Visions of Eden: Labor and Fantasy in Constructions of Hawai‘i as a Paradise
A SENIOR ESSAY
Presented to
The Faculty of the Department of History
The Colorado College
In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts
By
Alison Bemis
May 2017
Advisor: Amy Kohout
1
Since its 2007 redesign, the United States passport has featured a slew of iconic imagery and quotes. Page after page features eagles soaring over snow capped mountains, grazing bison, stony faces of Mount Rushmore, and more. The back cover shows outer space, with a quote by astronaut and Challenger disaster victim Ellison S. Onizuka on the opposing page. “Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds,” the page reads, “to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.” Behind this quote and other informational text about agriculture, taxes, and more, a palm tree stretches up through the left side of the page, its fronds occupying much of the page’s top half. Below the foliage, the jagged curves of Diamond Head’s silhouette rise above blue waters.1
Many of the spreads in this passport seem to serve as inspirational, a collage showcasing the best and most recognizable images of America. These back pages, on the other hand, seems more aspirational than anything. The image of Diamond Head places the viewer into the scene itself, as if the individual holding the passport was looking out over the water towards the landmark volcanic crater. However, regardless of whether or not the viewer knows what he or she is specifically looking at, the ideas of paradise contained within this image are familiar.
This type of peaceful scene is commonly reflected in portrayals of Hawai‘i, casting the islands as a tropical wonderland of smiling natives and sparkling, sandy beaches.
Portrayals of Hawai‘i as a geographic and racial paradise have not only laid an effective foundation for advertisers hoping to draw in visitors and new residents, but also acted as vehicles to propel powerful ideas about the islands to outsiders—ideas which have built
1 United States Passport in my possession
2 upon pre-existing archetypes of a tropical paradise, reflecting the anxieties and ambitions of early 20th century Americans.
One of the primary images of Hawai‘i that permeated the American consciousness was that of a racial paradise. Evelyn Nakano Glenn provides a brief definition of this idea in
Unequal Freedom, explaining that this particular paradise took the form of “a tolerant multicultural society in which natives and immigrants have freely intermingled.”
Fascination with “the diversity of the population and the exotic beauty of the many people of mixed descent,” writers from all fields “have all contributed to the idealization of
Hawai‘i's race relations, broadcasting glowing descriptions of Hawai‘i as a racial melting pot and trumpeting the absence of racial hostility and overt discrimination.” Despite this, these same writers have also “been struck by the degree to which race has served as an organizing factor in the social, political, and economic institutions of the islands.” Racial paradise does not equal racial equality in Hawai‘i, where a hierarchical labor system organized a small white elite above the native Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Islander workforce.2
However, much of the material that the average American consumer would have been exposed to throughout the early 20th century glossed over the racial hierarchy aspect. Instead, popular media and writings all focused on the perceived racial paradise itself, ignoring both how the diverse set of peoples who composed Hawai‘i’s population came to the islands and the voices of the native and nonwhite immigrant groups who were vulnerable to exploitation by powerful commercial interests. In this essay, I will use
National Geographic articles as a lens through which to explore the origins and constraints
2 Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. 191.
3 of the racial paradise presented alongside images of a tropical paradise in Hawai‘i.
Additionally, I will analyze the histories behind the people who made up this so-called paradise and how this diverse set of people came to the islands in the first place.
By exploring the ideas, images, and rhetoric of Hawai‘i as created and consumed by outsiders, I hope to better understand how the idea of a paradise, particularly a racial one, has functioned as part of the broader consciousness surrounding Hawai‘i. In particular, I will focus on how a small group of economic elites’ need for cheap, vulnerable labor laid the foundations for this idyllic portrait of island life. By using vague descriptions and images of natural beauty, these white elites promoted a pleasant fantasy that worked in their favor, while simultaneously attempting to quell labor unrest and ensuring profit which often resulted in restricting the opportunities for nonwhite residents and workers. This essay looks roughly at the period beginning shortly before the overthrow of the Kingdom of
Hawai‘i in 1893 and annexation in 1898 through the period shortly after statehood in 1959.
Throughout these decades Hawai‘i experienced rapid and dramatic change, yet the image communicated to outsiders remained relatively static.
Outsiders have engaged with a constructed face of Hawai‘i through a variety of mediums: on the fronts of postcards, in the chords of ukuleles and steel guitars, and through movie and television screens. Advertisements in magazines and newspapers encourage viewers to book a spot on one of the luxury Matson liners bound for Honolulu using photos of lush landscapes, native women, typical island leisure activities such as surfing, and hula girls playing ukuleles on the beach (see fig. 1), while films and television such as Blue Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i Five-0 populate these now-familiar settings with visions of who, in the eyes of the producers, exists in Hawai‘i (see fig. 2). Whether direct or
4 indirect, advertising “has always sold fantasy, creating moods and seeking to touch emotions rather than simply repeating facts.”3 By playing off of idealistic conceptions of the tropics, any individual hoping to utilize the image of Hawai‘i can exploit developed and familiar fantasies in the viewers’ minds to create a powerful emotional response with minimal creative effort.
Figure 1. Advertisement by the Figure 2. Poster for Blue Hawaii Hawaii Visitors Bureau (1961) Source: Hawaii Visitors Bureau. Source: "Blue Hawaii (1961)." "Hawaii." IMDb. Accessed April 22, 2017. Advertisement. National http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00 Geographic, May 1983. 54692/.
In the first half of the 20th century, National Geographic magazine served as one particularly influential source of images and cultural descriptions. The thick, glossy pages
3 Brown, DeSoto. "Beautiful, Romantic Hawai‘i: How the Fantasy Image Came to Be." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 20 (1994): 253-71. doi:10.2307/1504126. 253
5 of the magazine are familiar to many Americans, due to the magazine’s presence in waiting areas, at home, and in the classroom. Full of colorful and striking photos with accompanying articles, National Geographic partakes in “a long tradition of travelogue.” To understand aspects of this tradition of travelogue, I turn to Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L.
Collins’ Reading National Geographic. This book provides a robust framework for and analysis of the processes behind producing an issue of National Geographic, as well as the magazine itself. I will specifically focus on information Lutz and Collins provide about the magazine’s readership, as well as their analysis of the article production process, before investigating a series of articles from 1908 to 1968 focusing on Hawai‘i.4
Market figures for 1989 reveal that 55 percent of National Geographic’s in-home readership was male, while 96 percent of the readership was white, with a median age of
42. Unsurprisingly, this demographic also tended to have more money and formal education than the average American. Interviews conducted by Lutz and Collins revealed that readers of National Geographic tended to “[express] little skepticism about the photos as objective documents.” Instead of considering the what failed to make it into the photographer’s frame, the reasons why the photographer chose to point his camera at the subject, and the specific photos which the photo editor chose, readers expressed confidence in the magazine’s portrayals. National Geographic has, as Lutz and Collins put it,
“cultural authority, and the average white middle-class reader may find little in his or her everyday social experience to contradict it.” The ease with which these readers could engage in and accept this fantasy spoke was likely high, as much of these audiences had little personal evidence to challenge the carefully manicured images presented in National
4 Lutz, Catherine A., and Jane L. Collins. Reading National Geographic. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1998. Print. 1
6
Geographic. For any wishing to use the image of Hawai‘i, this lack of contrary evidence created a convenient, self-perpetuating feedback loop. The images found in National
Geographic, Matson advertisements, and more were what the public desired and expected, allowing content creators to successfully recycle a core vision of paradise with little variation.5
This dynamic enters into portrayals of Hawai‘i beyond National Geographic’s pages.
