Speaker. in connection with the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Portugal and the United States. I would like to draw your attention to the contributions of the Portuguese community in Hawaii. The first Portuguese came to Hawaii as sailors aboard whaling and merchant vessels in the early 19th century. Hawaiis need for labor on our sugar plantations brought a wave of Portuguese immigration around the turn of the century. Those immigrants were the founders of a community that now numbers more than 50.000. PortugueseAmerican professionals. public officials. workers. educators. and business men and women are counted prominently among the builders of modem Hawaii. They were pivotal in the fight to achieve social justice.
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