Hawai`i Connections

[Lei K]

Pomai's post on the Merrie Monarch thread about his father got me thinking about all of us on HT. You don't have to be Kanaka (though in Pomai's case he is) to have an interesting family connection to the Hawaiian islands.

I thought it would be fun to state one random thing at a time that connects you or your family to Hawai`i. You can be completely vague about it as not to name drop or whatevas. Even for you never been to the islands people, I bet if you think hard enough you have some sort of connection.

[Lei K]

Re: Hawai`i Connections

Okay, something random enough about my family.

My great uncle was a co star in the movie Hawaii and yes he had more than 5 seconds of screen time. I promise you he was noticable.

[Lei K]

Re: Hawai`i Connections

Okay, no replies so I'll post another random thing and maybe someone on here with knowledge of the history of Hawai`i can help me better understand this.

My great grandpa did an interview in the early 1990's with a student from UH Manoa that later turned into a book used there that is part of a series. Anyway, in that book he said he helped establish the longshoreman union in O'ahu. How could he do that when he worked in the sugar industry? He said (in the book) he was tired of how they were being treated and felt the need to do something. What does the longshoreman union have to do with them though? Maybe I'm just not thinking enough here. Feel free to educate me if you know the answer as my great grandfather passed away a while ago at 101 years old.

[Miulang]

Re: Hawai`i Connections

The association between the longshoremen's union and the cannery workers goes back to right after WWII. From the book "Islands in Transition" by Dr. Thomas Kemper Hitch:

Thus, by 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and civilian activities such as union organizing came to an end in Hawaii under miliary government rule, a powerful industrial union affiliated with the CIO (the ILWU) had already established itself as the bargaining agent in all Hawaii's ports, and its sister CIO union the UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America) had organized one plantation and was working hard on others with great confidence that in time they would represent them all. Labor unions had finally emerged in Hawaii and were posed to start their major organizational drive as soon as military government controls were lifted. But by the time that happened, the UCAPAWA had become inactive in Hawaii and the ILWU had take over its contracts...

Based on this information, your great-grandpa was probably a member of UCAPAWA which then merged with the ILWU right after the war.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Hawai`i Connections

My grandpa was a civil engineer with the Territory of Hawai'i (with an 8th grade level education) who helped build the current highways to Haleakala and Lahaina, and some of the roads on Moloka'i and Lanai (and I have pictures to prove it!).

Miulang

[alohabear]

Re: Hawai`i Connections

My uncle wrote this book, A Cup of Aloha about Kona coffee. In it I found out that back in the day, my great-grandfather was one of the pioneers of Kona coffee and started an co-op to so farmers could get a good price.

[Lei K]

Re: Hawai`i Connections

Mahalo Muilang for your answer to my question. It fits within the timeframe well. That was the point in history he was talking about (30s and 40s) when he mentioned helping establish the union. I also love your next post (and yours too Alohabear), those are the type of connections I love reading about.


Well, on the subject of that particular great grandpa of mine, he was blind in one eye ever since he was a child. He never let on that he was though, he didn't want to lose his job. He was also a Hawai`i Territorial Guard after Pearl Harbor which was the main reason he was interviewed by that UH Manoa student.

That book ended up being T.M.I though as he also talked of his very young days when he used to frequent a certain place or two in Iwilei. I was like OMG I DON'T WANNA READ THAT!