“The depiction of Dole as a twentieth-century American success story obscures a deeper history of violence and imperialism.”
We have learned how lost/excluded texts began to be published on the internet, some developed by scholars, others by fans, and still others by libraries and museums as stated by Amy Earhart. She mentions how there is a need to understand the current position of race and digital humanities. The intent behind this blog post is to engage in digital cultural heritage in order to culturally recognize the significance of the overthrow of the kingdom of Hawai’i. Currently the voices of Native Hawaiians have been suppressed when revealing that several pieces of information have sadly been overlooked for decades behind the fall of Queen Liliuokalani’s rule over Hawai’i. Especially since this was actually due to an American-led coup over land and pineapple. Yes you read that correctly, fruit.
I would like to take this opportunity on this web platform to recover texts by writers of color and give this indigenous community the representation they deserve.
James Drummond Dole the boy from Maine who became known as “The Pineapple King”. How did an American settler even have access to this much land on this island? Well it was his due to his family member Sanford B. Dole he can thank for organizing the overthrow of Queen Lili‘uokalani. This is probably coming off as a huge surprise, especially if you have visited Oahu and stopped by the Dole Plantation, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island. However, the Plantation paints an extremely different version of the history behind the establishment. Painting a much brighter picture that the pineapple companies were huge contributors to the cultural representation on Hawai’i due to the job opportunities they provided.
Here is a Link to Dole website if you would like to cross compare and see how the company has painted their image:
https://www.doleplantation.com/resources/#resources-tabs|1)
Here is a quick little video that can provide you with some background information on the history of the 50th State:
If you do not need it, lets skip to the Bayonet Constitution
On July 6, 1887, King David Kalakaua was held at gunpoint to sign the Bayonet Constitution, Which reduced native Hawaiian sovereignty. The Honolulu Rifles was a militia that was predominantly made up of United States citizens (also all white males) who had the shared belief that native Hawaiians were unfit to rule and needed to be ruled in a way that replicated a traditional Western government.
On June 30, 1887 the militia held a meeting to organizing a revolt to take over. First was to demand that King Kalakaua replace some of his current cabinet ministers and replace them with members they chose on July 1, 1887. The members that were chosen would sway the vote in the militia’s favor and create a new constitution to be implemented. The new constitution was designed to transfer power from the monarchy to one that benefited the settlers as well as the rich. It was drafted by white businessmen and lawyers. The right to vote was correlated with property ownership; which eliminated the majority of Hawaiian citizens. The Administration stated they would go to great lengths to have this document signed, they even threatened that they “would carry the elections if necessary at the point of the bayonet.” Hence the nickname of the “Bayonet Constitution. Fear for his and his family’s lives, King Kalakaua signed the new constitution. Four years later the King’s health began to subside and designated his sister Lili‘uokalani his heir apparent. Which she officially became Queen after her brother’s death in January of 1891. The Queen was not supportive of the constitution her brother signed and announced to draft a newer one that would give her back complete rule. This never came to fruition and she was ultimately overthrown by a revolutionary group known as the “Committee of Safety”. This coup was staged and organized by Sanford B. Dole.
Dole Plantation
James Drummond Dole founded his Pineapple Company in 1901 on the North Shore of Oahu. Dole had successfully discovered a way to can the fruit in a way that would survive the shipping back to the mainland on the United States as well as a location that could grow the fruit year-round. He knew that there could be an enormous market for pineapple outside of Hawai‘I and in order to keep up with the popular demand he bought the Hawaiian Island of Lana`i and transformed it into the largest pineapple plantation in the world. The Dole Plantation has over a million of visitors a year; maybe considered it twice before contributing more to this company.
Queen Lili’uokalani composed Aloha’Oe which was intended this to be a love song but it ended up being a farewell song.
To sum everything up: the intent for this blog was to combine minority writer’s information/posts into one post to showcase how their voice has been overlooked. Hopefully, more platforms provide representation for these types of narratives.
Resources:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americans-overthrow-hawaiian-monarchy
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/jul6/bayonet-constitution/
https://www.newsweek.com/how-hawaii-lost-its-last-queen-liliuokalani-fruit-tycoons-dole-708512 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-about-liliuokalani-last-queen-hawaii-180967155/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia
This is wonderful Ashley!
I so appreciate the function and aesthetic of your website and this posting specifically. It does not read as an assignment for a class, but rather as a professional (and in my opinion, effective) source of information and call to action. I had very little contextual information about the Dole Plantation before reading this, and the Bayonet Constitution was entirely new to me. Thank you for providing such a thorough look into these histories, providing further sources, and most importantly uplifting these voices.