Translations bring to light true voices of patients

Writings show that the Molokai settlement's first residents were not savages, a historian says

By Dan Nakaso

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 10, 2012

~~<p>Translations of letters written by the earliest Hawaiian Hansen's disease patients exiled to Molokai in the late 1800s paint a much different picture of early life in the settlement than the brutal image perpetuated by English-speaking, mostly Caucasian authorities at the time.</p>
<p>"The perception has always been that everybody there was immoral and lawless," said Anwei Skinsnes Law, who has been studying the history of the Kalaupapa peninsula for 40 years. "Letters from administrators said they were vagabonds and murderers. When you include the voices of the people who were actually sent there, it tells a much different story. When you just don't rely on English sources, the history becomes much more complete."</p>
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Translations of letters written by the earliest Hawaiian Hansen's disease patients exiled to Molokai in the late 1800s paint a much different picture of early life in the settlement than the brutal image perpetuated by English-speaking, mostly Caucasian authorities at the time.

"The perception has always been that everybody there was immoral and lawless," said Anwei Skinsnes Law, who has been studying the history of the Kalaupapa peninsula for 40 years. "Letters from administrators said they were vagabonds and murderers. When you include the voices of the people who were actually sent there, it tells a much different story. When you just don't rely on English sources, the history becomes much more complete." Login for more...