The history of Filipino-Americans is little known outside communities like Carson and San Francisco, where they settled in large numbers. But one Carson librarian is trying to change that.

Florante Peter Ibanez, a member of the “Bridge generation” that followed early 20th century Manongs — the first wave of male Filipino mainland U.S. immigrants — will present the history of South Bay Filipino-Americans at the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Ibanez and his wife, Roselyn Estepa Ibanez, are the authors of “Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay,” a collection of about 250 family photos, U.S. Army registration cards, immigration records, school yearbook pictures, newspaper articles, and fliers for festivals, dances and music events produced by local Filipinos in the past 100 years.

The couple spent a year sifting through photos from South Bay Filipino families and local archives to compile the book.

“It’s really a matter of setting the record straight,” Ibanez said. “Let’s put out the history the way it should be taught, and make sure everybody knows the accomplishments people have made — and not rely on assumptions.

“You can’t know your future without looking back at your past.”

As they share their life stories and research at presentations around the country, the Ibanezes are pushing for a national holiday in October recognizing Filipino-Americans.

Social justice is, according to “Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay,” a cornerstone of Filipino-American history.

Early immigrants were almost exclusively young men looking for work and, since interracial marriage was illegal, they had a difficult time dating in this country. That pressure was exacerbated by prejudice.

“Part of the discrimination of Filipino men was they were always single — they were teenagers, basically,” Ibanez said. “They were very handsome and muscular from working the fields. Whites complained the ‘monkey boys are taking our women.’ ”

The best jobs were given to white Americans, while Filipinos were relegated to being cooks, houseboys, drivers, farmers and laborers, Ibanez said.

Ibanez’s father immigrated to the United States and his mother was born to new Filipino immigrants who settled in the San Fernando Valley. Like many immigrant families, they abandoned many of their old ways for Americanization.

“We were discouraged from learning our culture and language,” said Ibanez, who came of age in the 1960s and ’70s. “I never knew about the Filipino farm workers’ movement or the Philippine-American War. My generation’s upbringing was to be Americanized and to learn a little bit of the culture but not the history. I learned Filipino folk dancing because my family and I would perform it at festivals and family functions. And there was food — lumpia (egg rolls), adobo (seasoned meat), and pancit (noodles).”

Since colonization, Filipinos were educated in U.S. schools and with democratic ideals. So when they immigrated to the U.S., they fought for equal rights to marry and achieve higher social and economic status here, he said.

Many Filipinos settled in Carson, Long Beach and San Pedro to work on the Naval base and at Terminal Island canneries processing mackeral and tuna.

In 1946, the Filipino Community of Los Angeles Harbor Area Inc. was formed, followed the next year by the first Filipino community hall in the country, the book says.

Since then, Filipinos have made major strides toward assimilation. Carson celebrates Filipino independence from the U.S., achieved in 1946 after the Philippine-American War, each June with a daylong festival. Larry Itliong, co-founder of United Farm Workers, also is honored each year.

One of the largest Filipino events in the country, the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture, takes place annually in San Pedro.

Among the book’s featured achievements by local Filipinos were:

• Bobby Balcena of San Pedro became the first Filipino to play in Major League Baseball in 1956.

• Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown of Hermosa Beach founded the Filipino American Library in 1985, and expanded Filipino history education as a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher.

• “Uncle” Roy Morales of Gardena was a local hero and community organizer who worked through many service organizations to help troubled youth and people with alcohol addiction. He also taught Filipino history and culture.

• The Rocky Fellers was a Filipino family boy band from Carson that achieved national recognition in the early 1960s.

In recent years, Filipinos also have achieved success in politics and business.

“There have been a lot of strides but this book is part of that struggle to spread awareness of who we are and where we came from,” Ibanez said. “We want other folks — not just Filipino folks — to know that.”

Ibanez’s presentation Saturday at the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, at 18127 S. Alameda St. in Rancho Dominguez, will be accompanied by a presentation on Hawaiian communities in Los Angeles.