Surely the average reader would find little value in questioning the cultural authority of
Hawai‘i’s portrayal as a racially harmonious paradise, as explained by Glenn. Thus, the tradition of travelogue which Lutz and Collins write about is one which simultaneously acts as magnifying glass and mirror. On one hand, the magazine zooms in on locales deemed exotic, allowing its readership to gaze upon supposedly primitive peoples and lifestyles from the comfort and safety of their own home. On the other, the locations featured and their portrayal reflect upon the audience’s preexisting ideas and expectations about the people and places within the magazine. By carefully framing each article in a manner so as not to offend the sensibilities of the magazine’s target demographic, National Geographic acts as an informative tool for understanding what audiences in the early to mid 20th century expected and wanted to see in portrayals of island life.
From Alaska to Africa, National Geographic casts “exotic third-world peoples” as
“either cut off from the flow of world events or involved in a singular story of progress from tradition to modernity.” Hawai‘i is no exception and, in fact, receives both treatments; early articles highlight the otherness and the primitive ways of the people, while articles
5 Lutz and Collins 221, 230
7 released closer to and following statehood emphasize the progress Honolulu in particular has made towards modernizing.6
Each potential National Geographic article goes through a rigorous pitch and selection process, the end result of which is a polished and carefully manicured portrait of a place or a people. The images, chosen by the picture editor from thousands of shots taken for each article, must be compelling enough to stand on their own and tell as story without the accompanying text. News photography and photojournalism often seek to capture the
“decisive moment,” National Geographic tends to prefer the “random moment.” Where the decisive moment captures an event in time, the random moment is one “which could be any time and, therefore, can be every time.” This tendency reinforces the timeless quality of
National Geographic’s portrayal of exotic destinations. By capturing a moment not burdened by current social, political, or cultural practices, National Geographic photographers and picture editors display the elements of the exotic they wish to emphasize as static. Perpetuating the primitive serves National Geographic well, as intrigue around the savages shown on its pages encourage readership and sales. These images serve as mutually reinforcing notions of the self and the other, as they “clearly both arouse and assuage profound social and political anxieties and desires regarding the place of white middle-class privilege in an international class system.”7
Once selected, the layout of an article’s photographs also plays a significant role in creating a visual story that complements the written one, yet can also operate independently. Size and juxtaposition both figure prominently into the final tone and message of an article. A potentially alarming, yet striking, image may be printed small and
6 Lutz and Collins 13 7 Lutz & Collins 54, 55, 47
8 juxtaposed with happier and more pleasing images. This treatment occurs in many of the articles about Hawai‘i. The images that the public expects to see, of beautiful vistas, tropical scenery, and exotic, smiling women, appear in large format and on their own pages. If they appear at all, the ones with native or Asian men, especially those performing labor, appear in smaller form and are often accompanied by more pleasant and digestible content. The detailed analyses of the story making process described in Reading National Geographic helps to provide a framework for understanding and analyzing not only the photos and text found within the magazine, but other images of Hawai‘i as well.8
Since National Geographic began printing images in the early 20th century, the articles and photographs published on its pages have helped shape American visions of the exotic and the “other.” However, ensuring that any shocking material is infrequent and accompanied by lighter material is critical; as one caption writer told Lutz and Collins:
“We’re not in the business of offending people.” In short, National Geographic articles
“straddle the significant boundary between art and profit,” producing popular content meant for “the upper part of the social hierarchy” that is easily digestible by uneducated, poorer audiences while maintaining a reputation for high-quality, researched, and professional work. 9
One of the earliest featured articles about Hawai‘i appeared in the April 1908 issue.
“Hawai‘i for Homes” played to notions surrounding the chronology of exotic locales, invoking scenic descriptions of tropical lands, while simultaneously presenting the islands as an opportunity for a new sort of Manifest Destiny. Unlike later articles, “Hawai‘i for
Homes” contains no pictures; nevertheless, it still manages to communicate visions of
8 Lutz & Collins 55, 81, 59 9 Lutz and Collins 8
9 paradise and opportunity in an exotic, primitive land. Writer H.P. Wood opens the piece with a description of the landscape, almost as if obligatory, and the islands’ military value:
Much has been written about the charming climate of Hawai‘i, the beautiful scenery, and the smooth seas to the coral-fringed Paradise; and now that a struggle for the mastery of the Pacific, that ocean of such great potentialities, is on among the nations of the earth, it is seen that Hawai‘i, from its strategic position, must soon become a great military stronghold, probably the greatest in the world.10
Wood’s brief mention of Hawai‘i’s strategic benefits also complements the article directly preceding his, which discusses America’s militaristic interests in the islands at greater length, titled “Key to the Pacific.” Wood’s primary goal in “Hawai‘i for Homes” echoes the rhetoric of 19th century westward expansionist longing. In Last Among Equals:
Hawaiian Statehood and American Politics, Roger Bell explains that this type of article was a continuation of Homestead Act style encouragement by the United States government to push the boundaries of the country ever westward. Bell writes that “planters, missionaries, and traders carried to the distant islands the political and ideological imperatives of
‘manifest destiny.’ As early as the 1840s the Monroe Doctrine was, in effect, extended to
Hawai‘i, and some European diplomats anticipated that it would be soon be annexed to the
United States.” This manifests itself in two ways throughout Wood’s article, as he must continually attempt to portray the islands in two fashions: firstly, he must emphasize the modernity of Hawai‘i, in order to reassure readers that life on the islands is appropriate for those in National Geographic’s target demographic; second, he must maintain an element of otherness and allure, to hold the fascination of his readers.11
10 Wood, H. P. "Hawai‘i for Homes." National Geographic Magazine Apr. 1908: 298+. National Geographic Virtual Library. Web. 3 Feb. 2017. 298 11 Bell, Roger J. Last Among Equals: Hawaiian Statehood and American Politics. Honolulu, Hawai‘i Press: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1984. 1.
10
Throughout the article, Wood continually attempts to simultaneously portray the islands in two fashions: firstly, he must emphasize the modernity of Hawai‘i, in order to reassure readers that life on the islands is appropriate for those in National Geographic’s target demographic; second, he must maintain an element of otherness and allure, to hold the fascination of his readers.
Wood quickly dismisses the idea that Hawai‘i’s primary offerings to America lie in its scenery and strategic location. Instead, he proposes that Hawai‘i’s
future prosperity...will be due to the fact that here is found, as possibly nowhere else on the face of the globe, all that goes to make perfect home conditions—a place where a man with a few acres of land can earn a good living for himself and family and provide for a comfortable old age, surrounded by all that tends to make life enjoyable.12
Throughout the short (just over one page) article Wood emphasizes this idea, describing the fiscal benefits of populating the islands and utilizing the land for American agricultural and economic interests. Pointing out that few people (around 200,000, including “alien labor”) currently enjoy the “advantages offered by Hawai‘i,” Wood compares the islands to other locations of similar size, proposing that Hawai‘i could comfortably sustain a population comparable to that of Switzerland or Belgium, with a population of over 3 million.
