Puerto Rican migration to Hawaii

Puerto Rican migration to Hawaii began when Puerto Rico's sugar industry was devastated by two hurricanes in 1899. The devastation caused a worldwide shortage in sugar and a huge demand for the product from Hawaii. Consequently, Hawaiian sugarcane plantation owners began to recruit the jobless, but experienced, laborers from Puerto Rico. In thirteen separate groups, 5,883 Puerto Rican men, women and children traveled by ship, train, then ship again, to the islands of Hawaii to begin their new lives on the sugar plantations.

Prelude

thumb|Drawing of a coffee farm in [[Lares, Puerto Rico|Lares depicted in a newspaper article titled "Porto Rican wealth" in June 8, 1901]]

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. Labor was provided by Puerto Ricans who depended on the nation's agriculture as their only source of income.

thumb|Damage after Hurricane San Ciriaco

On August 8, 1899, the San Ciriaco hurricane, with winds of over , 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. By 1901, the Hawaiian sugar output was 360,000 tons of raw sugar.

First migrations from Puerto Rico

225px|right|thumb|Type of steamship that brought people from Puerto Rico to Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations

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, first sailing from San Juan harbor to New Orleans, Louisiana. Once in New Orleans, the travelers boarded a railroad train to the Port of Los Angeles, California or San Francisco. From there they set sail aboard the 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. Often, groups of men and women with children would refuse to continue the journey to Hawaii. A December 15, 1900 San Francisco Examiner article said that 60 Puerto Ricans were forced onto the Rio in California, but 50 "escaped".

thumb|left|The Olaa Sugar Company, on the Big Island of Hawaii, was Hawaii's Largest Sugar Plantation (c. 1902)

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 luna/overseers (foremen).

Between 1900 and 1901, 11 trips took place to move Puerto Ricans to Hawaii to work in the fields.

People came from different places to work in the sugar plantations of Hawaii: the first were the Chinese, the second came from Portugal, the third group came from Japan, the fourth group came from Puerto Rico, the fifth came from Korea and the sixth group came from The Philippines and all these people worked together in the plantations. This mix of people of different tongues led to the need of a common vernacular which led to Hawaiian Pidgin.

In thirteen separate groups, 5883 Puerto Rican men, women and children traveled by ship, train then ship again to the islands of Hawaii to begin their new lives in the sugar plantations.

Discrimination by the "Big Five"

[[File:The Sugar Industry in the Hawaiian Islands in the Evening Bulletin Industrial Edition November 1901 (cropped).jpg|thumb|American investment in Hawaii's sugar industry is reported in the November 1901 of the "Evening Bulletin Industrial Edition". Wages and living accommodations depended upon their job and race. Europeans were paid more and received 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.

In 1920, Puerto Rican and Portuguese sugar plantation workers at Ewa, a district of Oahu, joined work strikes that began with the Filipino and Japanese workers, who were demanding better pay and an end to discriminatory practices.

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. Puerto Rico and Hawaii were unincorporated and incorporated territories of the United States respectively; however, the passage of the Jones–Shafroth Act of 1917, the same year that the United States entered World War I, gave American citizenship, with limitations, to the Puerto Rican residents in Puerto Rico but 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", 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 entitled 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.

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 Bulletin 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". 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 of Puerto Rico. Despite the efforts of Olivieri Sanchez, HSPA had their way and Hawaii was exempted from the stern anti-immigration laws of the time.

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 . When a person baptizes somebody's child, he or she becomes the padrino (godfather) of the child and the or 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, , and the respond with a (God bless you).

Music

When Puerto Ricans migrated to Hawaii they took their music and their musical instruments along with them. 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 maraca, a rattle containing dried seeds, and the guiro, a 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.

In 1998, master guitarmaker William R. Cumpiano and his colleagues wrote, directed and produced (), a short-feature video documentary on the music and social history of the century-old Puerto Rican diaspora in Hawaii.

Puerto Ricans in Hawaii and centennial

On December 23, 2000 the Puerto Ricans in Hawaii celebrated a centennial celebration. Despite having left Puerto Rico long ago, and being a product of intermarriages, many still identify as Puerto Rican when some Puerto Rican heritage exists in their family history.

Notable Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans

Some of the Hawaiian-Puerto Ricans who have distinguished themselves are: singer-songwriter; his paternal grandfather was a Puerto Rican from New York

Rodney Morales – author of novel When the Shark Bites (2002) and the short story collection Speed of Darkness (1988).
Manuel Olivieri Sanchez – Led the battle for U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii
Danny Ongais – race car driver
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.
Kade Ruotolo – submission wrestler and martial artist; Puerto Rican mother
Tye Ruotolo – submission wrestler and martial artist; Puerto Rican mother
Alex Santiago – Former Hawaii State Representative

References

External links

Sugar cane varieties of Hawaii
Puerto Ricans in Hawaii