The Milpitas council recently announced that it would name a park in Milpitas, California, after the Delano Manongs, a group of Filipino farmworkers who led one of the most significant American farm labor strikes.
According to the Milpitas Beat, the park is located on McCandless Drive north of Mabel Mattos elementary school. It will span about four acres of land. Last month, on April 18, the Milpitas City Council voted unanimously to name the park Delano Manongs Park.
The Delano Manongs were led by Filipino American labor activist Lary Itlong. In 1965, Itlong led a group of 1,500 Filipino American farm workers to strike against the grape growers of Delano, California.
According to The George Washington Museum University, the strike facilitated the creation of the United Farm Workers Union. The Delano Manongs worked closely with Cesar Chavez and the Chicano movement to improve rights for farmworkers.
The city council in San Jose, California, also named a park after the Delano Manongs in November 2022. The Delano Manongs Park in Milpitas will open in June.
“This is an unbelievably historic event in Milpitas. It is only fitting that we designate this space to memorialize a great example of what it means to stand up for what is right and coming together to enable change,” Mayor Carmen Montano said in a statement, according to the Milpitas Beat.
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