Wood’s conclusion directly addresses his agenda, laden with Jeffersonian ambitions, to Americanize the Hawaiian Islands. He writes:
The territorial authorities are most desirous of settling the islands with a denizen class of small landed proprietors, and will gladly welcome all home- builders who are strong and industrious, able and willing to work. It is the hope of those having the best interests of Hawai‘i at heart to make of the islands an ideal American community.13
12 Wood 298 13 Wood 299
11
Here, Wood continues his appeal to the educated, white, upper-class target audience of National Geographic. Reading more like a real estate advertisement than a featured article in a magazine that claims scientific and educational interests, “Hawai‘i for Homes” reflects the Manifest Destiny attitudes so prevalent throughout 19th century America.
Inviting and open to American influence and settlement, this version of Hawai‘i is paradoxically a blank slate with proven economic potential through the plantation system.
Wood’s article mentions the native and current inhabitants of Hawai‘i only in passing, effectively erasing their motives and realities from his narrative. Where they do appear, Wood describes the “free hospitality of [Hawai‘i’s] citizens” and the “alien labor on the different plantations.” In Wood’s estimation, the people of Hawai‘i are either welcoming or temporary. With no in between, establishing Wood’s “ideal American community” should not encounter any obstacles. Wood depicts Hawai‘i as a culturally blank canvas, ready for an injection of American ideals, with the added benefit of a strong and established economic infrastructure in the form of a profitable sugar plantation industry. Conveniently leaving out the recent anguish over the islands’ 1898 annexation and the inequality of plantation life, Wood presents only the “room and opportunities for many hundred thousands of homeseekers” to his readers.14
This brand of erasure is not unique to Wood; many of National Geographic’s writers and photographers alike engage in an idea of Hawai‘i that both idealizes the racial harmony while promoting the potential for a white livelihood. Articles written by Frederick Simpich,
Jr. illustrate the emphasis placed upon the multiethnic and multicultural makeup of the islands: a 1949 article states that “in Hawai‘i, only the climate and scenery are native...this
14 Wood 299
12 elaboration on Nature is unending as men work to make Hawai‘i a better place to live. In
1954, the same year as landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board, another article refers to Honolulu as a “polyglot city,” while both emphasize the prevalence of interracial marriage. “Hawai‘i has become a proving ground for race relations,” Simpich, Jr. writes, citing “low crime and divorce rates, and fine standards of public health” as measures of the success of interracial relations.15
While Simpich, Jr. attempts to use his time spent on the islands as a sign of credibility and membership in the local community, even referring to himself at one point as a kamaʻaina, literally translating to “a child of the land,” he fails to mention other key details about his positioning. His father, Frederick Simpich, began working for National
Geographic in 1927 and became Assistant Editor of the magazine in 1931. When he resigned the position in 1949 due to failing health, he was succeeded by none other than his son: Simpich, Jr. Though much of the younger Simpich’s life may have been intimately connected to and spent in Hawai‘i, he was anything but the common man. Later in life,
Simpich, Jr. served as vice-president and director of company Castle & Cooke, director of
Dole Pineapple and Matson Navigation, and president of Oceanic Properties. William R.
Castle and Deena Clark, writers of two of the other National Geographic articles this essay focuses on, similarly fail to mention any relevant background information. In the case of
Clark, this background may have already been known to the reader. Between the 1940s and 1980s, Clark worked as a model and served as host of NBC’s “Deena Clark...A Moment
15 Simpich, Frederick, Jr., and W. Robert Moore. "Because It Rains on Hawai‘i." National Geographic Magazine Nov. 1949: [571]+. National Geographic Virtual Library. Web. 13 Apr. 2017. 573, 596; Simpich, Frederick, Jr., and B. Anthony Stewart. "Honolulu, Mid-Ocean Capital: Oriental and Western Ways Blend Harmoniously in Hawai‘i's Metropolis, Center of Industry, Bastion of Defense, and Tropic Playground." National Geographic Magazine May 1954: 577+. National Geographic Virtual Library. Web. 3 Feb. 2017. 589
13
With” and CBS’ “The Deena Clark Show,” where she frequently interviewed public figures from politicians to movie stars. In the 1930s, Clark also taught at schools in Hawai‘i. 16
William R. Castle, member of one of the families that founded Castle & Cooke, also tried his hand at writing a National Geographic featured article. Castle’s 1938 “Hawai‘i,
Then and Now: Boyhood Recollections and Recent Observations by An American Whose
Grandfather Came to the Islands 102 Years Ago” engages in similar practices as those by
Simpich, Jr. Like Simpich, Jr., Castle uses his credibility as a man from the islands to assure the reader of his authority, informing the reader in the title that his family came to Hawai‘i over a century ago. Because his grandfather came as a missionary, rather than a contract laborer, Castle also establishes himself as a member of a similar demographic to the magazine’s target audience. However, while most of National Geographic’s articles focus on showcasing the modernity and progress of Hawai‘i, Castle uses his family’s experiences to paint a broad portrait of Hawai‘i’s history since his grandfather’s arrival. Estimating initial settlement by Polynesian wayfinders around 500 A.D., Castle glosses over more than a millennium of inhabited history in only eight sentences. From there on, he focuses on the post-contact period, before moving onto the present day.
Castle’s narrative aligns neatly with colonialist and imperialist tales about the the relationship between the United States and Hawai‘i throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Stating that first-wave missionaries such as his own grandfather “were high- minded, self sacrificing, and devoted,” Castle explains to his audience that while they may
16 Holmes, Thomas Michael. The Specter Of Communism In Hawai‘i, 1947-53. 1st ed. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1975. Print. 220; Chronicles of Oklahoma. "Necrologies: Frederick Simpich". 1950: 365-366. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.; "TV Personality Deena Clark." The Washington Post. August 05, 2003. Accessed April 22, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2003/08/05/tv-personality-deena-clark/882b2219- e656-461b-b204-5dd92fb9e280/.
14 have been “narrow in their outlook” these good missionaries “refrained from exploiting the
Hawaiians and guarded them in their exploitation by others.” On the following page, Castle details further accomplishments:
The real gifts of the missionaries were medicines and standards of decent living. These, together with rudimentary instruction in hygiene, undoubtedly saved from annihilation a race unable to cope with the diseases of civilization. The missionaries codified customs into laws, created new laws to meet new conditions, gradually built up an orderly government, taught the people how to defend their rights.17
Assuring his reader that “these missionaries were good Americans, but [that] they made no attempt to bring about annexation,” Castle frames his family as a benevolent influence from the beginning. For Castle, the story of annexation ends with a just cause persevering over monarchist interests. Writing that Queen Lili‘uokalani’s reign was “short and stormy,”
Castle describes that “in her attempt to abolish the constitution and make herself absolute, she was a few centuries after her time. The result was her dethronement and the establishment of a republic.” Furthermore, in Castle’s narrative annexation was “made easy by the fact that it was eagerly desired by the islands and that the civilization of the place was purely American.”18
Castle’s language and word choice seem innocuous enough; however, these few short sentences hint at the political turmoil and anguish that annexation incited. He is dismissive of Lili‘uokalani as a monarch from the beginning, after spending several paragraphs describing the antics of her brother and predecessor, King Kalakaua. The abrupt death of Kalakaua in 1891 “marked the end of Hawaiian royalty” for Castle, whose
17 Stewart, Richard H., and William R. Castle. "Hawai‘i, Then and Now: Boyhood Recollections and Recent Observations by An American Whose Grandfather Came to the Islands 102 Years Ago." National Geographic Magazine Oct. 1938: [419]+. National Geographic Virtual Library. Web. 3 Feb. 2017. 421 18 Castle 422, 423
15 father was an advisor to the king and an active proponent of annexation. Castle fails to go into any detail after writing that the queen wished to “abolish the constitution and make herself absolute.” Compared to the care Castle takes in while describing Kalakaua’s wine drinking habits, a defining political moment receives only two short sentences.
