Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii
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Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii began when Puerto Rico'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. Hawaiian sugar plantation owners began to recruit the jobless, but experienced, laborers in Puerto Rico.
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[edit] Prelude
In the 19th century Puerto Rico depended mainly on its agricultural economy. The island together with Cuba was the Spanish Crown's leading exporter of sugar, coffee, tobacco and cotton. When the island was ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War, as stipulated by the agreements of the Treaty of Paris 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.[1]
On August 8, 1899, Hurricane San Ciriaco, 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.[2] 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.[3]
[edit] First immigrants
On November 22, 1900, the first group of Puerto Ricans consisting of 56 men, began their long journey to Maui, Hawaii. The trip was long and unpleasant. They first set sail from San Juan harbor to New Orleans, Louisiana. Once in New Orleans, they were boarded on a railroad train and sent to Port Los Angeles, California. From there they set sail aboard the Rio de Janeiro to Hawaii.[4] 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 different plantations on Hawaii's four islands.[5]
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). Wages and living accommodations depended upon your job and your 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.[6]
[edit] 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.[7] Both Puerto Rico and Hawaii were territories of the United States however, the passage of the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917, granted American citizenship to the Puerto Rican resident in Puerto Rico and excluded those who resided in Hawaii. Plantation owners, like those that comprised the so-called Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various other states of the Union.[8]
Manuel Oliveri Sanchez, a court interpreter at the time, led a legal battle for the recognition of the Hawaiian Puerto Ricans as citizens of the United States. It resulted in the territory's high court granting the Puerto Ricans their citizenship. 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.[9]
[edit] Puerto Rican influence
[edit] Compadres
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 "compadrasto". When a person baptizes somebody's child, he or she becomes the "padrino" (godfather) of the child and the "compadre" or "comadre" of the childs parents. There is a relationship of respect, mutual affection and obligation between the child, parents and compadres. The children ask for a blessing "La Bendicion" and the padrinos respond with a "Dios te bendiga" (God bless you).[4]
[edit] Food
As in Puerto Rico, the Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans enjoy the preparation of the pasteles (meat pies) during the Christmas 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.[4]
[edit] 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 Cuatro. The Cuatro was a four stringed guitar developed in Puerto Rico in 1875; however, it eventually evolved into a ten stringed guitar. Other musical instruments introduced were the Maracas, a rattle containing dried seeds and the Guiro (percussion instrument made out of a gourd and played with a scraping stick). Soon, these instruments were not only limited to playing Spanish songs but, were also absorbed by the typical songs of Hawaii.[4]
In 1998, Master guitarmaker William R. Cumpiano 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. [10]
[edit] Notable Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans
Some of the Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans who have distinguished themselves are:[9]
- Felicia Garcia-Alves - In 2000, was recognized as one of the most outstanding women's basketball athletes in Hawaii, and in Puerto Rico.
- Faith Evans - A former state legislator and the first woman in the United States to serve as a U.S. Marshal.
- Manuel Oliveri Sanchez - Led the battle for U.S. citizenship
- Hilda Ortiz - In 1924, became the first Puerto Rican teacher in Hawaii
- Nancy Ortiz - Host of "Alma Latina", a three hour Sunday radio show of Latin-American music.
- Alex Santiago - Former Hawaii State Representative
[edit] Puerto Ricans in Hawaii
The following table is in accordance to the U.S. Census 2000 Data for the State of Hawaii.[11]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total: 25,778 |
Total: 30,005 |
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| Percent of population: 2.3% |
Percent of population:2.5% |
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| Honolulu County | 18,933 | |||||
| Hawaii County | 6,243 | |||||
| Maui County | 3,290 | |||||
| Kauai County | 1,539 | |||||
| Total Puerto Rican Population | 30,005 | |||||
[edit] References
- ^ Worker in the Cane: A Puerto Rican Life History; by Sidney W. Mintz.; page:257; Publisher: Yale University Press; Place of Publication: New Haven, CT; Publication Year: 1960
- ^ Hurricane San Ciriaco
- ^ Hawaiian History
- ^ a b c d The Puerto Ricans
- ^ Los Angeles Times December 26, 1901
- ^ The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Historical Perspectives
- ^ Puerto Ricans in Hawaii
- ^ Land and Power in Hawaii: The Democratic Years; by George Cooper, Gavan Daws; Published 1990; Publisher: University of Hawaii Press; ISBN 0824813030
- ^ a b Star Bullentin
- ^ NUESTRO CUATRO
- ^ U.S. Census 2000 Data for the State of Hawaii
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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