Larry Itliong, born in the Philippines in 1913, immigrated to the United States at the age of fifteen. He worked in various labor-intensive jobs across the country, gaining firsthand experience of the harsh conditions faced by migrant workers. Itliong became a prominent labor organizer, advocating for Filipino and other immigrant farmworkers. He played a crucial role in initiating the Delano Grape Strike of 1965, rallying Filipino farmworkers to strike for better wages and working conditions. His leadership and organizing skills were instrumental in the early stages of the strike.

Al Rojas, born in Tulare, California in 1938, grew up as a child migrant farm worker, laboring in the fields alongside his family across California’s agricultural seasons. He co-founded the United Farm Workers Independent Union (UFW-IU) with Oscar Gonzalez and later helped merge multiple farmworker organizations into what became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Rojas’s leadership took him from directing the National Grape Boycott in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to organizing international labor solidarity campaigns in Mexico. He dedicated his life to community organizing, labor rights, and cross-border worker justice.

The connection between Itliong and Rojas represented a powerful thread of cross-cultural solidarity within the farmworker movement. When Filipino workers under Itliong’s leadership initiated the Delano Grape Strike through AWOC, Rojas and the UFW Independent Union rallied support, organizing donation drives and delivering resources to the Filipino Hall that fed striking workers and their families. Their shared commitment to worker justice helped bring Filipino, Mexican, and other farmworker communities together, ultimately contributing to the historic merger of AWOC, UFW-IU, and NFWA into a unified movement. The bond between Itliong and Rojas, captured in photographs from the 1970 Grape Boycott era, reflects a legacy of multiracial labor solidarity that continues to inspire movements for workers’ rights and social justice.