Race, Labor, and Indigeneity: A Public Exhibit & Discussion

Welina Mai Kākou, Greetings All

This exhibit was created during a time when COVID-19 exposed limitations to job security and safety in particular sectors of Hawaiʻi's economy. We aim to facilitate a critical reflection on how race and labor shaped the social and structural history of Hawaiʻi, as well as the unity building that led to interracial labor movements. What issues and questions do Hawaiian Nationalism raise about the making of our multicultural society?  Do we need new frameworks for unity that bring our diverse communities together to envision a clearer direction for our island economies?

This exhibit showcases archival collections from repositories at the University of Hawaiʻi School of Law Library, University of Mānoa Center for Oral History, and University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu Center for Labor Education and Research, as locations where Hawaiʻi's labor history can be researched.

These archival resources will contextualize a contemporary conversation among community leaders & scholars on issues of race, labor, and Indigeneity in Hawaiʻi today.

This resource is launched in conjunction with Hawaiʻi Labor Fest 2020.

Overview of this Digital Exhibit

Historical Timeline - Lists all of the exhibited items in a chronological timeline.

Community Discussion - A contemporary webinar featuring discussions among scholars and community leaders about race, labor and indigeneity in Hawaiʻi. 

We foreground the community discussion with these labor history collections:

Center for Labor Education and Research - Archival items on the history of race and class divisions in the plantations, and cross-cultural labor organizing in Hawaiʻi.

Center for Oral History - Oral histories of individuals who lived through the political-economic changes affecting Hawaiʻi during the territorial period, and the labor movements they participated in or witnessed.

William S. Richardson School of Law Library - Archival items on how laws and political movements shaped race, class, water, and labor relations in Hawai'i.