For decades Larry Itilong led Filipino farmworkers’ fight for labor rights in California, culminating in the historic Delano Grape Strike.
When people think about farmer’s rights in the United States, one name usually comes to mind: Cesar Chavez. But many Americans don’t know that his first major action was joining the Delano Grape Strike, a movement started by Filipino farmworkers and led by Larry Itliong.
Born in the Philippines, Larry Itliong immigrated to the United States when he was 15 years old in 1929. He worked as a migrant laborer on the West Coast and like many other immigrants, he faced intense discrimination and racism. Immigrant workers were paid extremely low wages and were completely excluded from many opportunities in society. Through these restrictions, Itliong was still able to develop a reputation as a fearless labor organizer and throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he organized strikes throughout California and Alaska for cannery and agricultural workers.
In the 1960s, Filipino farmers in California’s grape industry were working in horrible conditions, receiving $1.20 to $1.25 an hour. So on September 8, 1965, Itliong and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee voted to strike against grape growers in Delano, California, where more than 1,500 Filipino farmworkers would walk off the vineyards to demand their rights.
Because of the exploited tensions between ethnic groups at the time, Itliong understood the strike would possibly fail if Filipino and Mexican workers stayed divided. He decided to go to the leaders of the National Farm Workers Association, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and asked them to join the The Delano Grape Strike. Chavez agreed after initial hesitation and the alliance between Filipino and Mexican farm workers became one of the most important multiracial labor partnerships in history.
Over five years of marches and boycotts, financial pressure grew on grape growers and the AWOC and NFWA merged together to form the United Farm Workers. In 1970, major grape growing companies signed contracts to grant workers higher wages, benefits, and protections, completely changing the American labor movement.
Despite helping ignite the strike, Larry Itliong’s role is often overshadowed by Cesar Chavez. Historians argue that he was more media-visible and easier for America to rally behind, while many Filipino organizations received less attention due to the decreasing number of Filipino farmworkers. Itliong is rarely emphasized in school textbooks, but California did recognize “Larry Itliong Day” officially in 2015.
Cesar Chavez may have been the most recognizable face of the farmworkers movement, but the Delano Grape Strike itself began because of Filipino laborers who were willing to risk everything and Larry Itilong’s push for Filipino and Mexican farmworkers fighting together for survival.
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