Furthermore, Castle employs the image of an absolute monarch attempting to seize power to remind his readers of 18th and 19th century monarchs deposed in America and
Europe.19
A New York Times article from the period in question aligns with Castle’s view, stating that the queen “attempted on Saturday, Jan. 14 to promulgate a new Constitution, depriving foreigners of the right to franchise and abrogating the existing House of Nobles, at the same time giving her the power of appointing a new house.” In both instances, the desires and concerns of the native Hawaiian people to whom Lili‘uokalani answered as queen are absent and irrelevant to the writers. Behind the provocative language and the curtain of Castle’s direct personal connections to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom lies a much more complex and unflattering portrait of American commercial interests and the lengths to which elite, haole foreign men were willing to go to realize them.20
In 1887, only six years prior to annexation, King Kalakaua signed two pieces of key legislation. One was a reciprocity treaty which allowed sugar to be sold to the U.S. market tax-free. The other was a constitution which “stripped the monarchy of executive powers and replaced the cabinet” with members of businessman Lorrin Thurston’s party,
19 Whitehead, John S. "Western Progressives, Old South Planters, or Colonial Oppressors: The Enigma of Hawai'i's "Big Five," 1898-1940." The Western Historical Quarterly 30, no. 3 (1999): 295-326. doi:10.2307/971375. 299 20 "A Revolution In Hawai‘i: Queen Liliuokalani Deposed From The Throne: Grasping For More Power She Fell." The New York Times, January 28, 1893. Accessed April 12, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0117.html#article.
16 bestowing upon this new cabinet great authority over Hawaiian affairs. Because Kalakaua signed it under duress and the threat of violence, this document became known as the
Bayonet Constitution. It was this constitution which Lili‘uokalani attempted to repeal, a move which would have weakened the near-absolute control that companies Alexander &
Baldwin, Castle & Cooke, C. Brewer, and Theo Davies (known colloquially as the “Big Five”) had over the islands’ economies. With that economic power came political power, as prominent members of Big Five companies maneuvered themselves into positions as advisors or even spouses to the monarchy.21
When Lili‘uokalani was deposed by the coup d’etat orchestrated by Thurston, John
Stevens, and Sanford B. Dole, support for annexation was mixed.22 Contrary to Castle’s claims, there was a significant opposition to annexation both within and without Hawai‘i that reached as high as President Grover Cleveland. A report to the Committee on Foreign
Relations included President Cleveland’s refusal to re-submit a treaty of annexation for
Senate consideration which stated that “that the United States could not, under the circumstances disclosed, annex the islands without justly incurring the imputation of acquiring them by unjustifiable methods.”23
However, motivations within the support movement were as diverse and intricately linked as the community of the Hawaiian Islands was becoming. For businesses and
21 "The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawai‘i." National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/Hawai‘i-petition.; Whitehead 299 22 This trio exemplifies the extent to which the interests of the elite, white class were intertwined. At the time of the coup, John Stevens was the United States Minister to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. Sanford B, Dole was a lawyer and jurist in the islands, who became the only President of Hawai‘i following the overthrow (a position which he held until annexation in 1898). In 1899 Sanford Dole’s cousin once removed, James Dole, founded the Hawai‘i Pineapple Company in 1899 which became the Dole Food Company; the same company that Simpich, Jr. later directed. 23 United States. Congress. Senate. Hawaiian Islands: report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, with accompanying testimony and executive documents transmitted to Congress from January 1, 1893, to March 10, 1894. By John Tyler Morgan. Vol. II. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894. 1253. Accessed April 22, 2017. https://archive.org/details/afj6811.0001.001.umich.edu.; "
17 commercial interests, “immediate absorption” was favored; however, some plantation owners changed their minds at the last minute, fearing Congress would end the contract labor system upon which their economic prosperity rested. On the other hand, many whites were “anxious to end contract labor as, in the long-term, it threatened the political, economic, and cultural dominance they had established throughout the nineteenth century.” Many supported annexation due to their opposition against Asian immigration; this should come as no surprise, given that the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, only a year before the coup. Perhaps most surprising is the support of some native Hawaiians.
Initially, some supported annexation as the lesser of two evils; however, support amongst native Hawaiians grew “as threats against the monarchy materialized.” Believing that annexation would lead to immediate statehood, these supporters hoped to exert influence at the polls as soon as they could. This was no monolith, as Castle’s narrative implies.24
Castle’s coverage organizes the long period of struggle that preceded and followed annexation in a neat and attractive package, one which the target National Geographic reader would certainly have no interest in challenging. Presenting pretty images alongside a shallow summary of one of the defining moments in Hawaiian history certainly to distract the reader from any potentially challenging statements. Over one third of Castle’s article consists of full-page photo spreads, showing plantation workers, fishermen, green landscapes, and women of various ethnicities.
24 Bell 28; Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)." Our Documents - Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). Accessed April 23, 2017. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47.;
18
One photograph shows a woman
standing at the front of a boat in a two-
piece swimsuit, smiling towards the
camera. “A GRACEFUL ORIENTAL
FIGUREHEAD ADORNS A SAMPAN’S
PROW,” the caption proclaims, going on
to explain that this woman is “a half-
Japanese, half-Chinese girl” who
“typifies the racial mixtures so common
in the mid-Pacific United States
Territory” (see fig. 3) Labeling the
woman as a “figurehead,” the caption
writer and magazine have reduced her
to an object. Her value lies in her
Figure 3. The “graceful oriental figurehead” of appearance, and how she can help Castle’s article. Source: Castle 435 beautify the ship. Many of the other nonwhite women in the article seem to serve a similar purpose; rather than introducing them to tell a genuine story about the Hawaiian Islands and the people that inhabit them, the picture editors and caption writers use these women to help populate a racial paradise that appeals to the white, American public.25
Castle concludes the article by stating that “Hawai‘i is living proof that Americans and other races can live together in mutual understanding. The future value of the
25 Castle 435
19
Territory to the world, therefore, as well as to the United States, will be cultural as well as economic.” In a 1930s America attempting to face down the Great Depression, both of these benefits would have likely piqued the interest of many. However, overlooked (at times willfully) or unbeknownst to many, this was a cultural paradise that dismissed native life, culture, and government as well as that held disdain for a group of foreign-born laborers who had been imported from Asia by the very commercial interests which benefited from perpetuating this image of prosperity and paradise.26
In the early 20th century, as Hawai‘i slowly approached statehood, portrayals of the islands emphasized on the modernity of Honolulu and the industrialization taking place.
Particularly after Pearl Harbor, focus on the military advantages of the islands were swept to the side in favor of happier, more floral visions. Articles with titles such as “Hawai‘i,
U.S.A.” and “Look What’s Happened to Honolulu!” appeared, taking care to show the high rise buildings erected in the city while highlighting the opportunities for present and future residents in the text. One January 1967 article took a slightly different approach, returning once more to a primary focus on the natural visual appeal of the islands.
