Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The day
Speaker 1: started like many others, of warm seventy three degrees with
Speaker 1: partly cloudy skies. Civilians were going about their early Sunday
Speaker 1: morning routines when the dive bomber appeared, the first of
Speaker 1: two hundred. At eight ten that morning, an eight hundred
Speaker 1: pound bomb landed on the USS Arizona. The explosions sank
Speaker 1: the ship, trapping its thousand men on board. More Japanese
Speaker 1: planes flew overhead, darkening the skies. The USS Oklahoma took
Speaker 1: several hits from torpedoes. The battleship rolled to one side,
Speaker 1: then slid beneath the water along with four hundred men.
Speaker 1: Beth Slingerland, a teacher with a husband in the military,
Speaker 1: watched the planes descend. Black smoke billowed into the air
Speaker 1: as the aircraft kept dropping bombs. Fireballs appeared over the
Speaker 1: hangars at the airfield. She could do nothing except worry
Speaker 1: and wait. Army Air corpsan Everest capra knew they were
Speaker 1: under attack as soon as he saw the planes. He
Speaker 1: ran outside to warn the others, then hurried back to
Speaker 1: the barracks. Just as the bombs and bullets started. He
Speaker 1: and a couple of other men dodged enemy fire while
Speaker 1: gathering injured and taking them to the hospital. An explosion
Speaker 1: knocked Capra out, but when he awoke, he refused to
Speaker 1: head to the hospital himself, knowing the Japanese would strike
Speaker 1: there too. Despite his injuries, he continued to help others.
Speaker 1: Honorary Chaplain Joe Morgan at first took shelter under an
Speaker 1: I beam inside a hangar and hoped for the best. Outside,
Speaker 1: crew members with nothing other than handguns, took to shooting
Speaker 1: at the planes. Morgan went to the armory and grabbed
Speaker 1: the machine gun. Then he fought back. The US had
Speaker 1: tried to stay out of the war, responding to Japan's
Speaker 1: invasions and atrocities with sanctions. Japan hoped this attack would
Speaker 1: prevent the US from intervening in their aggressive expansion in
Speaker 1: the South Pacific. For two hours, the assault continued. Every
Speaker 1: battleship in Pearl Harbor was damaged. Over three hundred planes
Speaker 1: and hangars and on the airfield were destroyed. Wives waited
Speaker 1: on word about their husbands, children waited for their fathers.
Speaker 1: At five that evening, Beth heard her husband's boots on
Speaker 1: the driveway. They were fortunate. Hundred people died and another
Speaker 1: thousand were injured. Aboard the Arizona there were thirty eight
Speaker 1: sets of brothers. Sixty three of the seventy nine men died.
Speaker 1: Those four hundred men remained buried in the harbor. With
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma nine hundred are interred in the Arizona. Pearl
Speaker 1: Harbor became a memorial. Though the U. S. Navy didn't
Speaker 1: know when or where Japan would attack, tensions had risen
Speaker 1: significantly before Pearl Harbor, and intel suggested an aggression was eminent.
Speaker 1: After the attack, life for everyone on the Hawaiian Islands changed.
Speaker 1: The people had been through changes before, though before Japan's assault,
Speaker 1: the islands and their peoples found themselves under another threat.
Speaker 1: Long before that first plane flew into Pearl Harbor. For
Speaker 1: many Hawaiians, paradise had already been lost. I'm Lauren Vogelbam.
Speaker 1: Welcome to American Shadows. Thirty million years ago, the Pacific
Speaker 1: tectonic plate shifted, performing a chain of islands right near
Speaker 1: the center, about as far from anywhere else as you
Speaker 1: can get. The volcanic eruptions created a hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: seven islands in the area, including what are considered the
Speaker 1: eight major ones today a Maui, ca Lave, Molokai, Lanai, Oahu, Hawaii,
Speaker 1: ni how and Hawaii often referred to as the Big Island.
