Interview with Henry Epstein, session 1 of 2 (2/12/1991)
Interview with Henry Epstein conducted by Michi Kodama-Nishimoto and Daniel W. Tuttle, Jr. on 2/12/1991 in the KHET studio Honolulu, Oʻahu as part of the Hawaiʻi Political History Documentation Project. Labor organizer and leader of the UPW in Hawaiʻi discusses his work as a union organizer in Hawaiʻi in the period after World War II. Other topics include: early life and childhood in Harlem and Washington Heights in New York City as the son of Russian immigrants; involvement in the progressive and liberal American Students Union; experiences during the Depression; how being Jewish impacted his involvement in politics and labor; military service during WWII; the state of union activity in Hawaiʻi post-WWII; obstacles that the UPW faced at the time; competition for members with other unions especially HGEA; how the Big Five had tight control over labor; relationship with Jack Hall; and lobbying for labor issues at the Territorial Legislature. Interview spans 7 videotapes.
This has been a small clip of the full video available. For more information about this title and the materials associated with it, please contact the archive.