Under a Jarvis Moon | |
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![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Noelle Kahanu and Heather Giugni |
Produced by | Noelle Kahanu, Heather Giugni, Lisa Altieri |
Edited by | Lisa Altieri |
Production company | Juniroa Productions |
Release date |
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Running time | 56 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Under a Jarvis Moon is a 2010 documentary film about the young men, mostly of Hawaiian origin, sent in the 1930s and 1940s to colonize the Line Island of Jarvis and the Phoenix Islands of Howland and Baker. [1] [2] Directed by Noelle Kahanu and Heather Giugni, the film is related to a 2002 Bishop Museum exhibition "Hui Panalāʻau: Hawaiian Colonists, American Citizens." [3] In 2010 Hawaii International Film Festival, the film scored #1 in Best Documentary nomination. [4]
The United States companies ran guano mining business in Jarvis Island during the mid-1800s, by using the Guano Act passed by Congress in 1856. Eventually the mines were exhausted, and the colonists left the island. Then Jarvis, Baker and Howland islands were claimed by Great Britain. However, it was unable to occupy the islands or find any use for them, so the British soon abandoned, too.
In 1935, the US Department of Air Commerce announced the need to reclaim the strategically located Line Islands, ostensibly to protect federal interests in commercial aviation routes between California and Australia. During the 1930s, the United States government made a decision to send colonists to the islands of Baker, Howland, and Jarvis under the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project, in order to lay claim to the islands. The stated reason for the claim would be to further commercial aviation. Documents presented in this movie suggest that military purposes were contemplated, though they were not to be divulged. [5] [6]
The government recruited the initial 130 colonists among young men at Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, and also among furloughed Army personnel. The students from Kamehameha school were generally not given very much information about their upcoming assignment. The Coast Guard cutter Itasca delivered the colonists to their islands, and was subsequently used for bringing replacements and supplies. [7]
At the end of the first three-month tour, the furloughed military personnel reported dissatisfaction with the experience, whereas the young men of Native Hawaiian ancestry reportedly enjoyed the experience. Throughout the 1930s, the vast majority of subsequent colonists sent to these islands were Native Hawaiian young men recruited from Kamehameha schools.
Although the colonists initially attempted to grow plants on these islands, they were largely unsuccessful. The most notable achievement of the colonists, besides helping the United States claim these three islands, was to prepare a runway on Howland Island for Amelia Earhart on her planned trip around the world (Amelia Earhart disappeared en route to Howland). [8]
The documentary describes the living conditions of the colonists, including the water scarcity, the abundance of fish and surfing opportunities, the abundant bird life, the isolation of the colonists prior to the installation of radios, and the social and personal interactions of the colonists with each other. Mention is also made of the hardships of the colonists after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
The documentary includes interviews with the (now aged) surviving colonists, many contemporary photographs, and occasional descriptions of related political and world events.
The title of the movie is the title of a song written by one of the colonists on Jarvis.
Today, in part because of the efforts of these colonists, these islands are grouped as part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. They are currently uninhabited and have National Wildlife Refuge designation, meaning they are set aside as protected areas.
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--(1) acknowledges the accomplishments and sacrifices of the Hui Panalāʻau colonists and extends appreciation on behalf of the people of the United States; (2) acknowledges the local, national, and international significance of the 7-year colonization project, which resulted in the United States extending sovereignty into the Equatorial Pacific; and (3) recognizes and commends the accomplishments, sacrifices, and contributions of the more than 130 young men, the majority of whom were Native Hawaiian, who participated in the Equatorial Pacific colonization project.
Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket, is an uninhabited atoll just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean about 3,090 km (1,920 mi) southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is Howland Island, 42 mi (68 km) to the north-northwest; both have been claimed as territories of the United States since 1857, though the United Kingdom considered them part of the British Empire between 1897 and 1936.
Howland Island is an uninhabited coral island located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about 1,700 nautical miles (3,100 km) southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States. Together with Baker Island it forms part of the Phoenix Islands. For statistical purposes, Howland is grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The island has an elongated cucumber-shape on a north–south axis, 1.40 by 0.55 miles, and covers 1 square mile.
Jarvis Island is an uninhabited 4.5 km2 (1.7 sq mi) coral island located in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands. It is an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the United States, administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Unlike most coral atolls, the lagoon on Jarvis is wholly dry.
The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation defined by the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1 code. The entry code is ISO 3166-2:UM. The minor outlying islands and groups of islands consist of eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean and one in the Caribbean Sea.
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.
Hilo is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaiʻi. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement in the state of Hawaii and largest settlement in the state outside of Oahu.
Nikumaroro, previously known as Kemins Island or Gardner Island, is a part of the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati, in the western Pacific Ocean. It is a remote, elongated, triangular coral atoll with profuse vegetation and a large central marine lagoon. Nikumaroro is about 7.5 km (4.7 mi) long by 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide. The rim has two narrow entrances, both of which are blocked by a wide reef, which is dry at low tide. The ocean beyond the reef is very deep, and the only anchorage is at the island's west end, across the reef from the ruins of a mid-20th-century British colonial village, but this is safe only with the southeast trade winds. Landing has always been difficult and is most often done south of the anchorage. Although occupied at various times during the past, the island is uninhabited today.
Frederick Joseph "Fred" Noonan was an American flight navigator, sea captain and aviation pioneer, who first charted many commercial airline routes across the Pacific Ocean during the 1930s. Navigator for Amelia Earhart, they disappeared somewhere over the Central Pacific Ocean, on July 2, 1937 during one of the last legs of their attempted pioneering round-the-world flight.
The Phoenix Islands, or Rawaki, are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs that lie east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, north of Samoa. They are part of the Republic of Kiribati. Their combined land area is 28 square kilometres (11 sq mi). The only island of any commercial importance is Canton Island. The other islands are Enderbury, Rawaki, Manra, Birnie, McKean, Nikumaroro, and Orona.
Kalākaua, sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, reigning from February 12, 1874, until his death in 1891. Succeeding Lunalilo, he was elected to the vacant throne of Hawaiʻi against Queen Emma. Kalākaua had a convivial personality and enjoyed entertaining guests with his singing and ukulele playing. At his coronation and his birthday jubilee, the hula, which had hitherto been banned in public in the kingdom, became a celebration of Hawaiian culture.
Kamehameha III was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweʻula Kīwalaʻō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweʻula Kīwalaʻō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa Kalani Waiakua Kalanikau Iokikilo Kīwalaʻō i ke kapu Kamehameha when he ascended the throne.
Theresa Owana Kaʻōhelelani Laʻanui was a descendant of Kalokuokamaile, the eldest brother of Kamehameha I. She was a member of the House of Laʻanui, a collateral branch of the House of Kamehameha.
USCGC Itasca was a Lake-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard launched on 16 November 1929 and commissioned 12 July 1930. It acted as "picket ship" supporting Amelia Earhart's 1937 world flight attempt.
The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is a group of unorganized, mostly unincorporated United States Pacific Island territories managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States Department of Commerce. These remote refuges are "the most widespread collection of marine- and terrestrial-life protected areas on the planet under a single country's jurisdiction". They protect many endemic species including corals, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, seabirds, water birds, land birds, insects, and vegetation not found elsewhere.
Isabella Aiona Abbott was an educator, phycologist, and ethnobotanist from Hawaii. The first native Hawaiian woman to receive a PhD in science, she became a leading expert on Pacific marine algae.
Ford Island is an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has been known as Rabbit Island, Marín's Island, and Little Goats Island, and its native Hawaiian name is Mokuʻumeʻume. The island had an area of 334 acres (135 ha) when it was surveyed in 1825, which was increased during the 1930s to 441 acres (178 ha) with fill dredged out of Pearl Harbor by the United States Navy to accommodate battleships.
John Tamatoa Baker, also given as John Timoteo Baker, was a Hawaiian politician, businessman, and rancher who served many political posts in the Kingdom of Hawaii, including Governor of the Island of Hawaii from 1892 to 1893. Baker and his brother became the models for the Kamehameha Statues.
The American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project was a plan initiated in 1935 by the United States Department of Commerce to place U.S. citizens on uninhabited Howland, Baker, and Jarvis Islands in the central Pacific Ocean so that weather stations and landing fields could be built for military and commercial use on air routes between Australia and California. Additionally, the U.S. government wanted to claim these remote islands to provide a check on eastern territorial expansion by the Empire of Japan. The colonists, who became known as Hui Panalāʻau, were primarily young Native Hawaiian men and other male students recruited from schools in Hawaii. In 1937, the project was expanded to include Canton and Enderbury in the Phoenix Islands. The project ended in early 1942 when the colonists were rescued from the islands at the start of the War in the Pacific.
Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu is a Native Hawaiian academic, curator, writer, and lawyer. A former director of community affairs at the Bishop Museum, she directed the 2010 documentary film Under a Jarvis Moon, about the young Hawaiian men sent to work on Howland, Jarvis, and Baker Islands.
Her documentary, Under a Jarvis Moon, is almost finished and completes a years-long effort that also includes a traveling exhibit for the Bishop Museum and interviews with eight surviving colonists, recorded by the University of Hawai'i Center for Oral History in 2006.
At the present time, Hawaiian boys of the Kamehameha school are maintaining the wireless station and working to clear the areas of Howland of debris to provide landing facilities for Mrs. Amelia Earhart, who is to fly to Australia. There is a possibility that they may also lay concrete runways in time for her arrival.