Bridge and Delta Publishing in partnership with the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), and PapaLoDown Agency takes “Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong,” on a 15-city national book tour, starting with Delano, California, on Feb. 8, 2019. This is the first nonfiction illustrated children’s book about Filipino American history, and the first book ever written about Larry Itliong. The children’s book written by the late historian Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, Ph.D., with Gayle Romasanta and illustrated by Andre Sibayan tells the story of forgotten United Farm Workers (UFW) cofounder, Larry Itliong, his migration to the United States and his lifelong fight for a farmworkers union. Delano is the first stop of the national book tour with events planned in Seattle, WA; Wapato, WA; New York; Washington DC; Virginia Beach, VA; Honolulu, HI; Anchorage, AK; Southfield, MI; Lansing, MI; Chicago, IL; San Diego, CA; Houston, TX; Stockton, CA; SF Bay Area; with more cities to be announced.
To celebrate these milestones, and to honor Larry Itliongs death anniversary (Feb. 8) and Dr. Dawn Mabalon's six-month death anniversary (Feb. 10) and to kick off the Journey for Justice FANHS national book tour, a three-day event with a historical tour of Delano, panel discussions, children’s readings, Q & A with the co-author and illustrator, dinner, performances, a dedicated mass for Larrry Itliong and Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, and closing reception will be held from Friday, Feb. 8 through Sunday, Feb. 10. The historic Filipino Community Hall (“Filipino Hall”) in Delano, where the historical vote to go on strike occurred on September 7, 1965 (1469 Glenwood Street, Delano, CA 93215) will host most of the programming.
All events, except for the dinner on Saturday night ($15/$6), are free to the public. Co-sponsors for the Delano event include: Filipino Community Delano, Delano Union School District, Delano Joint Union High School District, Bakersfield College, Little Manila Rising, UC Davis Carlos Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies, and Pin@y Educational Partnerships.