Voices of Resilience
The early Chinese immigrants in the Hawaii Labor Movement
Presented by center for chinese studies UHM
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
learn
experience
Feel
- resilience and empowerment
reflect
- solidarity, unity, and social justice
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
Content
Click to navigate to the section you are interested
>
>
event
quiz
Test your knowledge
Transformative moment in the history
>
>
History
Notables
Who changed the course of the history
A brief Hawaii labor history journey
>
>
data
reflect
What history taught us
Chinese Immigrants' struggles behind numbers
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
You can always go back to the Content page by clicking the home button.
Quiz
Ready for a short quiz?Before we dive into the show let's See how much you know about early chinese immigrants in hawaii labory history
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Remember to click send when you complete the quiz
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Hawaii Labor History
A slideshow based on c.l.e.a.r. guide to hawaii labor history at UH West Oahu
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
1835The kingdom's first large scale sugar plantation was started
Picture credit: https://hawaiianislands.com/
Old Sugar Mill at Koloa on the island of Kaua'i managed by William Hooper of Ladd & Co.
Background picture credit: National Park Service
the life of the first Hawaiian laborers
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
sure a poor man
PUA MANA NO
Nonoke au i ka maki ko, I ka mahi ko. Ua ‘eha ke kua, kakahe ka hou, Poho, Poho. A ‘ai‘e au i ka hale ku‘ai, A ʻaiʻe au i ka hale kuʻai. A noho ho‘i he pua mana no, A noho ho‘i he pua mana no.
I labored on a sugar plantation, Growing sugarcane. My back ached, my sweat poured, All for nothing. I fell in debt to the plantation store, I fell in debt to the plantation store. And remained a poor man, And remained a poor man
1841 The first recorded hawaii labor dispute
The native Hawaiian workers
walked off their jobs at Koloa in to win a wage increase of about 2 cents an hour or 25 cents
a day.
Industrial monopoly1850-1900
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
The growers looked for labors outside the island
Over the years, 46,000 Chinese 180,000 Japanese 66,000 Filipinos as well as Portuguese and Puerto Ricans were brought to Hawaii to offset the bargaining power of its
predecessor
Picture credit: The Chinese in Hawai'i Eleanor N. & Richard L.
Chinese steerage passengers. on board the S. S. China en route to
Hawai'i
Background picture credit:boatinternational.com
patient
苦力
bitter strength
"COOLIE" LABOR
difficult manual labor
cheap
obedient
Background credit: Library of Congress
When they reached Honolulu, they
were kept in the quarantine station for about two weeks. They were made to clean themselves in a tank and have their clothes fumigated. Planters looked them over and picked them for work in
much the same way a horse was looked at before he was bought. ... They could rest only at times okayed by
the lunas. If the men slowed down in their work or showed signs
of not working, for whatever reason, the lunas whipped them with
black snake whips."
Margaret Young
Source: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
"You will not always go on paying $80 and $100 a month for labor which you can hire for $5. ...It cheapens no labor of man's hands save the hardest and most excruciating drudgery
— drudgery which all white men abhor and are glad to escape from." Mark Twain
Picture credit: US National Archives
The fear of Chinese colony
"Hawaii is going to lapse
into a Chinese colony without making a struggle to prevent it."
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
The Great Fear Of the Period The Uncle Sam May Be Swallowed by Foreigners.
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
Massacre of Chinese in 1880
A quote from an article in All About Hawaii of 1890
racial unionism1900-1934
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
The year 1900
- Hawaii became a territory of the United States.
- The labor contracts became illegal.
- Thousands of freed men and their families left Hawaii
- 25 strikes were recorded that year.
