Nearly one in four persons in Hawai‘i is of Filipino heritage. Representing one-fifth of the state's workforce, Filipinos have been in Hawai‘i for more than a century, turning the rough and raw materials of sugar and pineapple into billion-dollar commodities. This book traces a history from 1946—the last year that sakadas (plantation workers) were imported from the Philippines—to the centennial year of their settlement in Hawai‘i. Filipinos are central to much that has been built and cherished in the state, including the agricultural industry, tourism, military presence, labor movements, community activism, politics, education, entertainment, and sports.
Theodore S. Gonzalves is an associate professor of American studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His works include Stage Presence: Conversations with Filipino American Performing Artists and The Day the Dancers Stayed: Performing in the Filipino/American Diaspora. Roderick N. Labrador is an assistant professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He writes about and teaches courses on Filipino Americans and Filipinos in Hawai‘i.