Stockton honors Larry Itliong with exhibit: What to know about the California labor leader

Dolores Huerta and César Chávez are two well-recognized American labor leaders and civil rights activists. But one name that fails to appear in history books time after time from the same era is Filipino-American labor leader Larry Itliong.

The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Museum in Stockton wants to change that. Last Saturday, FANHS Museum unveiled a new exhibit during a private invite-only event honoring Larry Itliong.

"The reason why we are honoring Larry Itliong is one, he is probably the biggest social justice icon in Filipino-American history," said Erwin Mina, FANHS board president.

The exhibit created by Voltaire Victorio was unveiled by Itliong's daughter Patty Itliong Serda. Others in attendance included Huerta and Chávez's son Paul Chávez.

The museum has scheduled an open house this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“This is a permanent fixture in the museum," Mina said.

Mina, a Delano native has been on the board for the FANHS museum since November 2019. One of his main goals once he became president earlier this year was to honor Itliong.

Mina said when growing up in Delano he attended school with César Chávez's youngest son.

"One of the reasons that I hold this so passionately is Filipino-Americans have historically been underrepresented and being underrepresented is one of the biggest factors for prejudice and anti-Asian laws," Mina said. "So, we want to tell the story, and we want to get it out there."

Who is Larry Itliong?

Itliong was born in the Philippines in 1913 as Modesto "Larry" Dulay Itliong. He immigrated to the United States at a young age.

Itliong ended up moving to Stockton after serving in World War II.

He was involved with the United Farm Workers even though he does not get much recognition for it.

"I think part of it too, was that he wasn't necessarily like the type to need a lot of recognition..." said Irene Calimlim, Community Development director for Little Manila Rising. "I think it is a little bit sad like in Stockton that we don't get a lot of recognition for Larry Itliong being really rooted in Stockton and having that history, a lot of us only learned it from ethnic studies courses when we were adults in college."

According to the Library of Congress Legal States website, "The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) was formed in 1966 as a collaboration between the Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and the National Farm Workers Association."

He organized farmworkers to strike in California.

Itliong among other Filipino-American leaders organized the 1965 Delano Grape Strike.

Though many people believe César Chávez called that strike, it was Itliong’s Filipino farm workers’ union that did, The Record reported in 2014.

Itliong convinced older farmworkers to fight for fair treatment. The raise they were fighting for was from $1.20 to $1.40. Itliong asked Chávez to join them.

Partnering with Itliong (and, in his own union, another Stockotnian, Huerta), Chávez conducted the strike brilliantly, using nonviolence, a 300-mile march to Sacramento and a national grape boycott over a grueling 5-year campaign that ended in success, The Record reported.

Just like Itlliong's contributions to the farm workers labor movement, Filipino-American history remains unknown to many.

"There's a term, historical amnesia, so in the 1960s, a lot of the central area of the Little Manila neighborhood, got erased when the Crosstown freeway (was built, it ) destroyed, like a lot of those businesses. And I think with that came a lot of trauma that can be common with the immigrant story that it's best to just really just try to survive and be quiet and kind of blend in," Calimlim said. "A lot of that history of Stockton just didn't really carry through, even though there's just so much history within that neighborhood."

In 2015, Little Manila Rising had a petition to rename the “section of Hunter Street between the Crosstown Freeway and Hazelton Street to Larry Itliong Street.”

However, eight years later there is still no Larry Itliong Street in Stockton.

"Larry is an example of someone who fought for justice and believed that in order to do that, it takes bringing everyone along, really embodying everyone's struggle and taking that on together in solidarity," Calimlim said. "Because in the end, for him, it wasn't specific about fair conditions just for the Filipino population. He really saw that it was important to carry on the fight as well for the other immigrant populations that were also working in the fields."

The book "Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong" is a book co-written by Stockton native Gayle Romasanta and Little Manila Rising's co-founder Dr. Dawn Mabalon. It was published in 2018. Now, Romasanta is in the works of putting together a musical she wrote and is the executive producer for “Larry The Musical.”

Larry Itliong Day

California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis issued a proclamation declaring “Larry Itliong Day” on Oct. 25, which also was his birthday.

Larry Itliong Day was first celebrated in California in 2015 after former Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 7, a bill authored by then-Assemblymember Rob Bonta.

October also marks Filipino-American History Month.

"The influence that he made for me, and a lot of our people was that he fought for people that were powerless," Mina said. "And able to organize peoples of different races he was a unifier and he gave us license to dream."

Anyone interested in visiting the exhibit on a different day can do so by appointment. To make an appointment, email the FANHS Museum at fanhsmuseum@aol.com or call them at 209-932-9037.

Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Museum

• Location: 337 E Weber Ave in Stockton

• Hours: By appointment only

• Information: fanhsmuseum.com

Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Filipino-American Larry Itliong honored at Stockton exhibit