Professor Mabalon Showcases Filipino-American Leadership in 1965 Grape Strike

BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN -- “Bold Step: A Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike,” to be held this weekend in Delano, will cover the efforts of Filipino farm laborers to earn fair wages and the five-year grape strike. The event, put on by the Delano chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society, was the idea of two college professors, Dawn Mabalon of San Francisco State University and Robyn Rodriguez of UC Davis, said Alex Edillor, president of the Delano Filipino American National Historical Society. Mabalon and Rodriguez visited Delano to tour the site of the grape strike in the spring and suggested to Edillor that the historical society should create an event for the strike’s 50th anniversary. In just a few months’ time, Edillor and event coordinator Nickie Tuthill-Delute put together “Bold Step.”