![]() Despite the proddings of Itliong, they endured the unfair labor practice and did not protest the lack of wage increase. And so they spent the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s working the crop cycle and fighting for just a few cents extra every season. The manongs were a peaceful and respectful lot, who would rather keep silent than upset their employers. It was not an easy task for Itliong to rally his Filipino comrades. Union leader Larry Itliong led the Filipino workers in a strike to fight against unfair labor practice To the picket lines “And I’m a son of a b**** in terms of fighting for the rights of Filipinos in this country.” He would later on emerge as the leader in the manongs’ fight for justice and equality. “I’m not scared of nobody,” says the older Itliong. Itliong had a very strong presence, physicality, and according to his son Johnny, the man can “stand up to anybody, and stand up for anybody.” Itliong was one of the few Filipinos to buck the system and got married not just once but four times in the US, the documentary reveals. You girls might think I’m ugly, but you talk to me for a couple of hours, I’m pretty,” he says in a voice recording. “I got the ability to make you think I’m pretty. He must have charmed the ladies with his wit and sense of humor. Popular among the manongs-and it seemed with the ladies, too-was the union leader Larry Itliong, also known as “Seven Fingers” (for he only had seven of them). They were a big tightly knit community in Delano, California-they worked together and liveed together. “We became an entire generation that was forced by society to find love and companionship in dance halls,” the documentary quotes Filipino-American labor leader Philip Vera Cruz.Īfter the dancing and carousing, they were running back to the camp at 3 in the morning, thoroughly happy with their weekend rendezvous, ready to take on another challenging day in the field. They would dress up in suits and tuxedoes for the dance parties and spend their hard-earned money on the dance hall girls, who would get paid 10 cents a dance. On Saturdays, they would go downtown to get a haircut and come back carrying the scent of fresh pomade. “They like to dress up, they like to look good,” he recalls with fondness. Alex Fabros, a Filipino-American labor historian, who was still a kid in those days, had lived with the manongs in a labor camp. ![]() ![]() While life was hard in the farms, the manongs also knew how to have a good time. The manongs loved to dress up and look good, especially when attending dance hall parties. According to him, many of these manongs remained bachelors until they died. ![]() “That is why the Filipinos have a lost generation,” says Imutan. The Anti-Miscegenation Law also banned them from contracting interracial marriages. The manongs experienced the height of discrimination in the 1930s when laws barred them from voting, owning properties, and starting their own businesses. They lived together and worked together, migrating from one labor camp to the next.Īlthough hardworking and well-skilled in farm work, labor conditions in the farms were mostly unfavorable for the brown-skinned folk. The manongs were a strongly united lot, no doubt bound by their roots, their work and lifestyles. “So what they did was choose one of them who could talk to the growers in broken English to negotiate with them.” “Most of them can’t speak English, can’t read and write,” Andy Imutan, a Filipino-American Leader of the United Farm Workers (UFW), shares in the documentary. In the 1920s and 1930s, Filipino men flocked to America to find greener pasture.Īs migrant workers, they travelled across the West Coast to work in farms and vineyards. ![]()
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