Oct. 25 was Larry Itliong’s birthday Born in 1913, he’s one of the reasons October is perfect for Filipino American History Month.
See why he was the man who merged civil rights and labor rights with the 1965 Delano Grape Strike. It was Itliong. Not Cesar Chavez.
Tag Archives: Larry Itliong
Emil Guillermo is Emil Amok–Here’s a Video—From the FANHS Museum on the 55th Anniversary of the Grape Strike and Larry Itliong’s place as THE Asian American Labor leader
Hello all:
Check out my Labor Day special on Larry Itliong and the Grape Strike with a Filipino American who lived through it.
It’s the 55th anniversary of the Grape Strike.
I did this interview on Facebook live, but you can see it as live, right here
And don’t forget to read all my columns here.
Emil Guillermo: Remembering the Delano Grape Strike and the Filipino American leader who forged the way, Larry Itliong
Fifty years ago on Sept. 8, the Filipino farm workers in Delano, Calif., began the historic Grape Strike that brought the civil rights movement to the fields.
Workers had been used to working for less than a dollar an hour, but now demanded a fair wage–$1.40 an hour. Or else.
A unanimous strike vote was taken on Sept. 7 in Delano’s Filipino Community Hall. On the next day, the workers were set. Two-thousand or so men and women of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AFL-CIO) walked off the job.
Click here to read more about their leader.
“Delano Manongs” gets CAAMFest 2014 screening in SF; Tells true story of Filipino American role as the original instigators in the UFW labor struggle unlike typical stories that delete the Filipino and glorify Cesar Chavez
Marissa Aroy’s “Delano Manongs” gets a sold-out screening at CAAMFest2014 in San Francsico Sunday night. Just saw a preview of the documentary and it fills in the blanks in the Filipino-less, UFW/Cesar Chavez story.
It clearly shows how the Filipinos and the Mexican workers forged a union to fight for fairness.
Aroy’s documentary (which will be making the festival circuit and shown on PBS station KVIE-Sacramento) is in stark contrast to the new narrative feature film on Cesar Chavez opening up in your nearest 12-plex. But the multi-million dollar feature film very conveniently streamlines the UFW saga to make it seem like Chavez did it all.
Oh, a Filipino actor is seen, but it’s almost like an extra.
Accuracy is not a strong point.
In one historical scene, the feature film leaves out Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong entirely.
I asked Arroy if the filmmakers should have made Larry a more prominent part in the new commercial picture opening next week.
“It was a conscious omission,” said Arroy in a phone interview just. “And I……(long pause) ….I think it’s unfortunate not to have Larry there at the table.”
See my post on Itliong:
CHECK OUT THE NEW HOME FOR THE AMOK COLUMN: www.aaldef.org/blog
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