Sources

Sources

Mateo, Grace. " Plantation Life." The Philippine History Site. University of Hawaii , 2001 . Web. 7 May 2010. .

Tokeshi , Denise. "Plantation Life ." Filipino Plantation Legacy in Hawaii . Sugar Roots, n.d. Web. 7 May 2010. .

Francisco , Johanna . "Filipino Americans in Hawaii: Their History." suite101 . N.p., 05 Oct 2001. Web. 7 May 2010. .

Remollino , Martin . "Filipino Migration to Hawaii: A Tale of Tears." bulatlat. N.p., 23, Nov 2009. Web. 7 May 2010. .

Dahlquist , Ron . "Timeline for Filipino Immigration to Hawaii." Hawaii for Visitors . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2010. .

Dahlquist, Ron. "Profile of Carl Damaso ." Hawaii for Visitors . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2010. .

Table of Contents

Essential Questions:
1. How did/does Hawaii benefit from the immigration of this culture during the plantation era? (Answer: Short Written Product Letters)
2. In hindsight, did the original immigrants make a good decision in immigrating to Hawaii to work on the plantations? (Answer: Long Written Product Journal)

Fundamental Questions:
1. When did they come? (Answer: Creative Product Collage)
2. How did they get here? (Answer: Creative Product Collage)
3. How did their population grow over time? (Answer: Written Product Newspaper Article)
4. How did they contribute to the economy after the plantation era? (Answer: Creative Product Collage)
5. What contributions did they make to food? (Answer: Long Written Product Journal and Creative Product Collage)
6. What contributions did they make to language? (Answer: Long Written Product Journal)
7. What contributions did they make to dance, sports and other aspects of Hawaiian culture? (Answer: Creative Product Collage)

Introduction

This blog was made for the purpose of teaching about the Filipino plantation life and the contributions that the Filipinos immigrants made. For this blog I have made two creative products and three written ones. These products will help you to learn more about the Filipino plantation life and how they impacted the industry.

The written products I created include a journal of a Filipino worker, a newspaper article on a Filipino worker's strike and a letter conversation between two important people. For the creative products I created a profile of an important Filipino labor activist and a collage about the lives of the Filipino workers in Hawaii. I hope that you find this blog thorough and informative.

Short Story Letters

Plantation Worker
Recovered by Dylan Gera
(Letter one)

3 Lani Street
Honolulu, Hawaii
6/12/22

Mr. Zachariah Jefferson
64 Kaipono Lane
Ewa, Hawaii

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I would first like to thank you for giving up your time to read my letter, it means much to me. My name is Gordon Freeman and I am a representative from the newly formed Honolulu Plantation Workers Guild. It has been brought to our attention that certain actions have been taken against the Filipino workers on your plantation by the, largely Portuguese, overseers. According to several Filipino workers who have contacted us, the overseers have used whips multiple times on the workers and have used racial slurs frequently. This treatment of the workers is unfair and they do not deserve such racial cruelty.
The Filipino workers are an important part of the Hawaii plantation industry and without them the economy would suffer greatly. The Filipinos are one of the biggest worker groups we have here in Hawaii and we must treat them with respect. If the Filipinos didn’t come over during the Japanese strikes we would have had a severe drop in sugar cane production during the early 1900s and thus a dip in our economy. As manager of the Ewa plantation it is your responsibility to tell your overseers to behave much better towards their workers.

Sincerely,
G. Freeman
Co-President Honolulu Workers Guild








(Letter two)

64 Kaipono Lane
Ewa, Hawaii
6/14/10

Mr. Gordon Freeman
3 Lani Street
Honolulu, Hawaii

Dear Mr. Freeman,

I would like to thank you for taking the time to send me your and the Guild’s opinion. However I will have to refrain from doing as you wish as I feel that the overseer’s conduct, while occasionally out of turn, is necessary to get the usually lazy workers to cooperate. The workers have a better life here then they would back home. Here they get paid more than they would elsewhere and receive free living arrangements and meals. I fully support the lunas decisions to do whatever it takes to get the Filipino workers motivated.
While the Filipinos have contributed much to the plantation business (essentially saving the plantation economy from dipping when they acted as scab workers in exchange for the Japanese) I have found them to be exceptionally lazy. None of the workers have suffered severe injury so no real harm was done. Besides, we are exceeding in our gross crop yield and that all that really matters.

