Delano Manongs

California Education Code Section 51008 reads:

The State Board of Education shall ensure that the state curriculum and framework, where appropriate, include instruction on Cesar Chavez and the history of the farm labor movement in the United States, and the role of immigrants, including Filipino Americans, in that movement, and that the state criteria for selecting textbooks include information to guide the selection of textbooks that contain sections that highlight the life and contributions of Cesar Chavez, the history of the farm labor movement in the United States, and the role of immigrants, including Filipino Americans, in that movement.

In an effort to promote the creation and availability of instructional materials aligned with this law, please support Delano Manongs, a documentary that "tells the story of farm labor organizer Larry Itliong and a group of Filipino farm workers who instigated one of the American farm labor movement’s finest hours – The Delano Grape Strike of 1965 that brought about the creation of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW). While the movement is known for Cesar Chavez’s leadership and considered a Chicano movement, Filipinos played a pivotal role that began it all. Filipino labor organizer, Larry Itliong, a five foot five cigar-chomping union veteran, organized a group of 1500 Filipinos to strike against the grape growers of Delano, California."

For eight days the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) "struck alone, getting thrown out of their labor camp homes, and facing violence from growers’ hired thugs and the sheriff’s department. Yet Larry’s story and the story of the Filipinos and their union organizing efforts that began in the 1920s in the US have virtually been forgotten. Told from Larry Itliong’s perspective, the documentary follows Larry’s life arriving in the US at age 15 and immediately becoming involved with Filipino labor unions in the canneries and farm fields on the West Coast. The story of Larry and the Delano Filipinos is a history unknown to most Filipinos in the US."

For more information on the documentary and how to support it, please visit the Delano Manongs Web site at http://www.delanomanongs.com/.