4. Student Activism, Nationalist Organizations and Agbayani Village

 Throughout the 1965-1970 grape strike and boycott, student activist groups and ethnic organizations supported the efforts of the UFW and the farmworker movement. The Jewish Federation Council joined the boycott and organized action committees to support strike efforts. Militant organizations such as Brown Berets and the Young Lords threw support for the farmworker movement as well. As UFW organizers traveled to California’s universities to garner support for the strike, student nationalist organizations of every race and creed answered the call. Berkeley served as the focal point for student activism, as on-campus ethnic student groups formed various farmworker support committees.[10]

Student groups and nationalist organizations continued to support the United Farm Workers and the farmworker movement during the 1970s and beyond. One of the most notable efforts by student and ethnic groups was the construction of Paulo Agbayani Retirement Village. 

Construction sign for the upcomming Agbayani Village Retirment Home

Honoring the Manongs: Paolo Agbayani Retirement Village

The Paulo Agbayani Retirement Village was built on 1974. It served as a retirement community for aging, Filipino strikers of the Delano Grape Strike. Agbayani Village was the brainchild of Larry Itliong, who created the provisionary framework for a retirement home for Filipino strikers. Before the strike, many Filipino strikers were single men who lived at farm labor camps throughout the city. As soon as AWOC members picketed the fields, farm owners evicted these strikers, forcing them to rely on the boycott’s support system to survive. The buildings namesake is derived from Paulo Agbayani, an elderly Filipino striker who died picketing the Pirelli-Minetti Winery.

 After the signing of the 1970 contract, the UFW administered funds to build the retirement home, with generous support from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Farm Workers Funds. Chicano architect Luis Pena designed the building in the mission revival architectural style, and donated the design to the UFW.[11]

Agbayani Village's Student Volunteers

 Volunteer work was the backbone of construction effort for Agbayani Village. Ethnic organizations such as KDP (Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino), I Wor Kuen and MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) organized the volunteer force. Greg Morozumi, an organizer for the Chinese-American organization I Wor Kuen during the 1970s, organized Filipino and Chicano students to help build Agbayani village.

“We were trying to organize students from different colleges, such as Laney College at Oakland, San Francisco State and U.C. Berkeley, “ said Morozumi. “We would go to Delano and we’d bring a lot of Filipino, Chicano and other Asian students to help build Agbayani Village.” People of all races filled Agbayani’s volunteer ranks. “There are many who are volunteering,” recalled Willie Barrientos. “Germans, Italians, Japanese, Chinese and…many [other] peoples.” MEChA member Chris Braga served as one of Agbayani Village's lead carpenters. After the grand opening of Agbayani Village, school groups continually visited the retirement home, eager to hear the stories of the great grape strikes’ initiators. [12]

[For more information regarding Agbayani Village, please view the Agbayani Village Digital Exhibit]