Modesto "Larry"Dulay Itliong (October 25, 1913 – February 8, 1977[a]), also known as "Seven Fingers",[3] was a Filipino-Americanunion organizer. He organizedWest Coast agricultural workers starting in the 1930s, and rose to national prominence in 1965, when he,Philip Vera Cruz, Benjamin Gines and Pete Velasco, walked off the farms of area table-grape growers, demanding wages equal to the federalminimum wage, that became known as theDelano grape strike.[4][5][6] He has been described as "one of the fathers of the West Coast labor movement."[7]
Itliong was a native ofSan Nicolas, Pangasinan, Philippines (then aterritory of the United States).[2][8] One of six children of Artemio and Francesca Itliong, he only had a sixth grade education.[2] He immigrated to the United States in 1929 and joined his first strike in 1930;[9] Itliong was only 15 when he came to the United States.[10] Itliong was an excellent card player, and avid cigar smoker, who spoke multipleFilipino languages, Spanish, Cantonese, Japanese, and taught himself about law.[3] Itliong married six times,[3] had seven children,[11] and raised his family in the Delano area[2] and in the Little Manila community ofStockton, California.[12]
As afarmworker, Itliong worked inAlaska; where he organizedcannery and agriculturalunions,Washington, and up and down California;[3] he also worked in Montana and South Dakota.[2] While living in Alaska, he helped found the Alaska Cannery Workers Union (which later became Local 7 of the United Cannery and Packing and Allied Workers Union, then Local 7 of the International Longshoreman's and Warehouse Workers Union). He lost three fingers in an accident in an Alaskan cannery, which earned him the nickname, "Seven Fingers."[12]
Some of the labor organizers whom Itliong met in his early days had ties to theCommunist Party.[13] Filipinos in California led the way in unionization efforts among farmworkers in the 1930s and 40s.[14] DuringWorld War II, Itliong served on a U.S. Army transport ship as amessman.[12] After the war, he settled in the city of Stockton in California's Central Valley.[12] In 1948, Itliong (along with Rudy Delvo,Chris Mensalvas, Philip Vera Cruz, and Ernesto Mangaoang) became involved in the 1948 asparagus strike,[15] which was the first major agriculture strike after World War II.[16] Itliong served as the firstshop steward ofInternational Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 37,[2] inSeattle,[17] and was elected its vice-president in 1953.[2] He served as secretary of the Filipino Community of Stockton from 1954 to 1956.[12] In 1956, Itliong founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union[1] in Stockton.[12] In 1957, he was elected president of the Filipino Voters League in Stockton.[12] By 1965, Itliong was leading theAFL–CIO unionAgricultural Workers Organizing Committee;[18] the majority of members of the committee were Filipinos who had in the 1930s arrived in the United States.[19]
A vote was held on May 3, 1965, in which the committee voted to strike againstCoachella Valley grape growers. Although the strikers weren't able to negotiate a contract with the growers, they did succeed in winning higher wages.[18] Following the success in Southern California, on September 8, 1965, the Agriculture Workers Organizing Committee voted to strike against grape growers inDelano, California, where the grape season starts in September.[18] This strike became the first time Mexican workers, due to the decision ofCesar Chavez, did not break a strike of Filipinos;[3] later, on September 16, 1965, Chavez'sNational Farm Workers Association joined the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee on the picket lines.[20] These strikes occurred around the same time when younger Filipino Americans began a period of political self-reflection and awakening.[21]
The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and National Farm Workers Association merged to form theUnited Farm Workers;[22] Itliong was skeptical of the merger, as he believed that Mexicans would become dominant over the Filipinos when the organizations merged, and that improving work conditions would come at the expense of Filipino farmworkers, but Itliong kept those feelings to himself at the time.[23] In 1966, theCalifornia Rural Legal Assistance was founded as part of PresidentLyndon B. Johnson'swar on poverty,[24] with Cesar Chavez,Dolores Huerta, and Itliong sitting on the founding board.[25] Itliong served as assistant director of the United Farm Workers under Cesar Chavez,[26] and in 1970 he was appointed the United Farm Workers' national boycott coordinator.[27] In 1971, Itliong resigned from the United Farm Workers because of disagreements about the governance of the union;[26] another reason for resigning from the United Farm Workers, was that Itliong felt that the union was not willing to support aging Filipinos.[28][29] Alex Fabros, a doctoral candidate atUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, called the merger "devastating for the Filipinos who participated in the UFW."[22]
Itliong's gravestone in Delano's North Kern Cemetery