Sandwiched between an article about South America’s greenery and one about alligators, “The Flowers That Say ‘Aloha’” opens with a full-page photograph of a smiling
Asian woman on the left page, with the article beginning on the right. A small photograph interrupts the text, showing actor Danny Kaye arriving on the islands with leis stacked on his shoulders, flanked by two dark-skinned, dark-haired women in grass skirts and with leis of their own. The woman on the left stares directly into the camera, grinning and holding a handful of gardenias just below her chin in an offering gaze. Flowers decorate her
26 Castle 462
20 hair and a lei is draped around her neck; behind her, the background consists of lush, green, and blurry fronds. The pages that follow offer equally idealistic images of Hawai‘i, featuring “candid” photos of mainly women with leis or flowers, performing stereotypically
“island” activities. A two-page spread shows a young, nonwhite woman in a mu’umu’u sewing leis, with long strands of flowers behind her, while later images include a blonde woman emerging from the water in a two-piece swimsuit, a surfboard under her arm and a lei around her neck. From throughout the 20th century up through the present day, these depictions of island life have appeared frequently in the public sphere, showcasing the natural beauty of Hawai‘i and the happy, easy going life of her inhabitants.27
The article’s colorful photographs are not the only imagery that evoke a sense of what Hawai‘i is, and how National Geographic wishes to portray it. “After a ten-year absence, I had almost forgotten how warm and distinctive a Hawaiian welcome can be,” writes Deena Clark of her arrival by cruise liner to Honolulu. The “graceful catamarans” that greet Clark’s ship are filled with “smiling islanders...singing above the music of ukuleles,” shouting a greeting of “a-lo-ha!” to the incomers. The language in Clark’s article and others about Hawai‘i is highly descriptive, full of adjectives describing the flowers, the scenery, and the people. Clark goes on to describe the cultural and historical significance of the lei, as well as her own personal relationship to the islands. “The lovely wreath marks milestones from birth to death,” she writes, with images of graduates, their shoulders stacked high with leis, accompanying her text. “The Flowers That Say ‘Aloha’” presents the reader with a nearly overwhelming quantity of visual information about what paradise
27 Clark, Deena, and Robert B. Goodman. "The Flowers That Say 'Aloha'." National Geographic Magazine Jan. 1967: 121+. National Geographic Virtual Library. Web. 3 Feb. 2017. 121
21 looks like, supplementing this vision with textual descriptions of the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the islands.28
28 Clark 121
22
As with those in Castle’s articles, the captions accompanying photographer
Robert B. Goodman’s images in “The
Flowers That Say ‘Aloha’” betray the magazine’s positioning even more clearly than the main text, in some cases. One photograph shows a group of four men on their horses, wearing hats with leis on the brims. “Flowers adorn the hats and even the horses of hard-riding paniolos— cowboys named for the Spaniards who taught islanders to herd cattle—on the
250,000-acre Parker Ranch.” Neither cattle nor horses are native to the islands; their Figure 4. The paniolo, horses, and leis of Clark’s “The Flowers That Say ‘Aloha.’” importation began in the late 18th century Source: Clark 125 with a gift to King Kamehameha I and grew quickly. By 1846, Hawai‘i had over 25,000 wild cattle, with an additional 10,000 semi-domesticated cattle. By request of Kamehameha III, three Mexican-Spanish vaqueros came to the islands to help round up the wild cattle and teach Hawaiians cattle management and horsemanship. These Hawaiian cowboys became known as the paniolo. Though cattle herding, a traditionally masculine activity, the flowers
23 in the paniolos’ hats diminish their masculinity; furthermore, they are at rest, smiling and joking in this photo. Rather than showing these men in action, herding the cattle that wander behind them through the photo, the National Geographic photo editor for this article chose a picture that aligned with popular American notions about the islands and about men of color. Their laid-back portrayal in the photo is consistent with ideas about what an island lifestyle entails and the attitudes of Hawai‘i residents depicted in the article.29
Of the 14 photographs in this article, only two feature local men: the photo of paniolo astride their horses, and a photograph of an Asian man holding a large blue sign that reads “ILWU ON STRIKE.” A lei hangs around his neck and he wears glasses, jeans, and a straw hat (fig. 5). At first glance, this image may seem fairly innocuous; however, it betrays an inherent contradiction within this Edenic version of
Hawai‘i. How can this be paradise if the people who live there are dissatisfied Figure 5. In the middle of an article enough to go on strike? For major action like about island flowers and pleasantries, a seemingly lone man goes on strike. a strike to manifest, there must be Source: Clark 125
29 Clark 125; “Introduction of Cattle - Hawai‘i History - The Paniolo.” Accessed March 2, 2017. http://www.Hawai‘ihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&CategoryID=254.; “Mexican Vaquero” Accessed March 2, 2017. http://www.Hawai‘ihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=443.
24 widespread discontent and grievances amongst workers. The often troubling conditions which spark a strike conflict with images of paradise. Rather than the content, welcoming locals, this image introduces hints that all is not well in Hawai‘i.30
Curiously, “The Flowers That Say ‘Aloha’” glosses entirely over this picture.
Together, this photograph and another one of a haole (translating to foreigner, but usually used in reference to white people) man taking a picture take up half a page. However, neither photo is captioned nor referred to in the main body of the article. The column of text running down the left side of the page describes May Day celebrations and lei vendors, painting a pleasant picture of these lei-wearers and lei-makers. As it focuses on the varying uses and cultural meanings of leis in Hawai‘i, the article attempts to create chronological and cultural links; between the Hawai‘i of old and the present Hawai‘i, as well as between the local culture and mainland reader. The tone of the article altogether ignores the potential for unrest in the islands—so what is this photo of a strike doing in the middle of this blissful narrative?
For a magazine that aims to capture the “random moment” in time, this image certainly contradicts National Geographic’s goal of timelessness. Incongruous with the rest of the article’s images and text, this photo does not serve the broader message of the article, which speaks to floral atmospheres and open armed natives. This man and his strike belong to an era-specific narrative of labor history in Hawai‘i (and on the mainland) between the 1930s and 1950s, one which can hardly be mistaken for random. This history this photo belongs to can help add context and nuance to images such as Simpich, Jr.’s racial proving ground and polyglot city. An understanding of the central role imported labor
30 Clark 125
25 played in shaping the demographics of the islands is essential in order to deconstruct and properly examine these constructions of paradise.
Americans succeeded early on in establishing “the most influential foreign community” in Hawai‘i. Attractive due to the island chain’s convenience as a waystation for those traveling across the Pacific, merchants, whalers, and military all stopped at Oahu during their journeys. Ships docking at Oahu and her neighbors could refuel and restock, while the men aboard went ashore to interact with the native women. The missionaries and other enterprising individuals brought with them a collection of foreign diseases to which native Hawaiians had no resistance, and which ravaged the native population.
Westerners who planted roots early on positioned themselves into strategically and politically, making sure to open the door for foreigners hoping to acquire Hawaiian land and establish sugar and pineapple plantations.31
Enabled by a new set of land rights legislation that introduced formal land ownership to Hawai‘i, foreigners began to establish sugar plantations on the islands in the
1840s. However, as the plantations grew, so did the need for cheap labor. By 1876 native
Hawaiians were no longer a sufficient source of labor due to their dwindling population.
