Filipino and Japanese workers strike separately and about 12,100 workers are evicted.

1924: Manlapit calls a strike on Oahu and the other islands, ending violently. Sixteen Filipino workers and four policemen are killed on Sept. 9 in the Hanapepe Massacre on Kauai.1932: Pablo Manlapit returns to Hawaii and revitalizes the Filipino Labor Federation with Antonio Fagel and Epifanio Taok. Labor organizing focuses on Maui. The union is renamed Vibora Luviminda. Manlapit is deported permanently from Hawaii.

1934: The Tydings-McDuffie (Philippine Independence) Act declares Filipinos aliens and limits their entry to Hawaii and U.S. to an annual quota of 50 persons. It is increased to 100 after Philippine Independence in 1946.1941: The United States enters World War II . Filipino-Americans form the 1st and 2nd Filipino Regiments of the U.S. Army.

1944: The International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union under Jack Hall’s leadership becomes a strong political force by organizing ethnic workers, including Filipinos.

1946: ILWU calls strike that paralyzes the island economy. HSPA imports the last group of 6,000 Ilokano sakadas.

1947: Philippine Consulate is established in Honolulu.

1951: Filipino workers on Lanai led by ILWU business agent Pedro de la Cruz call a strike lasting 201 days. Major work benefits are won.

1954: Attorney Peter Aduja becomes the first Filipino to be elected a representative in the Hawaii Territorial Legislature.

1959: Hawaii becomes the 50th state.

1962: Alfred Laureta is appointed director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the first Filipino-American to hold a state Cabinet position in Hawaii. Laureta was later appointed as the first Filipino to become U.S. district judge in Saipan. Benjamin Menor is elected to the state Senate, the first Filipino immigrant to be elected to a seat in the Senate.

1965: Immigration Law is liberalized allowing family reunification and professionals to enter Hawaii. It results in the third wave of Filipino immigrants to Hawaii increasing the number of Filipinos to nearly 11 percent of the total state population.1972: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines, which lasted 14 years and divided the Hawaii Filipino community.