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
Background picture credit:Public Archives of Hawaiiu
surplus labors
reduce labor cost
diverse labor groups
conspiracy
divide and rule
Industrial interests
unequal wage
instrument of production
racist tactics backfired
Organized by Japanese and Filipino unions 5 months 15,000 workers Increased wages and race unequal wages were ended
Organized by the first labor union on the plantations 3 months 7,000 workers Increased wages and housing conditions
1920Hawai‘i’s first interracial workers strike
1909first industry-wide strike in Hawaiian labor history
Background picture source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oahu_sugar_strike_of_1920u
TRIUMPHS OF SOLIDARITYafter 1935
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
a new unionism in Hawai'i
1935
Wagner Act
1938
Hilo Massacre
1946
Sugar Strike
1949
The Great Dock Strike
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
labor force brought to hawaii
Chinese (1852-1900 ) 46,000 Japanese (1868-1907) 180,000 Portuguese (1878-1913) 17,500 Norwegians (1881) 615 Germans (1882-1897) 1,280 Puerto Ricans (1900-1901, 1922) 5,800 Koreans (1903-1910) 7,420 Spanish (1905-1916) 7,500 Filipino (1906, 1929, 1945) 111,000 Russians (1906-1912) 2,475
Source: Johannessen,Edward. The Hawaiian Labor Movement: A Brief History. Boston;
Bruce Humphries.Inc., 1956: 28.
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
Union density: Top 3 states
New York 23.8%
Hawaii 21.3%
Washington 18.8%
U.S. Average 10.7%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017 (Union Members' Percentage)
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
An Inspiration for the enduring journey towards social justice
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archivesike
Data
Chinese Immigrants' struggles behind numbers
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
Arrivals of Chinese in Hawaii
From 1852 to 1899
5,280
4,243
Click the red icons to understand the graph
975
293
1853
1867
1882
1876
1891
1897
1899
1852
In January 20, 1900, 38 acres of Honolulu's Chinatown was burned to the ground . 4,000 Chinese homeless
Reveal
Source: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
contract 1852
26
$3
10+
years
monthly
days/month
hours/day
Judge Wm. Lee The president of agricultural society
Click to read the quote
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
Percentage of Chinese population in Hawaii
From 1853 to 1980
Click the red icons to understand the graph
22.65%
18.62%
11.29%
7.38%
5.83%
3.58%
0.5%
1872
1890
1910
1930
1980
1884
1853
1943
Source: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
reflect
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i:
A Historical and Demographic Perspective
1946 The Great Hawai'i' Sugar Strike
transformative moment in the history
Picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
- To earn 65 cents per hour
goals
- To have 40 hour work weeks
- To convert perquisites to cash
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
facts
33
26,000
79
sugar workers
sugar plantations
days
industry-wide shut-down
community support
Different racesame union
Click the button to see the detail
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
"Its legacy is the formation of a multiethnic community force working together to address social and political problems. "
Center for Labor Education and ResearchUniversity of Hawai‘i - West O‘ahu
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
reflect
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
notables
Who changed the course of the history
Ah Quon McElrath
Harry Kamoku
Jack Wayne Hall
15 December, 1915 – 11 December, 2008
October 3, 1905 - March 23, 1957
February 28, 1915 - January 2, 1971
feedback
feedback
THANK YOU!
1899, on Maui, 130 Chinese workers march from Wailuku to Sprecklesville to demand hot
meals be served in camp. Another "riot" of Chinese workers at Wai‘anae Plantation is crushed by camp police
'posse.' 17 Chinese were injured and the 4 strike leaders were arrested and imprisoned for
18 months.
An intellectual force who gave voice to Hawaiʻi’s working class
- Alumna and Emeritus Regent of UH
- An esteemed labor activist and social worker
McElrath was born Leong Yuk Quon in Iwilei after her parents immigrated to Hawaii from Zhongshan, China. Born to immigrant Chinese parents and raised in extreme poverty, she became one of Hawaiʻi’s most influential leaders, helping shape the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) into a powerful force for social change. After retirement from the union, she continued to work tirelessly for social and economic justice. She championed universal health care, education, press freedom, civil and human rights.
Ah Quon McElrath HAWAIʻI LABOR HISTORYs
The ILWU organized an internal structure in which all strikers would have a strike assignment and all strikers would remain sustained nutritionally through an indefinite period. This included daily coordination of activities for 75,000 people over four islands, like fishing, hunting, and rice collecting. The industry responded by limiting rice supplies and other foods unions used for soup kitchens.