Speaker 1: While there are many volcanoes on the islands, only six
Speaker 1: remain active today, a two on Maui and the other
Speaker 1: four on Hawaii. The largest mana Loa, located on the
Speaker 1: Big Island, stands nine thousand feet tall. The first Polynesian
Speaker 1: settlers arrived in Hawaii around four hundred CE, having traveled
Speaker 1: thousands of miles in big canoes with the stars and
Speaker 1: elements as their guide. They settled down building new homes.
Speaker 1: Life near the ocean was comfortable. What the ocean didn't
Speaker 1: provide small farms did. They and other groups of Polynesian
Speaker 1: settlers who came of the next few centuries brought crops
Speaker 1: like tarot, red fruit, bamboo and sugarcane, and domesticated animals
Speaker 1: like chicken and pigs. The settlements spread across the major islands,
Speaker 1: from their blush windward sides to their lean leeward sides
Speaker 1: as technology and trade systems advanced, starting around the thirteen hundreds,
Speaker 1: the population boomed and sort of congealed. Large temples appeared.
Speaker 1: A complex and efficient society evolved. A high chief controlled
Speaker 1: the land of holding it in trust for the population
Speaker 1: and supervising its divisions. A whole island, known as a
Speaker 1: mokupuni was split into smaller parts called moku, which were
Speaker 1: themselves divided into ahoopwa, each one a wedge stretching from
Speaker 1: central mountains to the sea. The size of each ahoopua
Speaker 1: depended on the available resources. Of Poorer areas were the
Speaker 1: largest ahoopua, which helped offset having fewer resources. The chiefs
Speaker 1: ruled each self sustaining section. Taxes were paid to the
Speaker 1: high chief and his court through konohiki or supervisors, who
Speaker 1: oversaw the communal labor and fair use of the land
Speaker 1: and ocean. The people traded goods with other villagers. The
Speaker 1: inlanders provided the fishermen with wood for their canoes in
Speaker 1: exchange for fresh fish. Everyone tended to the farms and livestock,
Speaker 1: and though people lived in different ahoopwaa, they shared knowledge
Speaker 1: and labor. The Hawaiians lived in peace with the land,
Speaker 1: believing in the deep connection between nature and humanity. Along
Speaker 1: with the konohiki cohuna, who could be considered priests or
Speaker 1: cultural experts, ensured that the people took great care of
Speaker 1: the land, its resources, and all the life that resided
Speaker 1: within it. And some species of fish were taken only
Speaker 1: during certain times of the year. Of plants were only
Speaker 1: harvested during certain seasons. All in all, they had created
Speaker 1: a harmonious and sustainable life. The Hawaiians made everything they needed,
Speaker 1: from beautiful cloth and handcrafted canoes to exquisite arts and crafts.
Speaker 1: They used roots and vegetables to die clothing, and wore
Speaker 1: flowers for scent. For sports, they held athletic competitions. They
Speaker 1: feasted and danced and sang, told stories, and played music.
Speaker 1: Powers within the groups changed from time to time as
Speaker 1: chieftains vied for more control. Mostly, though, they lived in
Speaker 1: peace with each other through the seventeen hundreds, Captain James
Speaker 1: Cook became the first European to make contact. He stumbled
Speaker 1: across the Hawaiian islands in January of seventeen seventy eight.
Speaker 1: At first, the locals welcomed Cook and his crew. He
Speaker 1: brought iron tools, which they traded for fresh water and food.
