Videos of Hawaii’s Plantation Era
Welcome to our collection of videos of Hawaii’s plantation era. Alice Kamokila Campbell, a turn-of-the-century voice for the Hawaiians, had come to regard the importation of Asian plantation labor as the single greatest catastrophe that ever befell the kingdom. She correctly anticipated that Asians would soon dominate the political landscape in Hawai’i in a way that would marginalize the Hawaiians to a far greater extent than had been the case with the haole. She may have sensed the political determination that comes with being a resented minority, as Asian immigrants were for several generations, until John Burns came along and built a Democratic machine on the strength of the polyglot “little guy”… a machine that would endure for 70 years. It’s not so much race that defines politics in Hawai’i; the political Great Divide has formed along the lines of local versus non-local—a movement with which, oddly, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement finds little common cause. As a result, the Hawaiian finds himself as much of a political outsider these days as the haole.
He lani iluna, he honua ilalo, onioni ia kulana a paa. – Heaven above, earth below, and his own position firmly fixed. (A way of applauding a thrifty man.)
“Dole Plantation” (4:35)
“Hamakua Sugar Company 1988” (12:29)
“Hawaii Plantation Era Food: Saimin” (1:22:41)
“Japanese Immigration to Hawaii” (25:05)
“Life on the Rail in Hawaii” (45:31)
“Plantation Days” (5:31)
“Plantation Days in Pahala” (6:33)
“The History of Sugar, Part 2” (18:47)
“The Plantation” (2:11)
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