Ipo Hemaloto, Salt Lake City, UT: an interview by Savani Aupiu, 17 January 2009: Pacific Islanders Oral History Project, U-1975

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Title Ipo Hemaloto, Salt Lake City, UT: an interview by Savani Aupiu, 17 January 2009: Pacific Islanders Oral History Project, U-1975
Alternative Title No. 699 Ipo Hemaloto
Creator Hemaloto, Ipo, 1968-
Contributor Aupiu, Savani
Publisher Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah
Date 2009-01-17
Access Rights I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah.
Date Digital 2015-07-08
Spatial Coverage Utah, United States, http://sws.geonames.org/5549030/ ; Hawaii, United States, http://sws.geonames.org/5855797/ ; American Samoa, http://sws.geonames.org/5880801/
Subject Hemaloto, Ipo, 1968- --Interviews; Samoan Americans--Utah--Biography; Pacific Islander Americans--Utah--Social conditions; Acculturation; Latter Day Saints--Interviews
Description Transcript (42 pages) of an interview by Savani Aupiu with Ipo Hemaloto on 17 January 2009. Part of the Pacific Islanders Oral History Project, Everett Cooley Collection tape no. U-1975
Abstract Ipo Hemaloto (b. 1968), daughter of a Samoan man and a Japanese, Hawaiian and German mother, grew up in American Samoa. Her father was a lawyer, and her mother, a teacher and ultimately a PhD in history. Her family is Mormon; she believes her grandparents on both sides were converted. Her parents met at BYU-Hawaii. Ms. Hemaloto remembers growing up somewhat better off than her fellows, perhaps because her mother was from Hawaii and expected certain American amenities, she thinks. Ms. Hemaloto remembers growing up speaking English and associating with the few other English-speaking children at school, a separate and, in hindsight, somewhat envied social group. Her father suffered discrimination in the US due to his accent and did not want his children, for whom he and their mother had high educational expectations, to suffer also. Ms. Hemaloto, one of eleven children, moved to Utah with her family when she was in junior high and finished high school at Jordan High in Sandy. She recalls some racism, and remembers being thought of as too white in Samoa and black in Utah. However, she focuses on her father´s negative experience more than her own. She married briefly, returned to Samoa for a time, and then, regarding Hawaii as a second home, attended college at BYU-Hawaii and took a degree in English. She met her Tongan husband Sepho there, and at the time of the interview had six children with him, lived in Orem and attended Utah Valley University. Ms. Hemaloto misses Samoa terribly, and hoped at the time of the interview to shortly return to Samoa with a nursing degree. Project: Pacific Islanders. Interviewer: Savani Aupiu.
Type Text
Genre oral histories (literary works)
Format application/pdf
Language eng
Rights Digital Image © 2015 Utah State Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.
Is Part of Pacific Islanders Oral History Project
Scanning Technician Niko Amaya; Halima Noor
Conversion Specifications Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display.
ARK ark:/87278/s6d23spj
Topic Samoan Americans; Pacific Islander Americans; Mormons--Biography; Acculturation
Setname uum_elc
ID 838528
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6d23spj
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