20th Century Hawai'i

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Sounds a bit Pua'i-Come-Lately, eh?

This is my (ahem) shout-out to all da peepz ('o ia ho'i 'o Glen et.al.) to wax on wich-yo-bad-selves about that sexy century that happened last millenium ago!

Anyway care to discuss? Shall we do a timeline in review to kick-off, and then pick on the tangents as they puka, or....whatchawannado?

Glen, this bud'z for u, babe!

[Miulang]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

Sounds a bit Pua'i-Come-Lately, eh?

This is my (ahem) shout-out to all da peepz ('o ia ho'i 'o Glen et.al.) to wax on wich-yo-bad-selves about that sexy century that happened last millenium ago!

Anyway care to discuss? Shall we do a timeline in review to kick-off, and then pick on the tangents as they puka, or....whatchawannado?

Glen, this bud'z for u, babe!

Why don't you start when Kamehameha I united the islands? Talk about the Great Mahele and all that...that would start the timeline at a period just prior to the influx of da missionaries.

Thnks
Miulang

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

Why don't you start when Kamehameha I united the islands? Talk about the Great Mahele and all that...that would start the timeline at a period just prior to the influx of da missionaries.

Thnks
Miulang

that would be under the "19th Century Hawai'i" thread.

[Palolo Joe]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

20th Century: 1900-1999.

[Miulang]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

that would be under the "19th Century Hawai'i" thread.

True, but why quibble about a hundred years? Seriously, to understand why things are the way they are today, I think you do have to go back in time to when Kamehameha I united the islands.

Miulang

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

True, but why quibble about a hundred years? Seriously, to understand why things are the way they are today, I think you do have to go back in time to when Kamehameha I united the islands.

Miulang

**throws hands in air**

this is such a slippery slope!

</wail>

First came Kumuhana. 23 generations later, there was Wakea and Papahanaumoku, who birthed the eight isles (there is some paternity issues with respect to O'ahu, and Wakea, if I might be generation-centric and call him a dog for sleeping with his daughter, had two outside kids, aka Lana'ika'ula and Moloka'i, but that is a whooole 'nuther thread). Then, via that same daughter, they birthed the two boys, each named Haloa, the former being a miscarriage who was planted and became the first taro, and the latter becoming the first man.

175+ generations later, we arrive at the 20th century...

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

Mahalo for starting this thread, Pua‘i!

I like the timeline idea. Here's a quick-n-dirty one for starters. I know I'm missing a lot of important things. Please add, correct, or expand as needed:

1900 Territory of Hawai‘i granted self-governance.

1924 Gentlemen's Agreement closes Japanese immigration to Hawai‘i.

1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor - beginning of WWII.

1954 Democratic Party sweeps the State Legislature.

1959 Hawai‘i admitted to the USA as a state.

1978 Hawai‘i Constitutional Convention.

1993 Centennial memorial of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. US Congress passes a resolution apologizing for the overthrow.

[Palolo Joe]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

**throws hands in air**

this is such a slippery slope!

</wail>

You'll find yourself doing that pretty often if you always go with Miulang's sense of logic.

Pua'i, weren't you the one that said you were interested in early 20th century Hawaii specifically? Here's a question - were the Hawaiian people in a better place at midnight on Jan. 1, 1900 than they were at midnight on Jan. 1, 1800?

[Miulang]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

Pua'i, weren't you the one that said you were interested in early 20th century Hawaii specifically? Here's a question - were the Hawaiian people in a better place at midnight on Jan. 1, 1900 than they were at midnight on Jan. 1, 1800?

I wanna know how the immigrant population, beginning pre-1900 affected the islands, because many of our great grandparents and great-great grandparents were part of that wave of immigrants.

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

I wanna know how the immigrant population, beginning pre-1900 affected the islands, because many of our great grandparents and great-great grandparents were part of that wave of immigrants.

Good for you. Stating the obvious once again, though - of course our great and great-great grandparents were part of that wave of immigrants.

But what does that have to do with the question I posed to Pua'i, which you quoted in your post?

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

You'll find yourself doing that pretty often if you always go with Miulang's sense of logic.

Pua'i, weren't you the one that said you were interested in early (PJ means 19th century) Hawaii specifically? Here's a question - were the Hawaiian people in a better place at midnight on Jan. 1, 1900 than they were at midnight on Jan. 1, 1800?

oooOOOooo!!!!

I want to answer this through the lens of an economist (although I am not one in real life, I play one on the internet):

No. And yeah.

No:
-population decimation. A century should have five generations of people, and some sort of living equation where x=birthrate y=life expectancy and z=other factoring stuff. I have seen estimates that Hawaiians numbered over 500,000 across the isles in 1800, but dwindled to 40K by 1900. No matter how many other cool things happened in 100 years, those numbers SUCK. I am not laying blame (we know disease was the culprit) but sucking death is the sum of this equation. This factor, imo, is the #1 consideration we should look upon when concerning ourselves with 19th century Hawaii discussions.

And, for the fun stuff, Yeah:
-Hawaii, in hindsight, was quite progressive....hang on, I will be back later to add to this, so let me ping myself here...

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

Pua'i, weren't you the one that said you were interested in early 20th century Hawaii specifically? Here's a question - were the Hawaiian people in a better place at midnight on Jan. 1, 1900 than they were at midnight on Jan. 1, 1800?

That was me actually.

In 1800, the people of Hawai‘i were being ravaged by foreign diseases. Entire villages were vanishing. Kamehameha had conquered (or was he still in the process of conquering) all the islands, except Kaua‘i, and ruled with an iron fist.

In 1900, the old diseases had mostly run their course but new ones were just as dangerous. Lepers were shipped off to Kalaupapa. The government burned Honolulu's Chinatown to the ground in 1900 due to a bubonic plague outbreak.

Was it better? Hard to say. Different, yes.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

That was me actually.

In 1800, the people of Hawai‘i were being ravaged by foreign diseases. Entire villages were vanishing. Kamehameha had conquered (or was he still in the process of conquering) all the islands, except Kaua‘i, and ruled with an iron fist.

In 1900, the old diseases had mostly run their course but new ones were just as dangerous. Lepers were shipped off to Kalaupapa. The government burned Honolulu's Chinatown to the ground in 1900 due to a bubonic plague outbreak.

Was it better? Hard to say. Different, yes.

A more provacative question is: which century was better for the Hawaiian people? The 19th or 20th?

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

not to dive off course too much but, how does a thread (such as this one ) earn stars and stuff?

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: 20th Century Hawai'i

A more provacative question is: which century was better for the Hawaiian people? The 19th or 20th?

And an even more provocative question is, which Hawaiian people do you mean? The commoners, or the ali‘i? I think that many people, when thinking about old Hawai‘i, forget that Hawaiians were not a monolithic group who all thought and acted the same.

Later:
And what ever happened to those ali‘i families, anyway? Some of them intermarried with the haole missionaries and businessmen, and maintained their positions of wealth and power -- for example the Kawānanakoa family, who are Campbell Estate beneficiaries and are worth uku-pile bucks. Are they still among the movers and shakers of the islands?