18 Facts About Larry Itliong

Larry Itliong immigrated to the United States in 1929 and joined his first strike in 1930; Itliong was only 15 when he came to the United States.

Larry Itliong was an excellent card player, and avid cigar smoker, who spoke multiple Filipino languages, Spanish, Cantonese, Japanese, and taught himself about law.

Larry Itliong married six times, had seven children, and raised his family in the Delano area and in the Little Manila community of Stockton, California.

Some labor organizers whom Larry Itliong met in his early days had ties to the Communist Party.

In 1948, Larry Itliong became involved in the 1948 asparagus strike, which was the first major agriculture strike after World War II.

Larry Itliong served as the first shop steward of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 37, in Seattle, and was elected its vice-president in 1953.

Larry Itliong served as secretary of the Filipino Community of Stockton from 1954 to 1956.

In 1956, Larry Itliong founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in Stockton.

The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and National Farm Workers Association merged to form the United Farm Workers; Larry 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 Larry Itliong kept those feelings to himself at the time.

In 1966, the California Rural Legal Assistance was founded as part of President Lyndon B Johnson's War on Poverty, with Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Itliong sitting on the founding board.

Larry Itliong served as assistant director of the United Farm Workers under Cesar Chavez, and in 1970 he was appointed the United Farm Workers' national boycott coordinator.

In 1971, Larry Itliong resigned from the United Farm Workers because of disagreements about the governance of the union; another reason for resigning from the United Farm Workers, was that Larry Itliong felt that the union was not willing to support aging Filipinos.

Together with Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong worked towards building a retirement facility for UFW workers, known as Agbayani Village.

Larry Itliong served as President of the Filipino American Political Association, a bipartisan lobbying organization.

Larry Itliong died in Delano in February 1977, aged 63, from Lou Gehrig's disease.

Larry Itliong was posthumously honored in 2010 by inclusion in a mural at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Larry Itliong was portrayed by Darion Basco in the 2014 film about Cesar Chavez; the film did not include other Filipino American farm labor leaders such as Vera Cruz.

The Larry Itliong Papers are housed at the Walter Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit.