Celebration of the 50th anniversary of Delano grape strike this Labor Day weekend.

Filipino/American labor leader Larry Itliong, left, and Cesar Chavez, right, joined forces.

THE MOMENTOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF THE Grape Strike of 1965 cannot be underestimated. It is important not only in the annals of Filipino American history, but in the history of the United States. Appropriately, the event will be observed and celebrated this Labor Day Weekend in Delano, California, where the strike began.

The newly formed Delano chapter and its parent organization, the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), will host a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike with a series of events this Sept. 5 and 6, in Delano with most of the activities centering around the Filipino Community Hall where the historic vote to strike and launch the grape boycott took place.

Dubbed “Bold Step,” the weekend will focus on that momentous decision to strike, and celebrate the strike’s legacy in the Filipino American community in Delano and across the nation. 

The weekend’s events will kick off on Saturday, Sept. 5 at the Filipino Community Hall, the historic building where the strike vote was taken and the headquarters of the first years of the Grape Strike. The program will include presentations by strike veterans, scholars, community activists, and local community leaders. A highlight of the weekend will be a screening of the Emmy-award winning documentary, Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the United Farm Workers. New York-based filmmaker Marissa Aroy, whose family roots are in Delano, will be present. The weekend will also include bus tours of local historic sites.

Click here for a complete schedule of events marking this anniversary.

The Delano Grape Strike began on September 8, 1965, when thousands of mostly Filipino American grape workers walked off of the vineyards in Delano, California. According to the AmerAsia Journal, it was a pivotal moment in which Filipino/Americans made their largest and most significant imprint on the American labor history. That bold step taken by these Filipino workers — most of whom were senior citizens in the twilight of their lives — inspired labor movements and movements for civil rights and social justice amongst Filipino Americans and Americans of all backgrounds.

The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee union (AWOC, AFL-CIO), led by labor leaders such as Larry Itliong, Pete Velasco, Andy Imutan and Philip Vera Cruz, forced the larger union made up mostly of Mexican American workers and led by Cesar Chavez, to join the boycott. The merger of the two unions led to the formation of the one of the most significant social justice movements in American history. From the strike came the multiethnic farm laborer’s union, the United Farm Workers.

In 1965, Filipino/American farm workers took the bold step to strike and launch a boycott of table grapes.

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California governor signs Assemblyman Bonta's bill for Larry Itliong Day

Larry Itliong

ON OCT. 25, California's school children will hear about Filipino American labor leader Larry Itliong.

California's Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB7 into law July 1. AB7, introduced by Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland). The bill requires the governor to proclaim Oct. 25 as "Larry Itliong Day," and would encouraged public schools to teach about Itliong's historic role in organizing farm workers.

“Larry Itliong is a hero not only to Filipino Americans and Filipinos in the diaspora, not only to all Californians and Americans who fight for socioeconomic and racial justice, but also to his surviving family,” said Johnny Itliong, one of Larry Itliong’s children and director of the Larry Itliong Foundation for Education, in a statement. 

“I’ve spent many years asking when people would recognize what the manongs have done….This means a lot to the countless immigrant youth who know first-hand the meaning not only of struggle but also the value of self-advocacy.”

Itliong was one of the leaders of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a union fighting for the rights of farmworkers. Led by Itliong, AWOC, primarily composed of Filipino field workers, was the first union to strike for improved wages and working conditions in Delano in 1965, launching the California farm labor movement. 

AWOC's strike pushed the larger and Mexican-dominated National Farm Workers Association into action. Led by Cesar Chávez and Dolores Huerta, the NFW and the Itliong-led AWOC to form the United Farm Workers of America. The UFW launched boycotts against grapes and lettuce that were successful in forcing growers to negotiate a contract for better wages and working conditions.

RELATED: California Assembly unanimously passes bill for Larry Itliong Day

“While the farm labor movement is often seen predominantly as a Latino movement, the movement encompassed much more than just one ethnic group. Filipino American and Latino labor leaders built a beautiful collaborative relationship to create the farm worker movement in California, and Larry Itliong played a critical leadership role in that movement. I’m grateful to have this opportunity to recognize his contributions to California and am thrilled that Governor Brown understands the important role Itliong played in California history,” said Bonta.

The recent fmotion picture Cesar, about Cesar Chavez and the UFW, omitted, or downplayed, any mention of the part played by Filipino Americans in the labor movement. That glaring omission was roundly criticized by historians and the Filipino American community. In the credits, you could see Filipinos playing the role of real Filipino individuals but their names or their contributions were not mentioned in the movie. Mainly, they stood in the background.

As the first and only Filipino American ever elected to the California State Assembly in the history of the state, Bonta is committed to ensuring that the Filipino American experience is accurately reflected in California history. Bonta's parents were farm workers and were active in union organizing.

One of his first acts after winning election to the Assembly was to introduce AB123 to provide students with a more complete account of California's farm labor movement and ensure that Filipino American leaders are remembered by future generations of Californians. 

"I was thrilled that Governor Brown signed my AB123 during my first year in the Assembly. The incredible and transformative contributions of Filipino Americans to our state have been missing from our history books for too long, and it's encouraging that this more complete story will now be told in our classrooms," said Bonta. "Now, with the addition of AB7, I am confident that within the next few years, these contributions will be more commonly known as a critical part of the rich and vibrant collective history of our state." 

Larry Itliong (in sunglasses) and Cesar Chavez (right of Itliong) led the California farm laborer's unions. 

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