Modesto Dulay Itliong was born on October 25, 1913, in a small village in the Philippines named San Nicolas, in the province of Pangasinan. While Modesto’s nickname was “Larry,” for most of his life he lived true to his name, Modesto—which means modest and humble in Spanish. He loved books and was a voracious reader, but he received a limited formal education because there wasn’t a high school in his village.

As a teenager, Larry Itliong immigrated to America from the Philippines to pursue his dreams of becoming a lawyer, only to find himself becoming a farmworker and fierce activist by the time he was eighteen. He never became an attorney, but grew into a powerhouse labor leader who began the Delano Grape Strike of California. Partnering with Cesar Chavez, he merged the Filipino union, Agriculture Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), with the Mexican association, National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), in 1966—the origins of the iconic United Farm Workers (UFW) union.

Image 46.02.01 — Larry Itliong, UFW Assistant Director speaking at an unknown event circa 1960s.

Courtesy of UFW Archives, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University. Metadata ↗