Biography of Larry Ltliong | History | Lifestyle | Documentary |

Biography of Larry Ltliong | History | Lifestyle | Documentary |

Larry Itliong was a Filipino American organizer and community leader who played an important role in the farm labor movement, including the Delano Grape Strike of the 1960s.

A teenage Larry Itliong left the Philippines and arrived in the United States in 1929. Though he'd dreamed of studying law, Itliong first became a migrant worker, then a labor organizer who fought for better treatment and pay. He was a Filipino American "manong," a respectful term from the Ilocano dialect meaning "older brother" that was used to refer to the Filipino men who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century. Despite Cesar Chavez's prominent involvement in the Delano Grape Strike of the 1960s, it was Itliong who coordinated the initial labor action that grew into a wide-ranging boycott. He was also a leader of one of the two unions that merged to become the well-known United Farm Workers. Itliong died at the age of 63 in 1977.