Filipino students at San Jose State University are finally receiving the recognition they’ve been fighting for.
After years of advocating for permanent artwork to commemorate Filipino laborers who contributed to the farmworkers rights movement, SJSU students are celebrating the creation of a Filipino American history mural on campus. The four-sided panorama, painted by artist Francesca “ChiChai” Mateo, graces a pillar in front of the Diaz Compean Student Union. Volunteers also painted part of the artwork during a community paint day last month. School officials unveiled the mural during a ceremony Friday.
Filipino American leaders of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, the union behind the Delano grape strike that kicked off the farmworkers rights movement in the 1960s, are featured in the mural, including Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and Pete Velasco.
Other panels depict the “Valley of Heart’s Delight” — the name given to Santa Clara Valley when the land was known for its abundant fruit orchards — and alumni including aerospace engineer Robert Ragsac Sr.; LEAD Filipino Executive Director Angelica Cortez; Emerita Estella Habal, a SJSU professor of interdisciplinary social sciences; Lloyd LaCuesta, a journalist and former president of the national Asian American Journalist Association; and Erwin Mina, executive board president of the Filipino American National Historical Society Museum…