Filipino Labor Leader Larry Itliong Launched the Delano Grape Strike

Itliong's radical activism laid the groundwork for the iconic farmworker movement led by Cesar Chavez.

Apr. 11, 2026 at 6:56pm

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A serene, painterly image of a lone Filipino farmworker resting in a labor camp, the warm light and deep shadows conveying a sense of quiet resilience in the face of difficult conditions.The Delano Grape Strike, launched by Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong, exposed the harsh realities faced by immigrant farmworkers in California.Delano Today

Larry Itliong, a Filipino labor organizer, was the driving force behind the 1965 Delano Grape Strike, which launched the iconic farmworker movement led by Cesar Chavez. Though Chavez became the more famous face of the movement, it was Itliong who started the strike that lasted five years and forced California table grape growers to sign contracts in 1970.

Why it matters

The Delano Grape Strike was a watershed moment for civil and labor rights, drawing support from millions across the country and helping immigrants and people of color batter down doors of discrimination. However, the contributions of Filipino labor leaders like Itliong have long been obscured, overshadowed by the fame of Chavez.

The details

Itliong, head of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), launched the Delano Grape Strike on September 8, 1965 when Filipino pickers refused to leave their labor camps and enter the fields. Two weeks later, Itliong convinced Chavez and the Mexican workers he led to join the strike. The strike went on for five years until the growers were forced to sign contracts in 1970.

  • The Delano Grape Strike began on September 8, 1965.
  • The strike lasted for five years until 1970.

The players

Larry Itliong

A Filipino labor organizer who launched the 1965 Delano Grape Strike, laying the groundwork for the iconic farmworker movement led by Cesar Chavez.

Cesar Chavez

The more famous face of the farmworker movement, who joined the Delano Grape Strike two weeks after Itliong launched it.

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What they’re saying

“Many of the members of the Filipino union, the AWOC, were veterans of the strikes of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s and were tough leftists, Marxists, and Communists. They met the violence of the growers with their own militancy and carried guns and knives for self-defense. For them the drama of marching behind statues, hunger strikes, turn-the-other-cheek style was alien.”

— Dawn Mabalon, Historian

“Before the strike began, we lived in different worlds — the Latino world, the Filipino world, the African American world and the Caucasian world. It wasn't until the union began that we finally began to work together, to know each other and to begin to fight together.”

— Eliseo Medina, Former farm worker and labor leader

What’s next

The legacy of Larry Itliong and the Delano Grape Strike continues to be recognized, with the California state legislature declaring a 'Larry Itliong Day' to honor his contributions.

The takeaway

The Delano Grape Strike, launched by the Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong, was a pivotal moment in the farmworker movement that helped break down barriers for immigrants and people of color. Though Cesar Chavez became the more famous face of the movement, Itliong's radical activism laid the groundwork for the iconic struggle.