Labor Day is a reminder of how organized labor helped transform working conditions in Hawaiʻi. As part of a project with the UH Mānoa Ethnic Studies Center for Oral History, HPR is bringing you voices of Hawaiʻi’s past — sharing life stories of resilience.
Robert Kunimura helped organize workers in the Kōloa Mill on Kauaʻi soon after World War II. Donald Rickard started working in the cane fields at the Pioneer Mill Company on Maui in 1940. They recalled the labor conditions and politics during that era.
These stories are part of a new project with the Center for Oral History. It is supported by the SHARP Initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities, through ACLS.
