Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, 1835-1920

Pau Hana is a scholarly, well-cited work that is as readable as a novel. It explores the rise of sugar plantations in Hawaii and the various waves of migrants brought over to labor in the cane fields. Other Hawaii history books have barely touched on this subject--that the migrants existed, that they carried on strikes, and that the sugar magnates were the power behind the 1893 revolution. It was enlightening to find out about the oft-ignored men, women, and children who endured lives of drudgery and hardship, snared in terrible contracts that compelled them to work for years with little profit or respite. I especially enjoyed finding out more about the diverse nationalities of immigrants--such as many already-Christian Koreans who show more traveled to Hawaii after Japan took over Korea, and how they hoped to preserve their national spirit in their new home.

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It was interesting to learn that although the major strikes of 1909 and 1920 were broken by the plantation owners, and the laborers forced to return to work like dogs with their tails between their legs, the workers were granted the exact things they were striking for just a few months after each of the strikes (although with no publicity to announce the gains). I was hoping that the laborers would trounce the management and show that they could not be disrespected, and was bummed to learn that it wasn't so. However, the fact that the workers did shortly get their concessions was somewhat mollifying.