MOVEMENTS AND MOMENTS
Labor & Activism of Filipino Farmworkers
2:13
Did Filipino farmworkers achieve justice?
Chapter objectives
- Learn about the history of Filipino farmworkers and the context for their migration to the United States, their treatment, and their pursuit for justice.
- Understand the complexities of relationships across race, gender, labor, and activism among farmworkers and their movement.
- Explore how labor unions have helped workers in their struggle for better working conditions.
Nearly 60 percent of Filipinos who came to the United States from 1920 to 1934 were farmworkers. Although they performed extremely difficult work with great skill and pride, they were often exploited, abused, devalued, and mistreated by the people who employed them. Despite this, they remained dignified and proud of their work and their skill, and determined that they be treated and paid accordingly. They fought for economic justice by organizing labor unions that demanded fair wages and working conditions. Filipino American farmworkers contributed significantly to the agricultural industry in the United States during the twentieth century, but have often been unacknowledged in the nation’s history. This chapter includes an overview of the labor and activism of Filipino farmworkers, and a specific look at activists such as Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, Carlos Bulosan, and Filipinas who were integral to the farmworker movement.
Modules in this chapter
Overview: Labor & Activism of Filipino American Farmworkers
Larry Itliong
Filipinas in the Filipino Farmworker Movement
The Life and Legacy of Carlos Bulosan
Philip Vera Cruz
Overview: Labor & Activism of Filipino American Farmworkers
Larry Itliong
Filipinas in the Filipino Farmworker Movement
The Life and Legacy of Carlos Bulosan
Philip Vera Cruz
Chapter Sources
Alcantara, Ruben R. Sakada: Filipino Adaptation in Hawai’i. Washington, DC: University Press of America, Inc., 1981.
Almaguer, Tomás. “Racial Domination and Class Conflict in Capitalist Agriculture: The Oxnard Sugar Beet Workers’ Strike of 1903.” Labor History,25 (1984): 325-350.
Balderrama, Francisco E.and Raymond Rodriguez.Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.
Bottomley, Allen W.T. A Statement Concerning the Sugar Industry in Hawaii: Labor Conditions on Hawaiian Plantations; Filipino Laborers there-on, and the alleged Filipino “Strike” of 1924. Honolulu: Advertiser Press, 1924.
Bulosan, Carlos. America Is in the Heart: A Personal History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1973.Bulosan, Carlos. America Is in the Heart: A Personal History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1973.
Castillo-Tsuchida, Adelaida. “Filipino Migrants in San Diego, 1900-1946.” Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of San Diego, 1979.
Catapusan. Benicio T. “Filipino Immigrants and Public Relief in the United States.” Sociology and Social Research, 23, no. 4 (March 1939): 546-545.
Crouchett, Lorraine.Filipinos in California: From the Days of the Galleons to the Present. El Cerrito, CA: Downey Place Publishing House, 1982.
De Witt, Howard. Violence in the Fields: California Farm Labor Unionization During the Great Depression. Saratoga, CA: Century Twenty One Publishing, 1980.
De Witt, Howard. Anti-Filipino Movements in California: A History, Bibliography and Study Guide. San Francisco: R and E Research Associates, 1976.
