This collection, created by RIM@SI Fellow Ashley Naranjo from the Smithsonian Office of the Undersecretary for Education, focuses on the life work of Larry Itliong (October 25, 1913- February 8, 1977) a Filipino American labor organizer. Itliong immigrated to the United States in 1929 at the age of fifteen. He worked throughout the country as a farm laborer and in the salmon canneries of Alaska. In response to oppressive treatment of Filipino farmworkers, Itliong organized labor strikes. He contacted Cesar Chavez and asked Mexican farmworkers to join the strike with Filipino farmworkers. He believed that all workers had to stand together in their fight for justice. The National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) voted unanimously and Mexican farmworkers joined Filipino farmworkers in the Great Delano Grape Strike. A year later, AWOC and NFWA merged to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). The Delano Grape Strike lasted for five years. As director of the UFW, Chavez took the limelight, but co-founder and former assistant director Larry Itliong has been cast in the historical shadows.

The media and sources in this collection can be used alongside the National History Day SEARCH Historical Context Graphic Organizer and the Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot from the Journey for Justice Teachers' Guide. Both resources help students think critically about Larry Itliong's life, accomplishments, and activism, and help provide context for the labor movement more broadly. The collection prompts students to consider how we can take action and use our voice and spheres of influence to create and sustain inclusive and welcoming communities.

#NHD #NHD2020 #EthnicStudies #ReimaginingMigration

Keywords: Re-imagining Migration