Race and Labor in Hawaii Flashcards
1
Q
HI
A
- annexed as US territory in 1898 (also when Philippines and Guam)
- prior, was an independent queendom
- became the last US state in 1959
- HI incorporated into US econ as ag producer, esp sugar
- sugar was a major cash crop in HI with major labor requirements
2
Q
Oligarchy
A
- political and economic power concentrated in the hands of a very few
- led by Haoles (Haole Oligarchy)
- Haole took on racial classification as oligarchy made up of European Americans who were leaving whaling industries or were New England missionaries/their descendants
- Haoles inserted themselves into power structures of HI monarchy
- elite, few in number, sugar plantation owners
3
Q
Haole
A
- means “without bread”
- connotes a stranger, without families or ties to the land – an outsider
- wasn’t initially a racial position until oligarchy formed
4
Q
Privy Council
A
- how European Americans got economic and political power as advisors and agents of HI monarchy
- Privy Council was imported by oligarchy; claimed HI needed foreigners to advise the monarchy
- claimed loyalty to the king, but was just gaining power
- focused on foreign policy and privatization of land (critical for control)
5
Q
The Great Mahele (1848) Under Kamehameha III
A
- redistribution of lands
- introduces land ownership to HI for the first time
- Kamehameha thought it was a way to keep foreign pressures away from HI
- he thought Hawaiian people owning the land would help them improve their financial situations and therefore the HI economy
6
Q
Land Privatization Impacts
A
- critical for control in HI was control over land
- Hawaiians didn’t understand privatization of land bcs previously, all land was communal
- they didn’t understand the laws governing land ownership
- this broke the traditional connection to land
- oligarchy got land instead, and native HI were dispossessed of their land
7
Q
Settler Colonialism
A
- settling on native people’s lands and eliminating the native
- a form of imperialism (takeover of territory, appropriation of resources, exploitation of labor, etc.)
- oligarchy took ownership of land and eliminated HI cultural practices, traditions, and language
- alienated Hawaiians from society
- also, a lot of Hawaiians died because of the diseases that the Haoles brought with them
8
Q
Sugar Importance
A
- major demand for sugar
- sugar produced in HI, Caribbean, Louisiana
- HI entered capitalist global market bcs of sugar
- demand for sugar facilitated sugar plantation growth in HI
9
Q
Bayonet Constitution (HI Constitution of 1887)
A
- forced on HI by economic powers (oligarchy) and US government
- limits legislation by limiting voters to white people
- AAs have no power to vote
- shifts power from HI monarchy to white oligarchy
- leads to overthrow of HI monarchy in 1893
- oligarchy now has economic and political power
- Queen Liliuokalani protests overthrow as illegal when she writes to US gov’t
10
Q
Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA)
A
- William Hooper created 1st sugar plantation in 1835 and experimented w/ different labor types
- whaling industry paves way for sugar plantations and labor needs
- plantation-based economy
11
Q
Sugar Production: Sugar is King
A
- sharp contrast to CA situation
- CA has abundant different crop types w/ different growing seasons and regions
- HI only has sugar, a cash crop
12
Q
Hawaiian Shirt Stereotype
A
- associated w/ leisure, relaxation, paradise, diverse celebration of culture from mainland’s perspective
- this is a segmented history
- under the surface is the history of settler colonialism, criminalization of HI cultural practices, enforcing settlers’ edu, alienating HI from the land
- destruction of native HI economic and political autonomy
- Asian American settlers’ complicity in maintaining settler colonialism power imbalance
13
Q
HI as a Naval Foothold
A
- the only naval foothold for US as they go to Guam and Philippines
- important strategic position
14
Q
HSPA
A
- represents 5 major sugar production companies
- descendants of missionaries are plantation owners
- Dole (the pineapple guy) holds a bunch of power
- need for cheap labor, and HI natives seen as ill-suited for dictates of new capitalist economy bcs they continue to live off the land and cannot be disciplined the way he wanted them to
- native HI population also decimated by disease
- president of predecessor of HSPA said to use “coolie” labor
15
Q
“Constant Surveillance”
A
- hallmark of sugar plantation work
- regimented system of labor
- couldn’t talk while working, had to keep backs bent to show you were working
16
Q
Asians as the Labor Force
A
- some Puerto Ricans and Portuguese, but these were too expensive; often became lunas
- Asians were seen as labor force that could be disciplined
- a lot of Asians were looking to escape instability of their home countries
- brought some Koreans, but this was abruptly halted in 1905
- Filipinos were the last group to arrive
- Asian-dominated and highly-populated sugar plantations in HI
17
Q
Abolitionist Perspectives
A
- new ways of knowing and being within structures of power and domination
- “to restore both the criminal and victim to full humanity and to lives of integrity and dignity in the community”
18
Q
HI vs. CA
A
- Asian majority population in HI
- on US mainland, migrant labor employers didn’t want the laborers to have families bcs they moved around too much
- store owners had families because those built up the ethnic economy
- in HI, it was very settled and family life was a central aspect of life (All I Asking)
- more even sex ratio in HI
- facilitated plantation owners’ control because they needed a reliable, stable workforce that was content and able to be controlled
19
Q
Exclusion Movements
A
- Asians on US mainland were targets of exclusion movements, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act
- makes Asians the scapegoats for the flaws and shortcomings of the capitalist system (race is used as a wedge to divide and conquer working class)
- in HI, no white working-class exclusion movement bcs Asian population was majority
- structures of production create own structures of control
- planters depend on Asian laborers
- the true enemy is capitalism and capitalist owners
20
Q
Contract Labor System
A
- recruiters in Asia (often missionaries connected to HI missionaries)
- plantations paid for passage to HI, and workers sign contract to work on plantations for 3-5 yrs and pay off passage during that time from their wages
- plantation owners provided food, edu, and meds for kids
- hard to get out of debt bcs costs kept piling up
21
Q
Indentured Servitude
A
- unfree labor: shadow slaver
- free labor: you can leave jobs you don’t want
- indentured servitude: period of service under contract
- you can’t leave if unhappy w/ terms of contract
- if you can’t pay off your passage, contract is easily extended
22
Q
Lunas
A
- lunas ensured workers kept working and used whips to ensure compliance
- shielded plantation owners from dealing w/ workers
- discontent shifted from plantation owners to middlemen/lunas
- lunas often Portuguese, Puerto Rican, native HI
- once again an attempt to divide the working class
23
Q
Stoop Labor
A
- 5am-4:30pm 6 days/week
- “stoop labor”: Asians seen as naturally inclined for stoop labor bcs they’re shorter
24
Q
Racial and Ethnic Hierarchy in Work
A
- divided along race and nationality
- skilled labor positions only for Americans or those able to become citizens
- unskilled labor positions were majority Asians, Puerto Ricans, Portuguese, native HIs
25
Q
Racial and Ethnic Hierarchy in Housing
A
- also a way to keep workers divided and prevent them from coming together under class interests and overthrowing the system
- made sure they were all suspicious of each other
- kept each ethnicity in separate housing camps
26
Q
Paternalism
A
- what plantation owners and lunas would use
- pretending to care and take care of the workers as long as the workers are compliant and obedient
- if disobedient, you were fined, and this sunk you further into debt and made your contract that much harder to work off
- strict discipline goes hand in hand w/ paternalism bcs workers are seen as children who need firm, loving hand of plantation paternalism
