Itliong, Modesto “Larry”

Modesto “Larry” Dulay Itliong (1914-77, age 63) A labor organizer who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines in 1929 at the age of 14. The Philippines then was a U.S. territory.

Itliong was an organizer and was an essential part of the labor movement, though he is often left out of the history books. Itliong led the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and in 1965, approached the National Farm Workers Association led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, asking them to join the strike, which became known as the Delano Grape Strike. A year later, he co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW), combining the two organizations.

Itliong was born in 1913, in the Pangasinan province of the Philippines. He had only a sixth-grade education when left his home for the U.S. in 1929 at the age of fifteen. Itliong hoped to continue his education in the U.S. He was part of the Manong generation, who were part of the first big wave of immigrants from the Philippines who arrived in the early 19th century.

However, he arrived during the dire economic conditions of the Great Depression and pervasive racial violence and rhetoric against Filipinos and other immigrants. These conditions prevented him from realizing his academic ambitions. 

Although Filipinos were technically American nationals, they faced legal and social discrimination. Anti-miscegenation laws prevented Filipinos (who were overwhelmingly young men) from marrying white women. Police raided Filipino dancehalls and violent mobs targeted Filipino communities.

The only work available to most Filipinos was low-paid agricultural, cannery, and domestic work. Itliong’s experience of racism and economic injustice gave rise to a lifetime of activism.

See: Remembering Larry Itliong – Unsung Hero of the Farm Labor Movement (March 31, 2025)