Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii
Encyclopedia
Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii  |
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Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii began when Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
's sugar industry was devastated by two hurricanes in 1899. The devastation caused a world wide shortage in sugar and a huge demand for the product from Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Hawaiian sugar plantation owners began to recruit the jobless, but experienced, laborers in Puerto Rico.
Prelude
In the 19th century Puerto Rico depended mainly on its agricultural economy. The island together with CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
was the Spanish Crown's leading exporter of sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
. When the island was ceded to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
after the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, as stipulated by the agreements of the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1898)
The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed on December 10, 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, and came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the ratifications were exchanged....
of 1898, most of its industries were taken over by American industrialists. Cheap labor was provided by Puerto Ricans who depended on the nation's agriculture as their only source of income.
On August 8, 1899, Hurricane San Ciriaco
1899 Hurricane San Ciriaco
1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, also known as the 1899 Puerto Rico Hurricane, was the longest-lived Atlantic hurricane and the eleventh deadliest tropical cyclone in the basin. It was an intense and long-lived Atlantic Cape Verde-type hurricane which crossed Puerto Rico over the two day period August 8...
, with winds of over 100 miles per hour, struck Puerto Rico and, on August 22, another hurricane followed. The floods caused by 28 days of continuous rain damaged the agricultural industry and left 3,400 dead and thousands of people without shelter, food or work. As a result, there was a shortage of sugar from the caribbean in the world market and a huge demand for the product from Hawaii and other sugar producing countries. To meet the demand, plantation owners began a campaign to recruit the jobless laborers in Puerto Rico.
First immigrants
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
harbor to New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. Once in New Orleans, they were boarded on a railroad train and sent to Port Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. From there they set sail aboard the Rio de Janeiro to Hawaii. According to the "Los Angeles Times" dated December 26, 1901, the Puerto Ricans were mistreated and starved by the shippers and the railroad company. They arrived in Honolulu, on December 23, 1900, and were sent to work in one of the different plantations owned by the "Big Five" on Hawaii's four islands. By October 17, 1901, 5,000 Puerto Rican men, women and children had made their new homes on the four islands. Records show that, in 1902, 34 plantations had 1,773 Puerto Ricans on their payrolls; 1,734 worked as field hands and another 39 were clerks or overseers (foremen).
Discrimination by the "Big Five"
The "Big Five" was the name given to a group of sugarcaneSugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
corporations that wielded considerable political power in the Territory of Hawai‘i
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
and leaned heavily towards the Hawai‘i Republican Party. The Big Five was Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture...
, Alexander & Baldwin
Alexander & Baldwin
Following World War II, the company entered a new business: land development and real estate. The company formed a new subsidiary, the Kahului Development Co., to develop housing in the Kahului area. In the following years, the company became more involved in the development of its land and the...
, C. Brewer & Co.
C. Brewer & Co.
C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. was a Honolulu-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company did most of its business in agriculture....
, Amfac
Amfac (Hawaii)
Amfac, Inc. formerly known as American Factors and originally H. Hackfeld and Company was a land development company in Hawaii. Founded in 1849 as a retail and sugar business, it was considered one of the so-called Big Five companies in the Territory of Hawaii...
and Theo H. Davies & Co.
Theo H. Davies & Co.
Theo H. Davies & Co. is a company that was one of the Big Five trading and agricultural companies in the Territory of Hawaii.-History:Starkey, Janion, & Co. was a trading company founded in Liverpool in April 1845 by Englishmen James and John Starkey and Robert Cheshire Janion. Janion arrived in...
.
The owners of the "Big Five" were Caucasian
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
s who would indulge in discrimination and bigotry against ethnic groups who worked the plantations. They had an association called the "Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association" (HSPA) whose power could be considered as equivalent to an oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
. The Attorney General of Hawai‘i, referring to the Big Five, said in 1903, "There is a government in this Territory which is centralized to an extent unknown in the United States, and probably almost as centralized as it was in France under Louis XIV." Wages and living accommodations depended upon their job and race. Europeans got paid more and got better quarters. Most of the workers moved from plantation to plantation to work because they did not like the work they did and because of the racial discrimination.
Struggle for U.S. citizenship
According to the State of Hawaii Data Book 1982, by the year 1910, there were 4,890 Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii. Both Puerto Rico and Hawaii were territories of the United States however, the passage of the Jones-Shafroth ActJones-Shafroth Act
The Jones–Shafroth Act was a 1917 Act of the United States Congress by which Puerto Ricans were collectively made U.S. citizens, the people of Puerto Rico were empowered to have a popularly-elected Senate, established a bill of rights, and authorized the election of a Resident Commissioner to a...
of 1917, the same year that the United States entered World War l, granted American citizenship to the Puerto Rican resident in Puerto Rico and excluded those who resided in Hawaii. Yet, the "non-citizen" Puerto Ricans were assigned draft numbers and were expected to serve in the military.
