Wailua and Haleiwa: The People Tell Their Story

“Waialua and Haleiwa: The People Tell Their Story” is the first oral history project conducted by the Ethnic Studies Oral History Project (now Center for Oral History), which was established in 1976. This project centered around the experiences of working men and women of various ethnic groups who overcame ethnic divides and bettered the quality of life through struggle and hard work. Interviews were conducted with 43 individuals in 1976 by nine interviewers, four of whom were students from Waialua and Haleiwa. The interviews produced roughly 110 hours of recordings and 1900 pages worth of transcripts.

Waialua plantation locomotive crew, ca. 1930s. Sugar cane was loaded in railroad cars and hauled to the mill. (Photo courtesy of Adam Holmberg.)