Nearly 60 years after Filipino farmworkers launched what would become one of America’s most significant labor movements, the Filipino American National Historical Society Delano Chapter gathered Saturday to honor that legacy with tours and seminars at Robert F. Kennedy High School.
The Delano grape strike began on September 8, 1965, when several hundred Filipino farmworkers walked off the job during the height of the table grape picking season. Mexican workers led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta soon joined them on the picket lines in what became a nearly five-year struggle for better working conditions and pay.
Dominador Tomate, a member of the Historical Society, said the event aimed to give people insight into Filipino American culture and ensure it’s not lost to time…