Speaker 1: During his brief visit a year later. His return to
Speaker 1: the island of Hawaii happened to coincide with a harvest
Speaker 1: festival there and the celebration of a god's return. It's
Speaker 1: hard to tease out legend from history, but it seems
Speaker 1: that some Hawaiians associated Cook with this god. A Cook
Speaker 1: and the crew joined in the feasts and dancing that
Speaker 1: lasted a few days. They left the island shortly afterward,
Speaker 1: though a storm forced them to return. Their reappearance sparked
Speaker 1: suspicion this wasn't part of the myth. Tensions escalated. Cook
Speaker 1: determined that the Hawaiians had stolen items from him, and
Speaker 1: chose to deliver swift and harsh punishment. He might have
Speaker 1: thought these people, whom he considered inferior, would cower, they
Speaker 1: did not. Angry over Cook's accusations and violence, warriors overwhelmed
Speaker 1: the British sailors. Most managed to escape, though Captain Cook
Speaker 1: was captured and killed. In retaliation, the sailors fired their
Speaker 1: cannons on the shoreline, killing thirty Hawaiians before heading back
Speaker 1: out to sea. It was just the beginning of Hawaii's
Speaker 1: contact with the Europeans. By the turn of the century,
Speaker 1: the islands were an established port of call for ships
Speaker 1: trading in goods like furs and sandalwood as part of
Speaker 1: the increasingly global economy, and unfortunately, Cook's bloody skirmish set
Speaker 1: the tone of what was to come. Between seventeen and
Speaker 1: eighteen ten, chief by the name of Kamehameha united the
Speaker 1: islands and became the first king of this unified Kingdom
Speaker 1: of Hawaii. Though he died in eighteen nineteen, his title
Speaker 1: and leadership fell to his family. For generations. It was
Speaker 1: a time of cultural upheaval from inside and out. The
Speaker 1: new generation of Hawaiians was becoming acquainted with more outsiders,
Speaker 1: this time from the newly formed United States. At first,
Speaker 1: their contact with Americans came in the form of merchants whalers, followed,
Speaker 1: then missionaries. Determined to save souls with their faith and Bibles,
Speaker 1: they brought something else to the islands, diseases that decimated
Speaker 1: the local population. Americans pushed westward, and spurred by the
Speaker 1: government's assurance that taking land inhabited by indigenous peoples was acceptable,
Speaker 1: especially those who didn't submit to becoming what they called
Speaker 1: civilized missionaries and colonizing farmers, created many changes within Hawaiian culture.
Speaker 1: On September two of eight thirty eight, a group had
Speaker 1: gathered outside one of the grass huts along Pouaina, a
Speaker 1: volcanic creater on Oahu that the westerners called the punch bowl.
Speaker 1: Inside the hut, a woman labored, just as the baby
Speaker 1: girl entered the world, rain and to fall to the people.
Speaker 1: The rainfall seems like nature had joined in the celebration.
Speaker 1: Her parents were well respected and shared lineage with Kamehameha
Speaker 1: the First. They named their daughter Liliu. The people thought
Speaker 1: great things were in store for the child. They weren't wrong.
Speaker 1: Her position and rank climbed shortly after her birth when
Speaker 1: her parents sent her to live with other higher ranking
Speaker 1: family members. The custom, known as hanai is meant to
Speaker 1: strengthen family bonds. While the new family took over raising Liliu,
Speaker 1: her briok parents still had to say and what was
Speaker 1: best for her. The missionaries thought the practice was barbaric,
Speaker 1: and they aimed to save the indigenous people's souls by
Speaker 1: doing away with such traditional Hawaiian practices. By the time
Speaker 1: Liliu turned to the monarchy, that Kamehameha the First, once built,
Speaker 1: had begun to crumble. Americans and Europeans kept arriving and
Speaker 1: carving out territories. The churches, homes, and sugar cane fields
Speaker 1: cropped up, and the missionaries baptized as Liliu and called
Speaker 1: her Lydia. After her fourth birthday, Liliu was sent to
Speaker 1: a missionary school to civilize the indigenous children. The founders
Speaker 1: allowed only short and infrequent visits with their families. Native
Speaker 1: customs weren't allowed. Their attire was deemed overtly sexual, so
Speaker 1: students clothing reflected a more European style of dress. While