The Plantation owners, like those that comprised the "Big Five
Big Five (Hawaii)
The Big Five was the name given to a group of what started as sugarcane processing corporations that wielded considerable political power in the Territory of Hawaii during the early 20th century and leaned heavily towards the Hawaii Republican Party. The Big Five were Castle & Cooke, Alexander &...
", found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various other states of the Union. In 1917, Puerto Ricans in the island, believing that they were entittled to the same rights that every other U.S. citizens had, tried to sign up to vote in a local Hawaiian election and were denied their rights by the county clerk who claimed that early immigrants to Hawaii were not covered by the Jones Act.
Manuel Olivieri Sanchez
Manuel Olivieri Sanchez
Manuel Olivieri Sanchez , was a court interpreter and civil rights activist who led the legal battle which recognized U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii.-Early years:...
, a court interpreter at the time, became enraged in what he viewed as a violation of the civil rights of his fellow countrymen. He encouraged his fellow Puerto Ricans to protest by telling them that "If you are not allowed to vote, don't answer the draft call". Olivieri Sanchez led a legal battle for the recognition of the Hawaiian Puerto Ricans as citizens of the United States. In the first legal battle the lower court ruled in favor of the county clerk, however Olivieri Sanchez did not give up the fight and took the case before the Territorial Supreme Court, which reversed the decision of the lower court, granting the Puerto Ricans of Hawaii their United States citizenship.
Struggle against discrimination
Olivieri Sanchez' victory was not welcomed by members of HSPA, who depended on the cheap labor non-citizens provided. In 1930, HSPA began to circulate false rumors, they made it be known that they (HSPA) were planning to recruit laborers in Puerto Rico, while at the same time they had the "Honolulu Star Bullentin" and some local newspapers they controlled run anti-Puerto Rican stories, that—for example—claimed Puerto Ricans were "unhealthy hookwormers who had bought disease to Hawaii".In Dec. 1931, Olivieri Sanchez wrote a letter to the editor of the "Hawaiian Advertiser" where he stated that he saw all of the rhetoric as a tactic by the HSPA to push all the different ethnic groups in the local labor force back to work on the plantations. He was right, the HSPA wanted to persuade Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to exempt the territory from a law, which in 1924 was requested by California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to prevent the migration of Filipinos
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese nationals to the U.S. (National Origins Quota Action (Immigration Act) and Johnson Immigration Act of 1924). HSPA's secretary treasurer claimed that the association was unwilling to import Puerto Ricans to Hawaii. His defamation of Puerto Ricans condemned not only the Puerto Ricans of Hawaii, but also those on the island. Despite the efforts of Olivieri Sanchez, HSPA had their way and Hawaii was exempted from the stern anti-immigration laws of the time.
The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by the activist descendants of the original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a United States territory and they were legal American citizens, they gained full local voting rights and actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands.
Puerto Rican influence
Currently, there are over 30,000 Puerto Ricans or Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii. Puerto Rican culture and traditions are very strong there. One of the traditions that is still practiced is the "compadrazgo". When a person baptizes somebody's child, he or she becomes the "padrino" (godfather) of the child and the "compadre" or "comadre" of the child's parents. There is a relationship of respect, mutual affection and obligation between the child, parents and compadres. The children ask for a blessing "La Bendición" and the padrinos respond with a "Dios te bendiga" (God bless you).Food
As in Puerto Rico, the Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans enjoy the preparation of the pastelesPasteles
Pasteles are a traditional dish in several Latin American countries. In Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and Panama, it is similar to a tamale. In Central American cuisine, it more closely resembles a British pasty or an Italian calzone.In...
(meat pies) during the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
holidays. The confection of the pastel is an event where the whole family participates. Some of the members of the family cut the green bananas and season them while others prepare the masa (dough). The masa is then filled with seasoned pork and cilantro and then wrapped in banana or ti leafs and tied with a string. It is then cooked in boiling water. Once ready, the pastel is unwrapped and eaten.
Music
When the Puerto Ricans immigrated to Hawaii they took along with them their music and their musical instruments. Among the musical instruments introduced to Hawaii was the Puerto Rican cuatroCuatro (instrument)
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....