Alexis Dziedziech
A man who changed the face of labor in Hawai‘i forever
- Regional Director of ILWU in Hawaii in 1944
- An American labor organizer and trade unionist
- Organized plantation and dock workers as one interracial union in Hawaii
Born in Ashland, Wisconsin, Jack Hall graduated from high school at the height of the Depression. He found that the only open jobs were on ships and became a sailor. During this time he observed first hand the oppressive conditions of the working man. In 1934, he marched in the picket lines of the waterfront strike.
CLEAR Biographies of Hawai‘i Labor History Figures
In 1853, the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaii finds a
White landowner not guilty of the beating death of his Chinese laborer despite
overwhelming testimony to the contrary.
In 1897, Chinese workers at LIhu’e Plantation 'riot' in protest of the brutality of the head luna. One Chinese is killed and 15 are deported.
The ILWU organized an internal structure in which all strikers would have a strike assignment and all strikers would remain sustained nutritionally through an indefinite period. This included daily coordination of activities for 75,000 people over four islands, like fishing, hunting, and rice collecting. The industry responded by limiting rice supplies and other foods unions used for soup kitchens.
Alexis Dziedziech
In May 1867, Honolulu Longshoremen striked to raise their wages from S1 to S1.50 a day, they
are replaced by scabs.
The United States Chinese
Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, resulting in a liberalization
of immigration quotas and a significant increase of Chinese
immigration to Hawai'i from the People's Republic of China,
Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Before 1946, Hawai‘i's economy, politics and social structures were completely dominated by a corporate elite known as the Big Five (Alexander & Baldwin, American Factors, Castle & Cooke, C. Brewer, & Theo. Davies). The leaders of these factor companies exercised absolute control over Hawai‘i's plantation workers and the majority of the islands multi-ethnic workforce. The 1946 strike completely shut down 33 of the 34 sugar plantations in the islands.
Center for Labor Education and Research University of Hawai‘i - West O‘ahu
One of the pioneers of the modem
trade union in Hawai'i
- Hawaiian-Chinese
- President of Hilo Longshoremen's Association
- Organizer of workers across the islands under the ILWU
He was born in Hilo, Hawai‘i and at the age of 16 became an apprentice seaman and a member of the Sailors Union of the Pacific. Through his journeys, he witnessed firsthand the mistreatment of workers around the world. He even walked the picket lines during the 1934 San Francisco Dock strike. When he returned to Hilo in 1935, he was determined to organize the longshore workers around the ILWU principles.
CLEAR Biographies of Hawai‘i Labor History Figures
On January 3, 1852, the first 175 Chinese field workers were brought to Hawaii. The immigration of Chinese workers begins.
Upon completion of their period of contract labor where they
received low pay and had little opportunity for promotion, most
of the Chinese left the sugar plantations to seek economic gain in
other endeavors.
In 1876, The Sugar Reciprocity Treaty between the United Stales and Kingdom of Hawaii was established.
"To all those planters who can afford it. I would say, procure as many laborers as you can,
and work them by themselves, as far as possible separate from the natives, and you will
find that, if well managed, their example will have a stimulating effect upon the Hawaiian.
who is naturally jealous of the coolie and ambitious to outdo him."
In August 1891, 300 Chinese workers 'not' at Kohala Plantation, protesting the plantation's
requirement that they return one third of their pay or be deported.
Government regulations introduced
between 1886 to 1892 virtually ended Chinese contract labor
immigration. A limited number of Chinese laborers were permitted to enter
Hawai'i under conditional work permits for agricultural purposes,
provided that they left the Islands after five years.
In 1882, The United States Congress passes the first Chinese Exclusion Act.
By actively fighting racial and ethnic discrimination and by recruiting leaders from
each group, the ILWU united sugarworkers like never before. Members were kept informed and involved through a democratic union structure that reached into every plantation gang and
plantation camp.
Center for Labor Education and Research University of Hawai‘i - West O‘ahu
By 1932, the Chinese had mostly left plantation work.
After the passage of the U.S.