Furthermore, their intimate knowledge of the islands and ability to easily live off of the land and sea made native Hawaiians difficult to tie down to wage labor. Foreign contract workers (mainly male, single, and Asian) provided a solution to the planters’ labor problem. By the 1930s, “over half of the population of Hawai‘i was made up of sugar and pineapple workers and their dependents.” These workers came from China, Japan, the
Philippines, and Portugal, contributing to the diverse community that has continued to
31 Grant, Glen, and Dennis M. Ogawa. "Living Proof: Is Hawai‘i the Answer?" The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 530 (1993): 137-54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1047682. 141
26 grow through the years. This version of Hawai‘i is one which both Simpich, Jr. and Castle would have witnessed first hand as young children and adults; furthermore, Castle’s family played a direct role in fueling this fledgling Hawaiian economy, as Castle & Cooke was founded at the outset of the plantation economy, in 1851. With direct relationships to and experience with the less idyllic aspects of the formation of a racial paradise, both Simpich,
Jr. and Castle would have been familiar with much more than simply the National
Geographic treatment and approach to the far flung corners of the earth.32
While different national and ethnic groups were brought to the islands in an attempt to prevent worker unity, the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union (ILWU) strikes proved that this strategy was in vain. In order to achieve their goals of fair wages and work hours, the diverse labor force of Hawai‘i needed to unite across racial and cultural lines, connecting with the working class status that bound them to one another and to the corporations that employed them.
Hawai‘i’s relationship with labor unions began in California, during a series of historic labor strikes along the West Coast. Commonly known as “longshoremen,” the dock workers who took on the arduous and often risky work of unloading and loading ship cargo had begun organizing on the West Coast by the early the early 20th century. Eventually chartering the Pacific Coast District of the Federation of Labor’s International
Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), this new chapter was dedicated to representing the interests of workers who performed labor the ILWU site describes as “brutal, conditions unsafe, employment irregular, and the pay too low to support a family.”33
32 Glenn 193 33
27
When the Great Depression struck in 1929, the hardship longshoremen already experienced deepened and “genuine union organization became a matter of survival.” To achieve their demands of fair pay, a six-hour work day, non-discriminatory hiring practices, and more the Pacific Coast District of the ILA utilized strikes as powerful tool against exploitative employers. This action culminated in what is now known as the 1934 West
Coast Waterfront Strike. Lasting 83 days and resulting in six deaths and over 150 arrests, this strike succeeded in securing improved wages and working conditions for the laborers associated with the ILA. Following disputes within the union, the ILWU was born from the
Pacific Coast District of the ILA in 1937.34
Approximately 2,300 miles separate the Hawaiian Islands from California, the nearest continental shore. Despite this geographic remoteness, Hawai‘i was hardly an isolated paradise as labor concerns rose to the forefront of western mainland consciousness. In fact, laborers from Hawai‘i contributed to these tremendous efforts of the
ILA in California. Due to “the constant circulation of workers, a sizeable number of maritime workers from Hawai‘i participated in the West Coast movement, including the momentous 1934 strike in San Francisco.” In fact, “many of the participants returned to
Hawai‘i, beginning in 1935, with the express purpose of catalyzing a similar movement.”
With the aid of other West Coast activists who relocated to the islands, the ILWU gained momentum and power that previous attempts at organizing in Hawai‘i had lacked.35
Primarily concerned with standing up to intimidating reach and control of the Big
Five, union organizers in Hawai‘i took care to serve more than the longshoremen and
34 "The ILWU Story" ILWU Local 142. Accessed March 10, 2017. http://www.ilwu.org/history/the-ilwu- story/. 35 Jung, Moon-Kie. "Interracialism: The Ideological Transformation of Hawai‘i's Working Class." American Sociological Review 68, no. 3 (2003): 373-400. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1519729. 382
28 warehouse workers in Hawai‘i. Four ILWU chapters sprung up in Hawai‘i the 1930s: Local
136, for Longshore and Allied Workers of Hawai‘i; Local 142, for United Sugar Workers;
Local 150, for Warehouse, Manufacturing, & Allied Workers; and Local 152, for Pineapple and Cannery Workers. Though these chapters later consolidated into a single chapter, Local
142, these early expressions of unionization clearly illustrate the Hawai‘i ILWU’s desire to represent all of the workers it perceived as vulnerable to exploitation by powerful business interests.36
One excerpt from one of the ILWU Local 142’s history pages states that the Big
Five’s land grabs “destroyed the traditional economy and set up a plantation system that forced most workers to live in company housing and work the plantations for miserable wages, under brutal working conditions.” Furthermore, the site asserts that “employers dealt severely with protesters and smashed every attempt workers made to improve their conditions. They encouraged racial divisions and suspicion to the point that when the workers sought to organize into unions, they made the tragic mistake of following racial lines.” Though scholarship tends to agree that the Big Five structured the vulnerable laborers’ lives in a restrictive and demanding fashion, work by John S. Whitehead has suggested that the extent to which the Big Five was truly a “seemingly insurmountable or hostile force that was overcome” is more complex than it initially appears. Though the companies exercised an unyielding control over the islands in every aspect, Whitehead questions who the beneficiaries of the “remarkable prosperity” that resulted were. The planter class certainly were the most obvious and dramatic recipients of economic success, but Whitehead points out that compared to mainland farm workers, sugar plantation
36 "The Formation of ILWU Local 142." ILWU Local 142. Accessed March 10, 2017. http://ilwulocal142.org/blog/the-formation-of-ilwu-local-142.; Whitehead 297
29 workers in Hawai‘i also experienced relative prosperity. Furthermore, it was sugar profits that fueled local philanthropies and provided the taxes needed to provide public services.
Finally, Whitehead also corroborates the idea that the plantation experience was one which bonded all of the Asian immigrant groups together despite their separation, thereby sharpening the division along class rather than racial lines.37
This did not stop plantation owners from encouraging and in fact attempting to actively bolster racial division at times. Importing labor from different regions that shared no cultural background, no common language, and in the case of Japanese and Chinese laborers in particular, had historical animosity was one strategy. On the plantations, workers lived in “camps” separated by country of origin where “the immigrants were not encouraged to form the common bonds of American language, customs, and values that immigrants to other states frequently experienced.” Though intended to isolate these communities, this separation had several unintended consequences. One of these was that
“economic and racial necessity required that Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, Catholic churches, and other ethnic expressions of faith be not only allowed but supported.”
Immigrants were permitted to observe holidays, send their children to language schools, and produce newspapers in their native languages.38
Intending to prevent organization across racial, cultural, and linguistic lines, these plantations ultimately laid the foundations for a diverse population with a tradition of coexisting, rather than competing, cultural and religious practices in the name of economic
37 "Six Decades of Militant Unionism." ILWU Local 142. Accessed March 07, 2017. http://ilwulocal142.org/blog/six-decades-of-militant-unionism.; Whitehead, John S. "Western Progressives, Old South Planters, or Colonial Oppressors: The Enigma of Hawai'i's "Big Five," 1898-1940." The Western Historical Quarterly 30, no. 3 (1999): 295-326. doi:10.2307/971375. 322-3, 38 Glenn and Ogawa 146
30 prosperity.39 Whitehead also notes that scholars who attempted to critique the state of democracy in Hawai‘i “seemed to miss the irony that the lack of democracy in Hawai‘i was itself a western creation.” Seemingly contradictory attempts by the economic elite to quash the racial harmony they celebrated in National Geographic in the face of unionization only add to the network of inconsistencies raised by careful examination of the paradise model.
