Larry Itliong: Filipino American Farmworker Labor Movement Leader

They needed the cooperation of the Mexican farm workers for the strike to succeed. Larry approached Cesar Chavez. Cesar and Delores Huerta brought the idea to the Mexican workers who voted to join the strike. A year later, the Agriculture Workers Organizing Committee (Filipino workers) and the National Farm Workers Association (Mexican workers) merged and became the United Farm Workers (UFW). 

The Delano Grape Strike, a significant event in the U.S. farm labor movement, lasted 5 years and won higher pay, health benefits, and limits on pesticide use As the president of the UFW, Cesar became better known while Larry, the assistant director who was less comfortable as a spokesperson, became relatively unknown despite his invaluable contributions. 

Larry Itliong was born on October 25, 1913 (his birthday is celebrated as Larry Itilong Day in California) in the Philippines and came to the United States in 1929 to further his education while the Philippines was still a U.S. colony. The Philippines became an independent country in 1946. Larry became a laborer, working up and down the West Coast in fish canneries and on farms but he wasn’t able to earn enough money to study law. He became a labor organizer in the 1930s and is considered a father of the West Coast labor movement. In the 1970s, Larry was also instrumental in securing the funding for the construction of Abgayani Village in Delano, a retirement community for the Filipino farmworkers. He died on February 8, 1977 of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease in Delano, California.

Larry Itliong: Unity of Filipino and Mexican Farmworkers, by The Asian American Education Project

For grades 6-12. This lesson includes a video excerpt from the PBS documentary Asain Americans about Larry Itliong and the Delano Grape strike started on September 8, 1965. This lesson addresses Filipino American immigration history and the Delano Grape Strike of 1965.

Larry Itliong Teachers Guide, a companion teacher’s guide to Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong

Untold History: Filipinx & Chicanx Farm Workers Unit, Grade 3-5, by Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium

New Asian American Voices (NAAV) In the Classroom – A Student submission for 1990 Instagram Channel

A 1990 Institute sponsored project to spotlight Asian American heroes

Read:

Larry Itliong, A short biography, The National Park Service

Online exhibition about Larry Itliong, by the California Museum

Larry Itliong, biography by History.com, October 29, 2021

How Cesar Chavez Joined Larry Itliong to Demand Farm Workers’ Rights, by Adam Janos, published on May 7, 2019 and updated April 23, 2024, The History Channel

Chasing the American Dream: A Brief History of Filipino Immigration, Welga Digital Archive, Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies

Oct. 18, 1587: Arrival of Filipinos in North America, Zinn Education Project

Video:

A Laborday Story of Migrant Farmworkers Larry Itliong’s Fight for Better Condition, September 1, 2024, PBS NewsHours Video

Filipinos Sparked Farm Workers Movement, PBS Lost LA Series 6 Ep2

Waves of Immigrants: The Asian American Journey, January 13, 2023, by The 1990 Institute

A 15 minute overview of Asian American immigration history

Exclusion; a shared Asian American Experience, 2023, by The 1990 institute 

Asian Americans | Full Film, PBS LearningMedia

A five-hour (5 episodes) documentary about Asian Americans

Asian American 2021, Last week tonight with John Oliver 

(Link to online bookseller)

The Untold Story of Larry Itliong: Labor Rights Hero, by Cristina Oxtra, Grade 4-6, Published by Captone Press, January 1, 2023

Little Manila is in the Heart: The Making of Filipina/o American Community in Stockton, California, by Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, published by Duke University Press, June 17,  2013

America is in the Heart, A Personal History, by Carlos Bulosan, published by the University of Washington Press, revised edition April 1, 2014