Chinese Exclusion Law of 1882, some Chinese immigrants,
originally recruited to the United States to work in the gold mines
or on the railroads, migrated to the Islands from the West Coast.
The Chinese were the fifth largest ethnic group on the
Islands, ranking behind Whites (331,925), Japanese (239,734),
Filipinos (132,075), and Hawaiians (118,251).
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Transcript
Voices of Resilience
The early Chinese immigrants in the Hawaii Labor Movement
Presented by center for chinese studies UHM
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
learn
experience
Feel
reflect
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
Content
Click to navigate to the section you are interested
>
>
event
quiz
Test your knowledge
Transformative moment in the history
>
>
History
Notables
Who changed the course of the history
A brief Hawaii labor history journey
>
>
data
reflect
What history taught us
Chinese Immigrants' struggles behind numbers
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
You can always go back to the Content page by clicking the home button.
Quiz
Ready for a short quiz?Before we dive into the show let's See how much you know about early chinese immigrants in hawaii labory history
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Remember to click send when you complete the quiz
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
Hawaii Labor History
A slideshow based on c.l.e.a.r. guide to hawaii labor history at UH West Oahu
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
1835The kingdom's first large scale sugar plantation was started
Picture credit: https://hawaiianislands.com/
Old Sugar Mill at Koloa on the island of Kaua'i managed by William Hooper of Ladd & Co.
Background picture credit: National Park Service
the life of the first Hawaiian laborers
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
sure a poor man
PUA MANA NO
Nonoke au i ka maki ko, I ka mahi ko. Ua ‘eha ke kua, kakahe ka hou, Poho, Poho. A ‘ai‘e au i ka hale ku‘ai, A ʻaiʻe au i ka hale kuʻai. A noho ho‘i he pua mana no, A noho ho‘i he pua mana no.
I labored on a sugar plantation, Growing sugarcane. My back ached, my sweat poured, All for nothing. I fell in debt to the plantation store, I fell in debt to the plantation store. And remained a poor man, And remained a poor man
1841 The first recorded hawaii labor dispute
The native Hawaiian workers walked off their jobs at Koloa in to win a wage increase of about 2 cents an hour or 25 cents a day.
Industrial monopoly1850-1900
Background picture credit:University of Southern California Library/California Historical Society.
The growers looked for labors outside the island
Over the years, 46,000 Chinese 180,000 Japanese 66,000 Filipinos as well as Portuguese and Puerto Ricans were brought to Hawaii to offset the bargaining power of its predecessor
Picture credit: The Chinese in Hawai'i Eleanor N. & Richard L.
Chinese steerage passengers. on board the S. S. China en route to Hawai'i
Background picture credit:boatinternational.com
patient
苦力
bitter strength
"COOLIE" LABOR
difficult manual labor
cheap
obedient
Background credit: Library of Congress
When they reached Honolulu, they were kept in the quarantine station for about two weeks. They were made to clean themselves in a tank and have their clothes fumigated. Planters looked them over and picked them for work in much the same way a horse was looked at before he was bought. ... They could rest only at times okayed by the lunas. If the men slowed down in their work or showed signs of not working, for whatever reason, the lunas whipped them with black snake whips."
Margaret Young
Source: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
"You will not always go on paying $80 and $100 a month for labor which you can hire for $5. ...It cheapens no labor of man's hands save the hardest and most excruciating drudgery — drudgery which all white men abhor and are glad to escape from." Mark Twain
Picture credit: US National Archives
The fear of Chinese colony
"Hawaii is going to lapse into a Chinese colony without making a struggle to prevent it."
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
The Great Fear Of the Period The Uncle Sam May Be Swallowed by Foreigners.