Speaker 1: the children were allowed to learn to speak, read, and
Speaker 1: write in Hawaiian, they were also given traditional European courses
Speaker 1: and Christian religious teachings. King Kameha the Third sent emissaries
Speaker 1: to France, England, and the United States to establish his
Speaker 1: position and Hawaiian sovereignty. He succeeded in eighteen forty two,
Speaker 1: though it would not last. Foreign powers began to eye
Speaker 1: the islands for themselves. Disease, potential threats from the West,
Speaker 1: and an attempted attack from the British became the backdrop
Speaker 1: for Liliu's childhood. Approximately three hundred thousand indigenous people had
Speaker 1: lived on the islands when Cook first arrived. By eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty three, only seventy thousand remained. Mahemeha the third died
Speaker 1: from smallpox in eighteen fifty four. Liliu's older brothers, Princess
Speaker 1: Alexander Leeholiho and Luck Mehemeha became king. Kamehameha the fourth
Speaker 1: and fifth, respectively, both were against American annexation. Liliyu, now
Speaker 1: an adult, watched the proceedings within the king's court. With
Speaker 1: her lineage, she had been groomed to rule. After Kamehameha
Speaker 1: the Third died, she met with the surviving king's adviser,
Speaker 1: John Owen Dominus in eighteen sixty. Two years later the
Speaker 1: pair married. The marriage turned sour when John fathered a
Speaker 1: child with one of Liliu's servants. She busied herself with
Speaker 1: charity projects and political matters. Though a woman, her lineage
Speaker 1: made her opinion equally valued. In eighteen seventy three, King
Speaker 1: Kamehameha the fifth died, leaving no heirs. The Hawaiian constitution
Speaker 1: called for an election. Kamehameha the Fourth's widow, Queen Emma,
Speaker 1: and Lili's brother David Cala Cola, were their choices, David
Speaker 1: won the election. King Calaca remained childless, and Liliu became
Speaker 1: the heir presumptive. From then on, people referred to her
Speaker 1: as Princess Liliu Kalani. Meanwhile, sugarcane and pineapple production companies
Speaker 1: owned by colonists pushed for more power over the royal family.
Speaker 1: Along with the princess's new status came more responsibility, and
Speaker 1: she had more say when it came to political matters
Speaker 1: and acted as regent whenever King Kalacoa traveled. At times
Speaker 1: had become uneasy, though Queen Emma's supporters looked for ways
Speaker 1: to move her back into power, and American plantation owners
Speaker 1: sought to remove all authority from the Hawaiian government. Princess
Speaker 1: Liliu Kalani stayed busy with speeches, handling the smallpox epidemic
Speaker 1: and the logistics of a leprosy hospital in Cacacko. She
Speaker 1: funded a bank for women and the school to educate
Speaker 1: young women. In a time when women had few rights
Speaker 1: and fewer options, the princess and her sister were exceptions.
Speaker 1: Married women weren't allowed to own land, and their husbands
Speaker 1: managed all of their business affairs, but the sisters maintained
Speaker 1: control of their finances and business decisions. Lilio Kalani visited
Speaker 1: England in seven her Queen Victoria's jubilee. Buckingham Palace treated
Speaker 1: her as a monarch equal to their own. During the trip,
Speaker 1: she received word of a coup. Back in Hawaii, Armed
Speaker 1: plantation owners had forced their way onto King Colacoa's property.
Speaker 1: They made him sign over power from the monarchy through
Speaker 1: the threat of death, granting voting rights to non native
Speaker 1: landowning colonists. The document that had drafted also granted the
Speaker 1: United States control over Pearl Harbor. This document granted more
Speaker 1: commer sial rights to plantation owners, reduced the right to
Speaker 1: vote for lower income Native Hawaiians, and excluded Asian immigrants
Speaker 1: who had come to work the plantations. With his signature,
Speaker 1: three out of four Native Hawaiians lost their right to vote.
Speaker 1: It's been nicknamed the Bayonet Constitution because it was signed
Speaker 1: at gunpoint. Liliu Klanni returned to find her brother in
Speaker 1: ailing health. Still, he traveled to the US to discuss
Speaker 1: a tariff that had severely hindered the sugar industry. He
Speaker 1: died in San Francisco on January. News of his death
Speaker 1: didn't reach the islands until the ship returned a week later.
