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/.

On This Day In History: February 16

On February 16, 1995, the brotherhood of Chi Rho Omicron was founded by Oscar Gonzales, Joe Bautista, Marc Dolor, Jay R. Ladran, Berto Palma, Augustine C. Tuliao, and Florencio G. Costales at California State University, Fresno. 
Fraternal organizations have long been part of the fabric of the Filipino American community. In the 1920s and 1930s, Filipinos faced racism, poverty, and alienation in the United States of America (USA). One of the ways they coped with these challenges was to form Filipino fraternal organizations like the Caballeros de Dimas-alang, the Legionarios del Trabajo, the Gran Oriente, and the Filipino Federation of America. These organizations provided them a tight-knit sense of community reminiscent of the strong family ties they left back home. One of the roles such organizations played was, for example, to provide full payment for members' funerals; this was particularly crucial for the large percentage of Filipinos who lived out the latter half of their lives as aging, childless bachelors. The organizations created a sense of belonging and community in the USA. 
During the 1990s, there was a resurgence of Filipino American pride, and while college entry rates were high for Filipino Americans, matriculation rates for Filipino Americans were much lower. This was reflective of the incredible pressures placed on Filipino Americans as victims of the model minority myth, cultural expectations to enter specific fields, and silent sacrifices made by Filipino American students, all creating tension within students not conducive to college completion.