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
Massacre of Chinese in 1880
A quote from an article in All About Hawaii of 1890
racial unionism1900-1934
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
The year 1900
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
Background picture credit:Public Archives of Hawaiiu
surplus labors
reduce labor cost
diverse labor groups
conspiracy
divide and rule
Industrial interests
unequal wage
instrument of production
racist tactics backfired
Organized by Japanese and Filipino unions 5 months 15,000 workers Increased wages and race unequal wages were ended
Organized by the first labor union on the plantations 3 months 7,000 workers Increased wages and housing conditions
1920Hawai‘i’s first interracial workers strike
1909first industry-wide strike in Hawaiian labor history
Background picture source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oahu_sugar_strike_of_1920u
TRIUMPHS OF SOLIDARITYafter 1935
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
a new unionism in Hawai'i
1935
Wagner Act
1938
Hilo Massacre
1946
Sugar Strike
1949
The Great Dock Strike
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
labor force brought to hawaii
Chinese (1852-1900 ) 46,000 Japanese (1868-1907) 180,000 Portuguese (1878-1913) 17,500 Norwegians (1881) 615 Germans (1882-1897) 1,280 Puerto Ricans (1900-1901, 1922) 5,800 Koreans (1903-1910) 7,420 Spanish (1905-1916) 7,500 Filipino (1906, 1929, 1945) 111,000 Russians (1906-1912) 2,475
Source: Johannessen,Edward. The Hawaiian Labor Movement: A Brief History. Boston; Bruce Humphries.Inc., 1956: 28.
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
Union density: Top 3 states
New York 23.8%
Hawaii 21.3%
Washington 18.8%
U.S. Average 10.7%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017 (Union Members' Percentage)
Background picture credit:University of Hawaii West Oahu
An Inspiration for the enduring journey towards social justice
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archivesike
Data
Chinese Immigrants' struggles behind numbers
Picture credit: Libraray of Congress
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
Arrivals of Chinese in Hawaii
From 1852 to 1899
5,280
4,243
Click the red icons to understand the graph
975
293
1853
1867
1882
1876
1891
1897
1899
1852
In January 20, 1900, 38 acres of Honolulu's Chinatown was burned to the ground . 4,000 Chinese homeless
Reveal
Source: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
contract 1852
26
$3
10+
years
monthly
days/month
hours/day
Judge Wm. Lee The president of agricultural society
Click to read the quote
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
Percentage of Chinese population in Hawaii
From 1853 to 1980
Click the red icons to understand the graph
22.65%
18.62%
11.29%
7.38%
5.83%
3.58%
0.5%
1872
1890
1910
1930
1980
1884
1853
1943
Source: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
reflect
Background picture credit: Eleanor, N. & Richard, L.(1989) The Chinese in Hawai'i: A Historical and Demographic Perspective
1946 The Great Hawai'i' Sugar Strike
transformative moment in the history
Picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
goals
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
facts
33
26,000
79
sugar workers
sugar plantations
days
industry-wide shut-down
community support
Different racesame union
Click the button to see the detail
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
"Its legacy is the formation of a multiethnic community force working together to address social and political problems. "
Center for Labor Education and ResearchUniversity of Hawai‘i - West O‘ahu
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
reflect
Background picture credit: Hawaii State Archives
notables
Who changed the course of the history
Ah Quon McElrath
Harry Kamoku
Jack Wayne Hall
15 December, 1915 – 11 December, 2008
October 3, 1905 - March 23, 1957
February 28, 1915 - January 2, 1971
feedback
feedback
THANK YOU!
1899, on Maui, 130 Chinese workers march from Wailuku to Sprecklesville to demand hot meals be served in camp. Another "riot" of Chinese workers at Wai‘anae Plantation is crushed by camp police 'posse.' 17 Chinese were injured and the 4 strike leaders were arrested and imprisoned for 18 months.
An intellectual force who gave voice to Hawaiʻi’s working class
McElrath was born Leong Yuk Quon in Iwilei after her parents immigrated to Hawaii from Zhongshan, China. Born to immigrant Chinese parents and raised in extreme poverty, she became one of Hawaiʻi’s most influential leaders, helping shape the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) into a powerful force for social change. After retirement from the union, she continued to work tirelessly for social and economic justice. She championed universal health care, education, press freedom, civil and human rights.
Ah Quon McElrath HAWAIʻI LABOR HISTORYs
The ILWU organized an internal structure in which all strikers would have a strike assignment and all strikers would remain sustained nutritionally through an indefinite period. This included daily coordination of activities for 75,000 people over four islands, like fishing, hunting, and rice collecting. The industry responded by limiting rice supplies and other foods unions used for soup kitchens.
