Ayin M. Adams

African Americans in Hawaii: A Search for Identity Ayin M. Adams 1. izdevums

The urgency to recover the neglected and/or ignored history of blacks in Hawai`i is becoming more apparent with each passing day. Since the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States, more local and national attention is being focused on Hawai`i black history and the experiences and identity issues of blacks in Hawai`i where Obama passed a formative time of his youth. The ideas and personal philosophy of Barack Obama were undoubtedly influenced by his socialization and education in the Hawaiian Islands and certainly his democratic approach to politics and his beliefs in diversity, unity, and community (ohana) were surely in part formulated by his multi-racial family and life in a multi cultural Hawai`i. Ayin Adams, PhD is one of a growing number of scholars and writers who understand the importance of this new historicism and the necessity of publishing African American history in Hawai`i. A long time resident of Hawai`i herself who has worked closely with the local community, Adams explores some of the dilemmas of identity and conflict in a place where Blacks are only 3.5% of the population and presents the unknown successes and triumphs of some special black residents, accompanied by photos. Unfortunately, the local media and education system have ignored, controlled, and/or marginalized blacks in local history. Thus images and perceptions of blacks in Hawai`i have been controlled or omitted, intentionally or by default or ignorance, thereby preserving the dominant American status, culture, and control of power and assimilation. Historically, identity and status in America, Hawai`i, and the world have been based on the privilege of skin color for too long.