Resilient Community Voices

The third iteration of airing oral history excerpts in partnership with Hawaiʻi Public Radio (see latest programming) focuses on voices from Hawaiʻi’s past centered around a different theme each month. Through these oral histories, we highlight the resilience of Hawaiʻi’s women and men across our communities.

May 2023 – Building resilience as sea level rise threatens coastal areas

1. Firsthand memories of Waikīkī before hotels and shopping malls replaced wetlands (5/3)
2. Historic Molokaʻi fishpond offers traditional methods of ensuring food security (5/10)
3. The history and future of limu with longtime gatherers (5/18)
4. Oʻahu shorelines altered by sea walls and sand removal (5/24)

April 2023 – Tsunami Awareness Month & Earth Month – Protecting Hawaiʻi’s Rare Habitats

1. Hilo residents recount the deadliest tsunami to hit the islands in modern times (4/5)
2. Retired Haleakalā National Park rangers reflect on protecting Hawaiʻi’s native species (4/13)
3. The crucial role of those who look after Hawaiʻi’s national parks (4/24)
4. Women behind Honolulu airport lei stands share love for adorning Hawaiʻi (4/28)

March 2023 – Third anniversary of Hawaiʻi’s pandemic shutdown

1. Remembering Hawaiʻi’s COVID shutdown 3 years after the pandemic began (3/8)
2. UH Mānoa professors remember the immediate impact of the pandemic (3/15)
3. Local doctors recall the stress and lifestyle changes during the pandemic (3/23)
4. A local teacher and a server look back on the pandemic shutdown 3 years later (3/29)

February 2023 – Black History Month & Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi

1. 2 different experiences in mid-20th century Honolulu (2/8)
2. Moving to Hawaiʻi and creating community in the 1940s (2/15)
3. Oral histories from Kona in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi show how the language has changed (2/23)
4. Growth of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi stretches from kupuna to keiki (3/1)

January 2023 – The path toward recovering Native Hawaiian practices

1. Paving the way to public beach access under Hawaiian law (1/11)
2. Kūpuna from Haleʻiwa and Waialua share oral histories of change and continuity (1/19)
3. Dr. Emmett Aluli followed his ancestors in championing Hawaiian lands, culture (1/25)
4. Rediscovering ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi after its generations-long ban in schools (1/31)

December 2022 – Resilience during Japanese American incarceration and World War II

1. Local Japanese residents remember the attack on Pearl Harbor 81 years ago (12/7)
2. Hear from 2 community members who joined their families in Japanese incarceration centers (12/20)
3. Incarcerated as children, Japanese Americans share the hardships of rejoining society (12/22)
4. Rationing and food shortages characterized Hawaiʻi life during World War II (12/28)

November 2022 – History of Hawaiʻi’s political landscape

1. Campaign leaders for Burns, Waiheʻe reflect on Hawaiʻi’s political past (11/3)
2. Vince Yano, Tom Gill on the legacy of progressive politics in Hawaiʻi (11/16)
3. Republican leaders from Hawaiʻi’s past discuss party politics and power (11/17)
4. 1978 Constitutional Convention, a turning point in the recognition of Native Hawaiian rights (11/24)

October 2022 – Reviving Kahoʻolawe after decades of military bombing

1. Native Hawaiian activists stopped military bombing on Kahoʻolawe 32 years ago (10/5)
2. Voices from Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana, the grassroots movement for Native Hawaiian rights (10/10)
3. 40 years ago, Hawaiians reconnected with Kahoʻolawe through spirituality and ceremony (10/13)
4. Native Hawaiian leaders share their connection to Kahoʻolawe and aloha ʻāina (10/27)

September 2022 – Labor movement during Hawaiʻi’s plantation days

1. Unionization and labor conditions in the days of sugar cane plantations (9/8)
2.  Workers demanded higher wages while still watering the sugar cane during 1958 ‘Aloha Strike’ (9/22)
3.  Hear first-person stories of resilience from Hawaiʻi ag workers transitioning to tourism (9/22)
4. Women share stories of friendship from their time at Hawaiʻi pineapple canneries (9/28)