Submitted by Karen Cimaglia on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Hawaii sponsored by the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and the School of Education…
Just this past week, I had the opportunity to explore Hawaii’s Plantation Village. Located in the town of Waipahu, this plantation village told the story of the famous point in history where sugar was looked at as a King. The plantation village took off when the demand for sugar was at an all-time high during the World War.
We first started off this tour by being introduced to the types of workers that were on the plantation fields. Those in the Hawaiian culture had to recruit workers for cheap labor all across the globe. This included going to China, Portugal, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, and Polynesia. This brought a melting pot of cultures to Hawaii and even what started the Pidgin language that Hawaii is famously known for.
Walking through this tour allowed me and my classmates to explore what life was like for those on the plantations. Extremely small huts were made to fit up to eight people, but in very tight quarters. Children as young as three years old were working on the plantations gathering water, women were shucking the sugar, and men would carry pounds of bushels from one end of the plantation to the other.
The entire experience of walking through Hawaii’s first plantation was one that I will never forget. I learned so much behind why Hawaiian culture is important, and how Hawaii came to be the melting pot that it is today. Hawaiian culture is known for its community and warm-welcoming nature. The Plantation Village was able to showcase the differences between cultures, yet explain the importance behind the community relying on each other to survive during the times of the plantation days.