. The Cuatro was a four stringed guitar developed in Puerto Rico in 1875; however, it eventually evolved into a ten stringed guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. Other musical instruments introduced were the
Maracas, a rattle containing dried seeds and the Guiro
Güiro
The güiro is a Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...
(percussion instrument made out of a gourd and played with a scraping stick). Soon, these instruments were not only limited to playing Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
songs but, were also absorbed by the typical songs of Hawaii.
In 1998, Master guitarmaker William R. Cumpiano
William R. Cumpiano
William Richard Cumpiano is a world-renowned authority on the making of stringed musical instruments who is also renowned for his writing and teaching of the art of luthiery. He has been involved in the preservation and understanding of the fading musical and musical-craft traditions of his...
and his colleagues wrote, directed and produced "Un Canto en Otra Montaña: Música Puertorriqueña en Hawaii" (A Song Heard in Another Mountain: Puerto Rican Music in Hawaii), a short-feature video documentary on the music and social history of the century-old Puerto Rican Diaspora in Hawaii.
Puerto Ricans in Hawaii
The following table is in accordance to the U.S. Census 2000 Data for the State of Hawaii.{| border=1 align=center cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0.5em 0 1em 1em;background:bgcolor="#CCCCCC"; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
| align=center colspan="2" |
{| style="background:"Black" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=5| Hawaii Puerto Rican Population
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|-
! align="left" |
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! align="left" | Total: 25,778
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Total: 30,005
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! align="left" | Percent of population: 2.3%
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Percent of population:2.5%
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{| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0.5em 0 1em 1em; background: #FAEBD7; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
| align=center colspan="2" |
{| style="background:#FAEBD7;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=5|Hawaii Puerto Rican Population by County
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|-
! align="left" | Honolulu County
| 18,933
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! align="left" | Hawaii County
| 6,243
|-
! align="left" | Maui County
| 3,290
|-
! align="left" | Kauai County
| 1,539
|-
! align="left" | Total Puerto Rican Population
| 30,005
|}
The Puerto Rican "coquí" in Hawaii
During the early 21st century, it was determined that the "coquíCoquí
The Common Coquí or Coquí is a frog native to Puerto Rico belonging to the Eleutherodactylus genus of the Leptodactylidae family. The species is named for the loud sound the males make at night. This sound serves two purposes...
", a thumbnail-sized tree frog endemic to Puerto Rico, had appeared in Hawaii. Its natural sound, "music to the ears" of Puerto Ricans, was considered an annoyance to Hawaiians and efforts were made to "exterminate" the "infestation".
Notable Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans
Some of the Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans who have distinguished themselves are:- Evans, FaithFaith Evans (U.S. Marshal)Faith Evans is a former Hawaii state legislator and the first woman to serve as a United States Marshal. Evans, of Hawaiian and Puerto Rican descent, was appointed U.S. Marshal for the District of Hawaii by President Ronald Reagan on August 12, 1982...
- A former state legislator and the first woman in the United States to serve as a U.S. Marshal. - Garcia-Alves, Felicia - In 2000, was recognized as one of the most outstanding women's basketball athletes in Hawaii, and in Puerto Rico.
- Morales, RodneyRodney MoralesRodney Morales is an American fiction writer and an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Hawaii. In his writing, he is concerned with contemporary multi-ethnic Hawaiian society, particularly the social relations between Hawaiians of native, Japanese, and Puerto...
– author of novel "When the Shark Bites (2002)" and the short story collection "Speed of Darkness (1988)". - Olivieri Sanchez, ManuelManuel Olivieri SanchezManuel Olivieri Sanchez , was a court interpreter and civil rights activist who led the legal battle which recognized U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii.-Early years:...
- Led the battle for U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii - Ortiz, Hilda - In 1924, became the first Puerto Rican teacher in Hawaii
- Ortiz, Nancy - Host of "Alma Latina", a three hour Sunday radio show of Latin-American music.
- Santiago, Alex - Former Hawaii State Representative
See also
- List of Puerto Ricans
- Chinese immigration to HawaiiChinese immigration to HawaiiThe Chinese in Hawaii frequently referred to by their Hawaiian name Pākē, constitute about 4.7% of the state's population, most of whom have ancestors from Zhongshan in Guangdong. This number does not include people of mixed Chinese and Hawaiian descent...
- Korean immigration to HawaiiKorean immigration to HawaiiKoreans in Hawaii came in two distinct waves have occurred in the last century. The first cohort arrived in Hawaii between 1903 and 1924; the second wave began in 1965. On January 13, 2003, President George W...