Larry Itliong and the Great Delano Grape Strike: Rewriting Farmworker History

Larry Itliong and Filipino organizers sparked the 1965 Delano Grape Strike, reshaping farmworker history and correcting myths about Cesar Chavez and the UFW.

Liberal mythology often credits Cesar Chavez nearly single-handedly with creating the farmworker movement and the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s. The real history is richer and more complex. Central to that story is Larry Itliong, a Filipino labor leader whose organizing helped ignite the Great Delano Grape Strike of 1965.

Itliong led the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a largely Filipino union that had long roots in California’s fields. On September 8, 1965, AWOC members walked off grape farms in Delano, California, demanding better wages and working conditions. Their action sparked what became a five-year Delano Grape Strike and boycott that would reshape farm labor organizing across the United States.

The strike became truly transformative when Itliong’s AWOC and Cesar Chavez’s National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which represented many Mexican-American workers, joined forces. That unity led to coordinated strikes, national grape boycotts, and widespread public support. In 1966 the two groups merged to form the United Farm Workers, but it’s critical to remember that UFW’s origins were collective and multiethnic—born from Filipino and Mexican-American leadership and grassroots solidarity.

Larry Itliong’s role challenges simplistic narratives about the farmworker movement. As a Filipino labor leader, he brought years of organizing experience and a willingness to take bold action. The Delano Grape Strike’s success depended on cross-cultural teamwork, strategic boycotts, and persistent grassroots pressure on growers and consumers. These tactics made the strike one of the most important labor victories of the era.

Today, historians, activists, and educators work to give Itliong and other Filipino organizers the recognition they deserve. Understanding this fuller history matters: it highlights how diverse communities built farmworker unions, demonstrates the power of solidarity, and corrects myths that obscure collective struggle.

Remembering Larry Itliong and the Delano Grape Strike helps preserve an inclusive labor history—one that credits Filipino and Mexican-American organizers alike for creating lasting change in farmworker rights and union organizing.

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