After leaving the United Farm Workers, Itliong assisted retired Filipino farmworkers in Delano and was adelegate at the1972 Democratic National Convention.[1] Together with Vera Cruz, Itliong worked towards building a retirement facility for UFW workers, known asAgbayani Village.[28][30] Although no longer in the United Farm Workers, Itliong continued to support others in the organized labor movement, such as helping others plan a strike againstSafeway supermarkets in 1974.[31] Itliong also served as President of the Filipino American Political Association,[1] a bipartisan lobbying organization.[28] He died in Delano in February 1977,[a] aged 63, fromLou Gehrig's disease.[1][9]
Most history books mention Chavez and the United Farm Workers, but do not include a mention of Itliong or other Filipinos.[32][33] Speaking about Chavez and his father, Johnny Itliong said, "Larry was militant. Cesar was non-violent. Cesar had handlers. Cesar had lawyers. Cesar was a dictator."[32]
In 2011,Los Angeles County recognized Itliong withLarry Itliong Day on October 25;[32] this follows the City ofCarson which became the first city in the United States to recognize Larry Itliong Day in the United States in 2010.[36] In 2015 GovernorJerry Brown signed a bill to establishLarry Itliong Day in theState of California.[37] It was proclaimed in 2019 by GovernorGavin Newsom.[38]
In mid-April 2013, theNew Haven Unified School District renamed Alvarado Middle School as theItliong-Vera Cruz Middle School in honor of Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong; this school is the first school in the United States to be named for Filipino Americans.[39] There was a vocal opposition to the name change, some of whom wavedMexican flags, who said that the name changing disrupts the neighborhood's tradition.[40] The middle school was originally named forJuan Bautista Alvarado, and the name change did not take effect until 2015.[41] This occurred after a 13-year effort to rename a school for the Filipino American leaders, after several other schools had been named to reflect the city's diverse population, including Cesar Chavez Middle School, where 20% of the population is Filipino American.[42]
In late April 2013, a Filipino business and a Filipino Community Center were targeted with graffiti vandalism; the graffiti was investigated as ahate crime.[43]
In 2014, an overpass over theFilipino American Highway in south San Diego was designated as the "Itliong-Vera Cruz Memorial Bridge".[44]
A documentary titledThe Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the UFW was made to highlight the role of Filipinos in the farm labor movement, including Itliong;[45] the documentary was released in 2013. Itliong was portrayed by Darion Basco in the2014 film about Cesar Chavez; the film did not include other Filipino American farm labor leaders such as Vera Cruz.[10][46]
In 2018, achildren's book was published which highlighted Itliong's life and his role in the agriculture labor movement.[47]
The Filipino Hall in Delano, California houses a collection of memorabilia.[48] The Larry Itliong Papers are housed at the Walter Reuther Library atWayne State University in Detroit.[49]
A musical[50] based on Itliong's life, titled Larry the Musical, debuted in San Francisco in 2024, with original compositions by Bryan Pangilinan.
^Hurt, R. Douglas.American Agriculture: A Brief History. Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 2002.ISBN1-55753-281-8
^Weber, Devra.Dark Sweat, White Gold: California Farm Workers, Cotton, and the New Deal. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1996.ISBN0-520-20710-6
^Feriss, Susan; Sandoval, Ricardo; and Hembree, Diana.The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998.ISBN0-15-600598-0
^ab"UFW, ALRB, Unions".Rural Migration News. University of California, Davis. January 2013.Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. RetrievedMay 8, 2013.
^Mabalon, Dawn Bochulano; Reyes, Rico (2008).Filipinos in Stockton. Images of America Series. Filipino American National Historical So, Little Manila Foundation. Arcadia Publishing. p. 38.ISBN978-0-7385-5624-6.Archived from the original on July 3, 2021. RetrievedMay 7, 2013.
^"Filipino Labor Leaders"(PDF).Labor Archives and Research Center (17). San Francisco State University: 1. 2007. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on December 15, 2013. RetrievedMay 7, 2013.
^RIck Tejada-Flores (2004)."Cesar Chavez & the UFW".The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers' Struggle. Paradigm Productions and Independent Television Service (ITVS). Archived fromthe original on May 24, 2013. RetrievedMay 7, 2013.
^Mabalon, Dawn Bochulano; Reyes, Rico (2008).Filipinos in Stockton. Images of America Series. Filipino American National Historical So, Little Manila Foundation. Arcadia Publishing. p. 40.ISBN978-0-7385-5624-6.Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. RetrievedMay 7, 2013.
^Joseph Pimentel (October 26, 2012)."Fil-Ams lack awareness on Itliong, 'manongs' of the farm worker movement".Asian Journal.Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. RetrievedMay 7, 2013.Unfortunately, when speaking or reading about the farm worker movement, Larry Itliong's name and other Filipinos have mostly vanished in mainstream history books. Even the UFW's website, says the union was created by Cesar Chavez.
^Fuentes, Ed (October 10, 2013)."10 Monumental Murals of LA".KCET.Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. RetrievedApril 21, 2015."The mural is the first memorial to honor the 1,500 Filipino American farmworkers that ignited the 1965 Delano Grape Strike, who converged with César E. Chávez to form the UFW," says the artist, Eliseo Art Silva.
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