Paying Homage to the Grape Strike Labor Organizers of the 1960s in Delano, California

We respectfully acknowledge the Native Yokuts who have stewarded the land now known as the San Joaquin Valley for thousands of years.

Happy Filipino American History Month!

One of the most influential moments of Filipino American history was in 1965 when more than 2,000 grape workers–most of them Filipino-Americans–walked off their jobs to fight for their right to unionize, and to protest the low wages and poor living conditions offered by grape growers. It would come to be known as the Delano Grape Strike.

This initial walk-out of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) swayed the majority-Mexican-American grape workers of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA)–led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta–not to cross the picket line and to join the strike themselves. Together, the groups brought international attention to the plight of farmworks by organizing protests, an effective boycott of grapes, and a march from Delano to Sacramento. Eventually, growers agreed to come to the negotiating table.

Not only was the five-year strike successful at achieving better pay and working conditions for farmworkers, but it is also lauded as one of the most important strikes in American history. The strike revolutionized labor organizing and moved the needle on civil rights gains, cross-cultural alliances, and the formation of the United Farm Workers union. Delano is where it all went down.

Trip Purpose

Make a pilgrimage to the historic sites that were the backdrop for the Grape Strike of 1965

DESTINATION: Delano, CA (about a four-hour drive from the East Bay Area)

AGE RANGE OF THE KID: 4 years

SUGGESTED LENGTH OF STAY: Allocate 2+ hours total, either on your way to another destination or make a day-trip of it

TIME OF YEAR: Early October (especially timely as October is Filipino American History Month!)

BASE COST: free

ADD-ONS: meals & incidentals

Recommended Activities

Visit Filipino Community Hall, The Forty Acres, and the gravesites of union leaders Larry Itliong and Richard Chávez.

Note: We could only visit the outside of the buildings, as they were closed to the public.

Visit Filipino Community Hall (now known as the Filipino Community Cultural Center Of Delano): According to the Filipino American National Historical Society, Delano Chapter, the Hall was the site of the unanimous vote to strike on the eve of the initial walkout by Filipino grape workers in 1965. The Hall also served as allied union headquarters for the first year of the strike.

Visit The Forty Acres: This National Historic Landmark became the site of the United Farm Workers union headquarters during the Delano Grape Strike and was also the site of César Chávez’s first public fast, final public fast, and his funeral services.

Visit the graves of Larry Itliong and Richard Chávez: North Kern Cemetery District is the final resting place of Delano Grape Strike leaders Larry Itliong and Richard Chávez, brother to César Chávez and leader in developing The Forty Acres.

Wishlist for our Next Visit

We hope the next time we visit Delano that we'd be able to step inside some of the historical buildings, as well as visit Guadalupe Church.

Additional Reading

Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong

Learn more about the life of Larry Itliong and the Filipino-American contributions to the farm labor movement by reading Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong by Dawn Mabalon with Gayle Romasanta. It has taught our family so much more about “Lolo Larry.” Find additional resources about the Filipino-American contributions to the Delano Grape Strike on the Zinn Education Project here, as well as the overall significance of Filipino-American history, courtesy of the Filipino American National Historical Society!

I am so grateful to have learned about the Farmer Worker movement in college (though I’d wished I’d learned more about these Filipino-American pioneers in grade school). At Cal I acted in a Pilipino Cultural Night skit based on the farmworker struggle in Stockton, California, and was able to take Asian American studies courses in which I once wrote an essay about the Delano Grape Strike. The Bay Area, overall, is greatly privileged to have such a strong and engaged Pilipinx-American Community.

Pit Stops

In-N-Out is quintessential road trip food and is worth the stop in Kettleman City--except when all you get is a pair of buns...

Have y’all ever ordered a veggie burger at In-N-Out, minus the lettuce, tomatoes, and the spread? Yeah, us neither, until a special visit to In-N-Out Kettlman City…

As a vegetarian, my go-to order at In-N-Out is a grilled cheese animal-style, which is essentially an animal-style hamburger, sans meat patty. I’ve probably been ordering this for several years at this point, so I feel like I have it down pat.

The cashier takes our order, including a second grilled cheese for our kid, but then mentions that they also have a “veggie burger” on their secret menu and asked if we’ve ever tried it. They sounded really excited about it, as if it were a never-before-heard-of item. We couldn’t recall if we had tried it, but couldn’t imagine that In-N-Out had rolled out a veggie patty so we proceeded with our original order (or so we thought) of a grilled cheese, minus lettuce, tomato, and spread (cause we can’t get our kid to eat any part of the burger that has even a speckle of these…).

Fast-forward to when we’re driving away in our car, I reach into the bag to get our kid’s grilled cheese out, and all I find is an sad, empty bun, LOL.

Check us out on Pinterest!

Road Trip Series

This was one of several stops on our Southwestern U.S. road trip--click the map icon for more!

Angelica

see more posts by this author

Angelica (she/her) is of Cebuano(Pilipinx)-descent and was born and raised in Huchiun Ohlone territory (the East Bay Area--pay your Shuumi Land Tax!), where she also now resides with her partner and their toddler. She loves to spend her time sipping on boba and dirty chai lattes (sometimes together), and eating pescetarian goodies at BIPOC-owned cafes and restaurants.