Footage: The Hawaiian Islands, 1924
A film from the Ford Collection showing scenes from Hawaiian life and industry in 1924.
From: 1924 C.E. To: 1924 C.E.
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
In 1893, the Kingdom of Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown by mostly American commercial interests. It would become a U.S. territory by 1898 and a state in 1959. During its time as a territory, Hawaii experienced growing industry and increasing immigration to accompany it. The islands became home to a multicultural society of native Hawaiians, American transplants, and immigrants from nations like Japan, China, the Philippines, Spain, and Portugal.
This short film from the Ford Motor Company visits the islands of Hawaii in 1924. The trip covers subjects like Japanese businesses and the extensive plantations that came to dominate Hawaii. You can also see customs like the preparation of poi, canoeing, and surfing, as well as the continuous destructive and regenerative powers of volcanoes.
Despite the somewhat sunny tone of this film, 1924’s Hawaii was in the middle of a large labor movement seeking fairer wages and conditions for plantation workers. The strikes carried out against plantation owners were often divided along racial lines, encouraged by discrimination from the plantations themselves. After a series of Japanese strikes in the decades prior, 1924 saw Filipino laborers demanding fair wages and an 8-hour workday over the course of seven months. They faced brutal suppression tactics and eviction, resulting in four policemen and 16 strikers dead.
Video courtesy of the U.S. National Archives.
References
Winters, Loretta and Herman DeBose. New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century. SAGE. 2003.
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