Alexis Dziedziech
A man who changed the face of labor in Hawai‘i forever
Born in Ashland, Wisconsin, Jack Hall graduated from high school at the height of the Depression. He found that the only open jobs were on ships and became a sailor. During this time he observed first hand the oppressive conditions of the working man. In 1934, he marched in the picket lines of the waterfront strike.
CLEAR Biographies of Hawai‘i Labor History Figures
In 1853, the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaii finds a White landowner not guilty of the beating death of his Chinese laborer despite overwhelming testimony to the contrary.
In 1897, Chinese workers at LIhu’e Plantation 'riot' in protest of the brutality of the head luna. One Chinese is killed and 15 are deported.
The ILWU organized an internal structure in which all strikers would have a strike assignment and all strikers would remain sustained nutritionally through an indefinite period. This included daily coordination of activities for 75,000 people over four islands, like fishing, hunting, and rice collecting. The industry responded by limiting rice supplies and other foods unions used for soup kitchens.
Alexis Dziedziech
In May 1867, Honolulu Longshoremen striked to raise their wages from S1 to S1.50 a day, they are replaced by scabs.
The United States Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, resulting in a liberalization of immigration quotas and a significant increase of Chinese immigration to Hawai'i from the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Before 1946, Hawai‘i's economy, politics and social structures were completely dominated by a corporate elite known as the Big Five (Alexander & Baldwin, American Factors, Castle & Cooke, C. Brewer, & Theo. Davies). The leaders of these factor companies exercised absolute control over Hawai‘i's plantation workers and the majority of the islands multi-ethnic workforce. The 1946 strike completely shut down 33 of the 34 sugar plantations in the islands.
Center for Labor Education and Research University of Hawai‘i - West O‘ahu
One of the pioneers of the modem trade union in Hawai'i
He was born in Hilo, Hawai‘i and at the age of 16 became an apprentice seaman and a member of the Sailors Union of the Pacific. Through his journeys, he witnessed firsthand the mistreatment of workers around the world. He even walked the picket lines during the 1934 San Francisco Dock strike. When he returned to Hilo in 1935, he was determined to organize the longshore workers around the ILWU principles.
CLEAR Biographies of Hawai‘i Labor History Figures
On January 3, 1852, the first 175 Chinese field workers were brought to Hawaii. The immigration of Chinese workers begins.
Upon completion of their period of contract labor where they received low pay and had little opportunity for promotion, most of the Chinese left the sugar plantations to seek economic gain in other endeavors.
In 1876, The Sugar Reciprocity Treaty between the United Stales and Kingdom of Hawaii was established.
"To all those planters who can afford it. I would say, procure as many laborers as you can, and work them by themselves, as far as possible separate from the natives, and you will find that, if well managed, their example will have a stimulating effect upon the Hawaiian. who is naturally jealous of the coolie and ambitious to outdo him."
In August 1891, 300 Chinese workers 'not' at Kohala Plantation, protesting the plantation's requirement that they return one third of their pay or be deported.
Government regulations introduced between 1886 to 1892 virtually ended Chinese contract labor immigration. A limited number of Chinese laborers were permitted to enter Hawai'i under conditional work permits for agricultural purposes, provided that they left the Islands after five years.
In 1882, The United States Congress passes the first Chinese Exclusion Act.
By actively fighting racial and ethnic discrimination and by recruiting leaders from each group, the ILWU united sugarworkers like never before. Members were kept informed and involved through a democratic union structure that reached into every plantation gang and plantation camp.
Center for Labor Education and Research University of Hawai‘i - West O‘ahu
By 1932, the Chinese had mostly left plantation work.
After the passage of the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Law of 1882, some Chinese immigrants, originally recruited to the United States to work in the gold mines or on the railroads, migrated to the Islands from the West Coast.
The Chinese were the fifth largest ethnic group on the Islands, ranking behind Whites (331,925), Japanese (239,734), Filipinos (132,075), and Hawaiians (118,251).