Speaker 1: The Hawaiians held a traditional funeral ritual and the crowned
Speaker 1: Liliu Klanni on January twenty nine. She became Hawaii's first
Speaker 1: ruling queen. For the next few weeks, she remained in
Speaker 1: mourning for her brother. Afterward, she sought to return the
Speaker 1: power that had been stolen from the monarchy. The battle
Speaker 1: took two years. She planned to reinstate her people into
Speaker 1: control over both politics and the Hawaiian economy. The plantation
Speaker 1: owners took to the press in a smear campaign. None
Speaker 1: of it phazed her, and she pushed forward. A tragedy
Speaker 1: struck again when her husband, who was also o wah
Speaker 1: Whu's governor, died on August. While the two didn't have
Speaker 1: a good marriage, he had supported his wife's endeavors. The
Speaker 1: plantation owners, including one Sandford B. Dole, worried a return
Speaker 1: to the monarchy would affect their profits. Aside from being
Speaker 1: a landowner, Dole was a lawyer who had been appointed
Speaker 1: as an associate justice on the Hawaiian Supreme Court. Sandford's cousin, James,
Speaker 1: owned the Dole Food Company, and both men had a
Speaker 1: substantial interest in keeping Hawaiian land in American control, and
Speaker 1: both men had plenty of power. Sandford was part of
Speaker 1: a clan of business men called the Committee of Safety,
Speaker 1: who in January of plotted a coup. Their leader, politician
Speaker 1: and lawyer Lauren A. Thurston, set to work. They gained
Speaker 1: support from other US politicians and the captain of a
Speaker 1: US worship anchored in Honolulu Harbor. By January fourteenth of
Speaker 1: that year, Lilio Kalani had received over sixty hundred signatures
Speaker 1: to repeal the document her brother had been forced to sign,
Speaker 1: and she proposed a new constitution. But all was not
Speaker 1: as it seemed. One of her ministers made a copy
Speaker 1: of the new constitution and sent it to Thurston. By
Speaker 1: January six the Committee of Safety held a public meeting
Speaker 1: to denounce the queen. Some of her council fled the palace,
Speaker 1: fearing for their safety. Outside, indigenous Hawaiians gathered. They were
Speaker 1: tired of foreign powers buying off their officials and thwarting
Speaker 1: the Queen's efforts. A hundred and sixty two US sailors
Speaker 1: and marines arrived that day support the coup. Hawaiian attempts
Speaker 1: to resolve the conflict with an negotiation failed. The next day,
Speaker 1: Thurston and his men gathered outside the court house demanding
Speaker 1: that the queen stepped down. He declared martial law and
Speaker 1: for the queen to be removed. The remaining council advised
Speaker 1: her to surrender control to the U. S. Government instead
Speaker 1: of the committee. It should be noted that the plantation
Speaker 1: owners were American, but that the U. S. Government didn't
Speaker 1: officially sanction the coup. By midnight, Lilio Klannie had signed
Speaker 1: over her control to what she thought was the United States,
Speaker 1: though she had been betrayed once more. Sandford Dole became
Speaker 1: the head of the new government. He immediately pushed to
Speaker 1: have Hawaii annexed. In February, President Benjamin Harrison agreed. When
Speaker 1: Grover Cleveland took office a month later, he ordered an investigation.
Speaker 1: The commissioner reported what had happened and that the people
Speaker 1: supported the queen, not Sandford's government. Cleveland ordered that Lilio
Speaker 1: Klanni be reinstated, but only if she granted amnesty to
Speaker 1: those involved with the coup. Dole refused to hand over
Speaker 1: his power, and even when Liliuklawi agreed and President Cleveland
Speaker 1: didn't intervene, and Sandford Dole proclaimed himself president of the
Speaker 1: newly formed Republic of Hawaii. Paradise had been forcefully taken,
Speaker 1: and without help from President Cleveland, Hawaii no longer belonged
Speaker 1: to the indigenous people, and without voting rights, they had
Speaker 1: no means to get it back. In December of Congress
Speaker 1: realized they had a problem that allowed American citizens to
Speaker 1: overthrow a foreign government and had taken control by threat
Speaker 1: of war. Dole clung to his ill begotten power while
Speaker 1: Congress talked about justice. The indigenous people felt by they
Speaker 1: had waited long enough for the president to act. Hawaiian
Speaker 1: royalists plotted to take back control. Their rebellion failed. Dole's
Speaker 1: got namant had the rebels and the queen arrested for treason.
Speaker 1: The Republic offered her a deal abdicate and saved the
Speaker 1: lives of six of her people, who faced a death sentence.
