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10 groundbreaking Filipino Americans in US history
Filipino Americans are the third-largest Asian American ethnic group in the United States, after Chinese Americans and Indian Americans—and they have had a long history in the United States. The first Filipino Americans to arrive in the United States were sailors aboard a Spanish galleon who landed in present-day Morro Bay, California, on Oct. 18, 1587.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 4.4 million Filipino Americans live in the United States, with a high concentration in such states as California, Hawaii, Texas, New York, and Illinois.
Since their arrival, there have been multiple waves of Filipinos migrating to the United States. First, when the United States annexed the Philippines as the 20th century began, many Filipinos migrated to work in agriculture. Second, World War II brought in Filipino recruits, as well as American soldiers who returned home with Filipino wives. Others were professionals who sought further education in the United States and ultimately stayed.
An influx of migration from the Philippines also took…
S&G/PA Images via Getty Images![Larry Itliong While Cesar Chavez is often associated with the farmworker movement in the 1960s, it was a Filipino American labor leader who led the walkout that marked the beginning of the Delano Grape Strikes. On Sept. 8, 1965, Larry Itliong led a demonstration with more than 2,000 Filipino farmworkers to demand better wages and working conditions for agricultural laborers. Itliong's accomplishments and labor rights advocacy highlighted the commonality of labor struggles across ethnic lines. Itliong's story has mostly been forgotten in the past decades. It was only when historian Dawn Mabalon and writer Gayle Romasanta published the first book about him in 2018 that his name once again rose to the surface. Itliong is now remembered as one of the most important labor leaders in American history—one who fought for migrant workers during the Civil Rights Movement. In 2015, former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill designating Oct. 25 as Larry Itliong Day. [Pictured: Larry Itliong (center) marches with Julio Hernandez and Cesar Chavez in the Huelga Day March in San Francisco, 1966.]](https://theproudasian.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/1697038031_452_1200x0.jpg)
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