Initially, this push for racial division worked, as workers initially organized along racial lines in the 1920s and1930s; however, ILWU organizers later helped direct resistance efforts into a multi-ethnic and united front. Several Japanese and Filipino union strikes failed in the early 20th century due to this lack of worker solidarity, with these failures coming at the high cost of eviction to the laborers and their families; however, the 1940s saw a new era of labor organization in Hawai‘i.40
Despite the potential for racial conflicts, the ILWU successfully executed two strikes in 1946 and 1949. The first of these was the 1946 Sugar Strike, which had a significant impact on political, economic, and social life on the islands. Of the 34 sugar plantations operating across the Hawaiian Islands 33 shut down as a result of the strike, which lasted
79 days and required companies to agree to higher wages and improved working conditions to end. The strike ultimately cost sugar producers over $15 million. As the first inter-island, interracial, and inter-industry movement in Hawai‘i, the 1946 Sugar Strike demonstrated to laborers the power of worker solidarity. When they reached across racial
39 This did not and to this day does not exempt the islands from racial discrimination and racism amongst the population. Glenn and Ogawa write that the islands engaged in a “policy of racial unorthodoxy,” as described by sociologist Andrew Lind “in which overt discrimination and hostility need to be submerged but are sublimated through covert deeds of rudeness, gossiping, derision, interpersonal aloofness, or outright nastiness.” (148) 40 Glenn 222-224; 1946 Sugar Strike. Accessed March 7, 2017. https://www.Hawai‘i.edu/uhwo/clear/home/1946.html.; Whitehead 306
31 and cultural lines, they could accomplish much and indeed shared many common interests worth fighting for.41
Only three years later, the 1949 Dock Strike addressed the disparity between the value of mainland and Hawai‘i labor. Though Hawai‘i longshore workers performed the same work for the same companies as West Coast longshoremen, they received
“significantly lower pay.” Throughout this 177-day strike, opponents attempted to “red- bait” the strikers and the ILWU, accusing members and leaders alike of Communist affiliations and loyalties. An opposing group of upper-class white women formed a picket known as the “Broom Brigade” which demonstrated against the ILWU, using tactics that encouraged hysteria and passing out promotional material that listed suspected communists. Despite obstacles, ILWU leaders such as Harry Bridges were ultimately successful in negotiating a raise for the longshoremen who demanded wage parity. Again, worker solidarity and organization across racial lines prevailed in the face of unfair and exploitative labor practices on the islands.42
The stories of the ILWU’s successful efforts at organizing labor strikes run counter to the narrative crafted by National Geographic which promotes a vision of harmony and altogether lacks any mention of unrest, be it class or racial. Though it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when or why the man in “The Flowers That Say ‘Aloha’” went on strike, this photo illustrates the discontinuity of the paradise narrative. As this photo clearly shows, the dissatisfaction between laborers and companies continued beyond the 1949 strike.
41 1946 Sugar Strike. Accessed March 7, 2017. https://www.Hawai‘i.edu/uhwo/clear/home/1946.html. 42 The Great Hawai‘i Dock Strike. Accessed March 7, 2017. https://www.Hawai‘i.edu/uhwo/clear/home/1949.html.; "Hawaiian longshoremen win 177-day strike in Hawai'i', 1949." Global Nonviolent Action Database. Accessed March 7, 2017. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/Hawaiian-longshoremen-win-177-day-strike-Hawai‘i-1949.
32
Perhaps National Geographic had simply bought into their own fantasy by this point; however, to choose this photo over thousands of others likely taken for the article implies that at least one individual at the magazine may have felt compelled to break that illusion, even in such a passive fashion. On the other hand, and more likely it seems, the picture editor hoped to soften and effeminate even labor strikers. In the photo this man stands alone with his sign held underneath his arms, against his body. He does not shout or engage with the camera or any potential passersby; he and the flowers that adorn his neck and hat are passive. A far cry from the burly and hypermasculine workers that appear in
Depression-era murals, this man and his unknown reasons for striking seem docile and tame in comparison. Like the paniolo shown earlier in the article, though this lone striker may be male he is far from what the magazine is willing to portray as “masculine.” Instead, he becomes more of an amusing, curious figure rather than a serious character in the narrative that National Geographic presents.43
The nonwhite men and women who National Geographic presents to readers as evidence of a racially harmonious society may not have lived in a Garden of Eden; however, they certainly held unique attitudes at the time towards race and interracial activity. In a time when Jim Crow statutes dominated the American South, Hawai‘i lacked legal regulations regarding race and what nonwhite individuals could or could not do. Unlike the rigid and punishing racial boundaries that defined Southern life and segregated its people,
Hawai‘i “never had any laws against miscegenation, nor was there any notable sentiment in favor of such legislation.” However, as Glenn notes, the reason for this may not have been
43 "Timeline of Hawai‘i Labor History." Hawai'i Labor History Timeline. Accessed March 07, 2017. https://www.Hawai‘i.edu/uhwo/clear/home/Timeline.html.; "History of Agriculture in Hawai‘i." 2013. Accessed March 07, 2017. http://hdoa.Hawai‘i.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/HISTORY-OF- AGRICULTURE-IN-HAWAI‘I.pdf
33 due as much to a “culture of tolerance” than the fact that “anti-miscegenation laws in many parts of the United States were adopted to prevent men of color from having access to white women, not to prevent white men from having access to women of color.” In Hawai‘i, where there were few white women and an availability of native and Asian women, miscegenation posed little threat to the white men present.44
The perception that Hawai‘i “seemed not to have a race problem” helped it appear attractive as a “racial laboratory.” A lack of public opposition to interracial partnerships and children was presented as evidence of this problem’s absence. Mixed race children, referred to as hapa, “were seemingly a well-accepted and well-adjusted part of the local community.” Hapa children and adults were free to navigate society and establish relationships without the burdens of an inferior or stigmatized social standing. Instead of organizing around racial lines, a move which may seem intuitive to an outsider seeing this multiracial society, labor unionization shows that organizing around class lines of “locals” versus haoles proved far more effective in Hawai‘i.45
Scholarship on the supposed racial harmony of Hawai‘i in recent years has concentrated on varying aspects of the idea, but consistently emphasized one thing:
Hawai‘i was not the racial paradise that National Geographic, advertisers, and Hollywood so desperately clung to. In her conclusion to “Creating a Racial Paradise: Citizenship and
Sociology in Hawai‘i,” Lori Pierce writes that “Hawai‘i was not a racial paradise, but there was a deep desire to believe that it was so. If it was so, then the imposition of Western
44 Glenn 191 45 Pierce, Lori. "Creating a Racial Paradise: Citizenship and Sociology in Hawai’i." Race and Nation: Ethnic Systems in the Modern World. Ed. Paul Spickard. Milton Park: Routledge, 2012. Print. 78, 81, 85
34 language, culture, religion, and government in Hawai‘i was not an assertion of White supremacy, but the natural progress of a nation from the primitive to the modern.”46
Similar to Pierce, Jung’s abstract notes that interracialism has commonly been
“understood negatively, as deracialization—the removal of racism.” However, instead of the “scholarly consensus that Hawai‘i’s interracial working-class movement of the late
1930s and 1940s presupposed deracialization: that a “colorblind” class ideology...effaced racial divisions,” Jung turns to “a leftist ideology of class” serving as “the initial pivot for an affirmative transformation of race, producing an interracial ideology that rearticulated, rather than disarticulated, race and class.”47
Glen and Ogawa draw a similar conclusion to both Pierce and Jung in their abstract, stating that
The living proof that the islands’ people offer is not racial bliss or perfect equality but an example of how the perpetuation of ethnic identities can actually enhance race relations within the limits of a social setting marked by (1) the historical development of diverse ethnic groups without a racial or cultural majority; (2) the adherence to the values of tolerance represented in the Polynesian concept of aloha kanaka, an open love for human beings; and (3) the integration of Pacific, Asian, European and Anglo-American groups into a new local culture.48
Each of these writers reframe the racial paradise notion, breaking down the fantasy of total interracial cooperation. As Jung points out, the strength of whatever elements of racial paradise did exist in Hawai‘i was a result not of deracialization, but the opportunity for each group to flourish and grow into the community while being allowed to maintain their previous ethnic and national identities.
