Classes Of People

On the very top were managers and a few haoles (Caucasian), next came the lunas who were Haole, Hawaiian and Portuguese, then came the skilled people such as carpenters, engineers and mechanics, and at the bottom for three decades between the 1890's and 1920's were the Japanese who were field and mill workers. 

The laborers as said in their contracts got free housing, medical care, and fuel for cooking from the plantation. The housing was the same as the classes of people. The managers got wide land and beautiful houses on hilltops, the luna had comfortable one story houses, and the early contract field laborers had awful housing which was hard to abide by.  

Ladies working in the field,  probably around the 1950's

When people started going on strike, working conditions and housing improved. As time went on, instead of using wood they  used kerosene for cooking fuel which made life easier for the families. This happened in the twentieth century. Medical care was not the best in the early periods. The haoles that were doctors, did not always understand the foreign languages and sometimes made the Japanese go to work even though they were ill. 

Meager pay, long 10 - 12 hour days for 26 days in a month, and strenuous work was what the early immigrants endured.  That was not fair thought all the workers. We should all be treated fairly.

Maybe that is why, our roots are strong, because we saw our ancestors struggled for us their children, and yet were still grateful for all that was provided in the plantation camps.

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