Juanita Sulay Wilson interviewed by Dr. Kathleen "Kat" Cruz Gutierrez

In this interview, originally recorded in person and on video, Juanita Sulay Wilson and Allen Wilson speak with Dr. Kathleen “Kat” Cruz Gutierrez, a member of the Watsonville is in the Heart project team, and her father, Hermes Gutierrez. Wilson gives an overview of her family’s history settling in the Pajaro Valley and her father’s experience working in the fields along the California coast as migrant workers. She details her parents’ experience navigating race relations in the Pajaro Valley as a mixed-race couple. Wilson also discusses what it was like growing up in the Pajaro Valley as a mixed-race woman and the desire of her extended family to shelter her and her siblings from the racism they experienced as Filipino agricultural laborers. She also discusses the development of Watsonville alongside the changing Filipino demographics after the 1950s. Joined by her husband, Allen Wilson, they discussed how they met and moved up to San Francisco. Lastly, Wilson discusses her extracurricular activities including hula and archiving her family’s personal materials.

Juanita Sulay Wilson and Dr. Kathleen "Kat" Cruz Gutierrez

May 4, 2021

Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH) is a community-driven public history initiative to preserve and uplift stories of Filipino migration and labor in the city of Watsonville and greater Pajaro Valley. All oral history interviews are donated to WIITH by the narrators. Copyright is held by WIITH. Oral history interview recordings and transcripts are available for unrestricted use and reproduction by educators and researchers. Please note that the recordings on this website are provided via Soundcloud. For access to oral history audio files, please contact the project director at wiith@ucsc.edu. If you are an oral history narrator and would like to remove your interview from the archive website, please contact the project director.

English

Oral history

SUL.2021.64

Dr. Kathleen "Kat" Cruz Gutierrez

Juanita Sulay Wilson

San Francisco, CA

.wav

3:22:28

[0:00] Father, Mamerto “Max” Sulay’s family history

[03:59] Max’s migration to Hawai‘i

[05:31] Mother, Virginia Viner Sulay’s family history

[12:25] Max and Virginia’s meeting and marriage

[14:14] Max and Virginia’s decision to settle in the Pajaro Valley

[15:10] Max’s early life and migrant labor in the 1930s

[20:32] Juanita’s research into her father’s early life

[26:21] Max’s and his families leisure activities including cockfighting and attending picnics

[31:53] Filipino food that was served at picnics and made by Virginia and Max

[38:17] Max and Virginia’s meeting and marriage

[40:06] The challenges and prejudice Max and Virginia faced as an interracial couple

[42:01] The Sulay family formation in Watsonville and biographical information for all of the Sulay children

[45:25] Memories of growing-up in Watsonville

[52:54] Feelings and experiences of prejudice

[1:03:49] Sulays’ extended family and friend network

[1:09:29] Max’s work as a migrant labor contractor

[1:13:53] Silences surrounding Max and other manongs’ experiences of racism

[1:20:14] How Juanita met her husband Allen and how they ended up living in San Francisco

[1:24:46] Allen working with Max in the lettuce fields

[1:29:00] Juanita and Allen’s daughter’s mixed-race identity

[1:32:43] Challenges faced as a mixed-race couple and mixed-race identity

[1:40:17] Discussion of Watsonville and labor camps

[1:42:46] Returning to the Philippines and genetic connections between folks in the Watsonville community

[1:56:52] Establishing the Filipino Youth Club as a space to celebrate identity

[1:59:44] Filipino folk dancing and hula

[2:03:38] Ties between Watsonville and Hawai‘i and Juanita’s hula dancing

[2:08:28] Pajaro Valley’s unique environment

[2:11:38] Change in Watsonville’s environment, built environment, and demographics over time

[2:21:54] Disconnect between descendents of the manong and post-1965 Filipino immigrants

[2:30:00] Connecting with family in the Philippines

[2:48:08] The importance of historical preservation and the Watsonville is in the Heart project