46 Pierce 84 47 Jung, Moon-Kie. "Interracialism: The Ideological Transformation of Hawai‘i's Working Class." American Sociological Review 68, no. 3 (2003): 373-400. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1519729. 48 Grant and Ogawa 137
35
Decades of visual and written advertising leading up to the present day have focused on the scenic beauty and the racial diversity of Hawai‘i. Perhaps imagining a racial paradise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean served as a comforting image to those who faced economic, social, and racial turbulence on the mainland. In face of the highs and lows
Americans endured through the early 20th century such as the Great Depression, World
War II, and the civil unrest that began to come to a head in the 1950s, the sunny beaches must have presented a pleasant alternative to the daily turbulence mainlanders saw playing out on the covers of their newspapers and in the nightly news. When families starved and unemployment rates soared, a booming sugar industry may have served as a hopeful message. Fantasies at the edge of the ocean may have been an escape from the worries of wartime, and the promise of a peaceful and supportive interracial society where men and women of all races commingled and reproduced likely spoke to those who were optimistic about or at least searching for a way to see similar results in their own home states.
By investigating the language and the specific images that writers like Wood,
Simpich, Jr., Castle, and Clark use in their National Geographic portrayals of Hawai‘i, we can begin to understand the labor factors which these articles and other materials obscure, but are essential to breaking down this racial paradise. Embedded deep within this paradise framework is the labor history that, although often treated as a separate matter, realistically is a central (if somewhat hidden) component of how paradise came to be in the first place. However, the voices of the native and immigrant peoples whose bodies were used to produce economic prosperity in the form of crops and tourism are conspicuously absent in all of these representations of Hawai‘i presented to outsiders. Curiously, the
36 process of rendering Hawai‘i as a sort of Eden through emphasis on scenery and race has effectively silenced these native peoples and migrant workers. Instead of occupying a real place and a real time, the people of this constructed Hawai‘i live on in a world of perpetual smiles and calm waters. To preserve this image, both natives and nonwhite migrants must remain ahistorical, existing continually in the random moment rather. Despite this, even the most carefully constructed façades can crack; peeking out through a decades-old curtain of pleasing imagery, the decisive moment appears, reminding attentive audiences that there’s far more to this tropical wonderland than meets the eye, and that the complex web of interactions and reactions established in the early 20th century trickles down to the present day.
37
Bibliography
"A Revolution In Hawai‘i: Queen Lili‘uokalani Deposed From The Throne: Grasping For More Power She Fell." The New York Times, January 28, 1893. Accessed April 12, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0117.html#article.
"Blue Hawaii (1961)." IMDb. Accessed April 22, 2017. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054692/.
Brown, DeSoto. "Beautiful, Romantic Hawai‘i: How the Fantasy Image Came to Be." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 20 (1994): 253-71. doi:10.2307/1504126.
Clark, Deena, and Robert B. Goodman. "The Flowers That Say 'Aloha'" National Geographic Magazine, January 1967, 121-31.
"The Formation of ILWU Local 142." ILWU Local 142. Accessed March 10, 2017. http://ilwulocal142.org/blog/the-formation-of-ilwu-local-142.
Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Grant, Glen, and Dennis M. Ogawa. "Living Proof: Is Hawai‘i the Answer?" The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 530 (1993): 137-54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1047682.
The Great Hawai‘i Dock Strike. Accessed March 7, 2017. https://www.Hawai‘i.edu/uhwo/clear/home/1949.html.
Hawaii Visitors Bureau. "Hawaii." Advertisement. National Geographic, May 1983.
"Hawaiian longshoremen win 177-day strike in Hawai'i', 1949." Global Nonviolent Action Database. Accessed March 7, 2017. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/Hawaiian-longshoremen-win-177- day-strike-Hawai‘i-1949.
"History of Agriculture in Hawai‘i." 2013. Accessed March 07, 2017. http://hdoa.Hawai‘i.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/HISTORY-OF- AGRICULTURE-IN-HAWAI‘I.pdf
Holmes, Thomas Michael. The Specter Of Communism In Hawai‘i, 1947-53. 1st ed. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1975. Print. 220
38
"The ILWU Story" ILWU Local 142. Accessed March 10, 2017. http://www.ilwu.org/history/the-ilwu-story/.
“Introduction of Cattle - Hawai‘i History - The Paniolo.” Accessed March 2, 2017. http://www.Hawai‘ihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&CategoryID=254.
Jung, Moon-Kie. "Interracialism: The Ideological Transformation of Hawai‘i's Working Class." American Sociological Review 68, no. 3 (2003): 373-400. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1519729.
Lutz, Catherine A., and Jane L. Collins. Reading National Geographic. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998.
“Mexican Vaquero” Accessed March 2, 2017. http://www.Hawai‘ihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=443.
"Necrologies." The Chronicles of Oklahoma 28, no. 3 (1950): 365-66. Accessed April 17, 2017.
"Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)." Our Documents - Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). Accessed April 23, 2017. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47.
Pierce, Lori. "Creating a Racial Paradise: Citizenship and Sociology in Hawai‘i." In Race and Nation: Ethnic Systems in the Modern World, by Paul Spickard. Milton Park: Routledge, 2012.
Simpich, Frederick, Jr., and B. Anthony Stewart. "Honolulu, Mid-Ocean Capital: Oriental and Western Ways Blend Harmoniously in Hawai‘i's Metropolis, Center of Industry, Bastion of Defense, and Tropic Playground." National Geographic Magazine, May 1954, 577-622.
Simpich, Frederick, Jr. "Because It Rains on Hawai‘i." National Geographic Magazine, November 1949, 571.
"Six Decades of Militant Unionism." ILWU Local 142. Accessed March 07, 2017. http://ilwulocal142.org/blog/six-decades-of-militant-unionism.
"Timeline of Hawai‘i Labor History." Hawai'i Labor History Timeline. Accessed March 07, 2017. https://www.Hawai‘i.edu/uhwo/clear/home/Timeline.html.
"TV Personality Deena Clark." The Washington Post. August 05, 2003. Accessed April 22, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2003/08/05/tv- personality-deena-clark/882b2219-e656-461b-b204-5dd92fb9e280/.
United States. Congress. Senate. Hawaiian Islands: report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, with accompanying testimony and executive
39
documents transmitted to Congress from January 1, 1893, to March 10, 1894. By John Tyler Morgan. Vol. II. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894. 1253. Accessed April 22, 2017. https://archive.org/details/afj6811.0001.001.umich.edu.
Whitehead, John S. "Western Progressives, Old South Planters, or Colonial Oppressors: The Enigma of Hawai'i's "Big Five," 1898-1940." The Western Historical Quarterly 30, no. 3 (1999): 295-326. doi:10.2307/971375.
Wood, H.P. "Hawai‘i For Homes." National Geographic Magazine, April 1908, 298-99.
Bell, Roger J. Last Among Equals: Hawaiian Statehood and American Politics. Honolulu, Hawai‘i Press: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1984.
"The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawai‘i." National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/Hawai‘i-petition.
1946 Sugar Strike. Accessed March 7, 2017. https://www.Hawai‘i.edu/uhwo/clear/home/1946.html.