Hidden Histories: Speaker Series

 

Each month for the 10th Anniversary Celebration of Honouliuli National Historic Site, the National Park Service in partnership with Pacific Historic Parks invited guest speakers to take part in the Hidden Histories: Speaker Series.

Hidden Histories invited experts in their field, some with intimate knowledge of the history of Honouliuli Internment Camp, to participate in a one-hour virtual discussion about their field. Guests were able to answer questions from the audience as well.

As the 10th anniversary celebration continues throught the year 2025, the recorded Hidden Histories sessions and details will be posted on this page for those who were unable to attend.

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March: 10th Anniversary Kickoff

 

Hell Valley: Uncovering a WWII Civilian and POW Prison Camp in Paradise

Presented by Mary Farrell

Link to Watch: Hell Valley: Uncovering a WWII Civilian and POW Prison Camp in Paradise

Discussion Summary:

When it was rediscovered by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi (JCCH), the Honouliuli Prisoner of War (POW) and Civilian Internment Camp was hidden in a densely vegetated gulch-- only 14 miles northwest of Honolulu, but worlds away. The site was buried not just physically, but also historically: although the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans from the west coast of the United States was chronicled in books, movies, plays, museums, and countless articles, there was a widespread belief that there had been no internment of civilians in Hawaiʻi during World War II. Volunteers from JCCH and students from the University of Hawaiʻi braved the dense vegetation to document that the site indeed had many remnants of the prison camp. With those concrete slabs, rock walls, guard tower foundations, and fences, Honouliuli retains enough archaeological integrity to be listed on the National Register, an important first step on becoming a National Historic Site. As a unit of the National Park Service, Honouliuli will be able to tell its story of how the U.S. has treated its citizens and POWs in times of crisis.

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April: National Poetry Month

 

Coming soon.