Sincerely,
Zachariah Jefferson
Plantation Manager Ewa Sugar Cane Plantation

Profile of An Important Person

Carl Damaso (born Calixto Camesa) was born in the Philippines in 1917. He hailed from the town of San Felipe in the province of Zambales. He was brought over to Hawaii in 1931 to work the plantation fields at the young age of 14. There he observed the below par living conditions and meager pay of the workers, as well as the long hours and unfair treatment at the hands of the overseers.
Carl Damaso decided he would try and improve the conditions for his people so he organized a workers strike on the Big Island on the sugar plantation of Ola’a. The Filipino workers were protesting the lowering of wages and the racial discrimination that they witnessed. However, the strike was not successfully and Carl Damaso was fired and branded a “do not hire”. He moved to Maui and found a job at the Wailuku Sugar Company though he was fired for trying to start a labor union. It wasn’t until after World War II when his activism achieved success. He organized the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union.
He died on January 26, 1990.

News Paper Article (Short Written Product)

Hawaii Workers Strike
Dylan Gera
Honolulu Advertiser
On the morning of the 4th of May 1931 the city of Honolulu woke up to find a large scale strike in progress. Many of the local plantation workers here on Oahu banded together and began to protest the state wide lowering of pay and the lengthening of hours during the summer season. The workers are refusing to return to their jobs until their demands are met. These demands include: 1). Withholding the pay lowering of the workers 2). Putting an end to the lengthened hours for the summer months.
The Filipinos were originally brought in to fill the deficit of workers left by the Japanese when they went on strike. Another term being “scab” workers. Without these Filipino workers much less sugarcane would have been reaped during the Japanese’ workers strike and the economy would have suffered. Since the original immigration of the Filipino’s their population has swelled and the Filipinos are now one of the largest minority groups in Hawaii. Without the Filipinos working the harvest will almost definitely suffer and, in turn, the economy that is so dependent on it. The Filipinos, since their arrival, have contributed much to the islands including food and helping develop pidgin speak. The addition of chicken adobo, tapa and soy sauce has made Filipino cuisine a much requested food choice here in the islands. The Filipino language also makes up a very large part of the commonly spoken pidgin language.
It is of yet unclear who the strike was organized by but many think it was Carl Damaso, a well known labor activist here in the islands. Damaso has tried to organize unions and strike for workers benefits on the islands of Maui and Hawaii. “Carl Damaso has caused quite the uproar with this strike” says Aiea plantation supervisor, Thomas Jones, “these strikes don’t help anyone; they just prevent work from getting done”. However, Filipino activist Bayani Abacan feels that striking is the only way to make a difference. He says: “We need to let the luna and the plantation manager know that we are the workers and we are the company”. The Filipinos have received support from some of the other ethnic groups on Oahu mainly the Japanese who, after at first being at odds with the Filipino’s, are now one of their closest allies.
The strike is still ongoing and almost no word had been heard from the top plantation managers about any changes in pay or working hours. Hopefully, the strike will end and the workers will return to their jobs before more potential harvesting time is lost.

Plantation Collage

Collage of Filipino Plantation Life
Dylan Gera

The collage represents the life of the Filipino plantation workers and their work. It shows the way that the Filipinos got to Hawaii: by boat. The first Filipinos came in 1909 as workers to fill the vacancies left by the striking Japanese workers. It also shows that the women had to work in the fields and take care of the children at the same time. The collage illustrates the standard of living for the workers; with the picturing of a shack and a dining room. Pictures of workers standing in their grubby and stitched clothing and workers tending the sugar cane are also shown. The collage also shows contributions the Filipinos made to dance, activities and food such as: chicken adobo, traditional dance and cockfighting. After the plantation era many of the Filipinos workerd selling their food to local people and toursits alike. The food they sold was a big hit and it became known that Filipinos had some of the tastiest food. Many Filipinos still worked in labor jobs after the plantation era and continue to do so today. Overall, the collage tells about how the Filipinos worked hard and lived a rough life out in the plantation fields.