Speaker 1: She agreed and was heavily fined and sentenced to five
Speaker 1: years of hard labor. Afterwards, she remained under house arrest.
Speaker 1: A year later, Dole announced that he had generously pardoned
Speaker 1: the Leio Kalani without any children of her own. She
Speaker 1: traveled to Washington with her niece, whom she designated as
Speaker 1: her heir. Her attempts to convince the president to restore
Speaker 1: Hawaii's independence failed. The United States and x Hawaii in
Speaker 1: under the McKinley administration and treated it as a US territory.
Speaker 1: Hawaii became the fiftieth U S state in nineteen fifty nine.
Speaker 1: Congress offered a formal apology to Hawaiians in Today, native
Speaker 1: Hawaiians remain the only indigenous people in the United States
Speaker 1: to not have political sovereignty. A tourism flourished when Hawaii
Speaker 1: became a date. Air travel made it easier for the
Speaker 1: middle class to visit. Tourism outstripped both the pineapple and
Speaker 1: sugar industries in terms of income. Hotels, shops, high rises,
Speaker 1: and golf courses have cropped up, and the beaches are crowded.
Speaker 1: While it's still a paradise, there is a debate over
Speaker 1: who's paradise. A one cultural icon from the past remains
Speaker 1: strong though. The song Looha Oi is still sung today
Speaker 1: and has been recorded by many musicians. It's a song
Speaker 1: of farewell and the hopes for reunion. As the story
Speaker 1: behind the melody goes, it was written in the late
Speaker 1: eighteen seventies. A young woman had taken a trip on
Speaker 1: horseback with a group of others at a ranch belonging
Speaker 1: to Colonel James Boyd. At the end of the ride,
Speaker 1: she watched as he and a close friend shared an
Speaker 1: embrace and a passionate kiss. The lovers parted reluctantly. The
Speaker 1: longing and affection shared between the two inspired the young
Speaker 1: woman to write the words to the melody that we
Speaker 1: all know today. Years later, she would sing the song
Speaker 1: again when control over Hawaii was stripped from her people.
Speaker 1: That woman, it's none other than Queen Juliu Kalani. There's
Speaker 1: more to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor
Speaker 1: break to hear all about it. Very few came to
Speaker 1: the peninsula, at least willingly. King kameh Mayha the Fifth
Speaker 1: Law went into effect on January three, eight six, and
Speaker 1: families were ripped apart. Surrounded by rough seas and steep
Speaker 1: sea cliffs. The topography of the Peninsula of law Papa
Speaker 1: on the island of Molokai lent itself to seclusion. Yet
Speaker 1: there are long stretches of sandy beaches. While it was
Speaker 1: and still is a natural Paradise, a yse fifth largest island,
Speaker 1: housed a lepre colony in the eighteen hundreds. Humans have
Speaker 1: been afflicted with leprosy for millennia. The disease is often disfiguring,
Speaker 1: causing sores, and internally it causes nerve damage. Although not
Speaker 1: the most contagious, repeated exposure raises the risk. When it
Speaker 1: first appeared in early history, people believed the disease was
Speaker 1: a curse or punishment from the gods. Others thought leprosy
Speaker 1: was hereditary and shunned entire families if one member fell ill.
Speaker 1: Research suggests that leprosy, now known to be caused by
Speaker 1: bacteria called microbacteri in leprey, has been around since humans
Speaker 1: have been human. It's followed roots of migration in trade
Speaker 1: and war for over forty thousand years. Until nineteen forty,
Speaker 1: there was no cure or effective treatment in medieval Europe.
Speaker 1: Those afflicted often walked on a different side of the
Speaker 1: road than others, or rang a bell or war clothing
Speaker 1: to warn others to keep their distance, and mostly though
Speaker 1: people were quarantined for life. This is where the island
Speaker 1: of Molokai comes in. No one knows when leprosy was
Speaker 1: introduced to Hawaii. It may have arrived multiple times, but
Speaker 1: starting in the eighteen twenties, European missionaries began reporting leprosy
Speaker 1: like symptoms on the islands, and by the eighteen sixties,
Speaker 1: with the population growing through immigration and colonization, it was
Speaker 1: considered enough of a problem that may have the Fifth
Speaker 1: and his Board of Health passed the Act to prevent
Speaker 1: the spread of leprosy. It created a policy of permanent
Speaker 1: segregation that would send over eight thousand people with leprosy
Speaker 1: to live out their lives on call pop U Peninsula
Speaker 1: on Molokai. Hawaiians sometimes called it the disease that separates families,
Speaker 1: and children fell victim to it more often than adults.
Speaker 1: One father, Damon, saw his calling on the island in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight. He and his brother were part of
Speaker 1: the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Belgium. His
Speaker 1: brother had been asked to go to Hawaii, but fell ill.
Speaker 1: Damien took his place. He first arrived in eighteen sixty
Speaker 1: three and ministered to the people on the Big Island
Speaker 1: for ten years until the colony on Molokai needed help.
Speaker 1: He and three other priests alternated caring for those sent
Speaker 1: to live on the peninsula. He traveled to the island
Speaker 1: by boat along with cattle and fifty patients. The colony
Speaker 1: petitioned to have a full time priest lived with them,
Speaker 1: and Father Damon never hesitated. He wrote to his superiors
Speaker 1: that he would not be leaving the island. The people
Speaker 1: needed him. They had come to the island expecting the
Speaker 1: worst and feeling they'd been sent there to die. Father
Speaker 1: Damon became determined to give them a place to live.
Speaker 1: He learned their language and helped build homes. Together with
Speaker 1: the patients, he planted gardens and trees. He organized schools
Speaker 1: for the children when he wasn't busy tending to residence
Speaker 1: medical needs. The children enjoyed the usual thing that had
Speaker 1: on the Big Island, like bands and choirs, and when
Speaker 1: people died, he helped bury them. He returned to the
Speaker 1: Big Island to campaign for more funding. He relentlessly championed
Speaker 1: better conditions, more supplies, and clothing. His tireless work attracted
Speaker 1: worldwide attention, shedding light on leprosy and the colony on Molokai.
Speaker 1: For twelve years, he lived with the people on Molokai
Speaker 1: before he contracted leprosy himself. The Health Board certified him
Speaker 1: as an inmate on March thirty of eighteen eighty six.
Speaker 1: Though he could no longer leave the island, he stated
Speaker 1: that he was with his people and happy. The disease
Speaker 1: caught up with him three years later, and he died
Speaker 1: at the age of forty nine on April fifteenth of
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine. The colony, the Kingdom of Hawaii, and
Speaker 1: the world mourned his death. In two thousand nine, Father
Speaker 1: Damon was named the patron Saint of people with leprosy. Today,
Speaker 1: leprosy is more commonly called Hanson's disease. It's now relatively rare,
Speaker 1: as there are treatments, manicure courses of antibiotics and steroids.
Speaker 1: Although the forced relocation of people with leprosy to Molokai
Speaker 1: ended in the nineteen sixties, of freeing the population there,
Speaker 1: six or so of the law survivors still choose to
Speaker 1: make the island home of all the islands, Molokai is
Speaker 1: said to retain much of its original beauty and indigenous roots.
Speaker 1: The people who live there celebrate their connection with nature.
Speaker 1: The land or aena, is so important to Hawaiians that
Speaker 1: they believe it should be treated with the utmost respect.
Speaker 1: For every commercial city full of hustle, bustle and modern
Speaker 1: ways of life, there are places where nature and the
Speaker 1: aena remain relatively untouched. Guides still navigate by the stars
Speaker 1: like their ancestors. At night. There are celebrations with food, music,
Speaker 1: and dancing. Residents and visitors are frequently moved to say
Speaker 1: the places like kloup op up on Molokai, our paradise found.
Speaker 1: American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbond. This episode was
Speaker 1: written by Michelle Muto, researched by Alexander Steed, and produced
Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Monkey,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick, and special thanks to Elijah McShane.
Speaker 1: To learn more about the show, visit Grim and Mild
Speaker 1: dot com. Or more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.