--- title: Hawaii on the Verge of Statehood: Color Photos, 1959 description: Color photographs from Hawaii in 1959, the year the islands officially became America's 50th state. canonical: https://time.com/3739614/hawaii-before-statehood-color-photos-1959/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-04-29T20:01:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:08.278Z og:title: Hawaii on the Verge of Statehood: Color Photos, 1959 og:description: Color photographs from Hawaii in 1959, the year the islands officially became America's 50th state. og:url: https://time.com/3739614/hawaii-before-statehood-color-photos-1959/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e379c31f2a3e662/6987830ea988cadfe06ace18/150315-hawaii-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2090 og:image:height: 1176 og:image:alt: v og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hawaii on the Verge of Statehood: Color Photos, 1959 twitter:description: Color photographs from Hawaii in 1959, the year the islands officially became America's 50th state. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e379c31f2a3e662/6987830ea988cadfe06ace18/150315-hawaii-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hawaii Before Statehood: Color Photos, 1959 > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 29, 2013 8:01 PM UTC  Foodland supermarket, Hawaii, 1959. Foodland supermarket, Hawaii, 1959.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 29, 2013 8:01 PM UTC The image and legend of Hawaii as a tropical paradise endures for countless reasons. Few places on earth can boast more dramatic or romantic landscapes; the weather is generally gorgeous; the variety of climates one can encounter within the space of a few miles—from arid to tropical to near-alpine to sun-splashed beach—is mind-boggling; the waters surrounding the islands partake of those impossible shades of green and blue that painters have sought for centuries to capture on canvas. The pace of life is utterly, soothingly humane. But paradise, as we all know, exists only in fairy tales—or, if a paradise did once exist in the Pacific, it long ago gave way to the complex, ambiguous and often politically fraught realities of the modern world. The Hawaii of the travel brochures—as marvelous as it might be in theory, and even at times in fact—is a beautiful construct, but one that often ignores the island chain’s bumpier, and endlessly fascinating, history. (For instance, how many Americans in the contiguous 48 know anything at all about the nonviolent “democratic revolution” of labor strikes and major acts of civil disobedience that roiled the islands in 1954, reshaping Hawaii’s political landscape for all time?) Here, on the 55th anniversary of Hawaii’s Aug. 21, 1959, Admission to the Union as the 50th state, LIFE.com presents color photographs made that very year on the islands. In a March 1959 article, “Hawaii—Beauty, Wealth, Amiable People,” for which these pictures were shot, LIFE painted a largely rosy picture of the place: --- > “” ---  Cattle graze under volcanic cliffs on Oahu, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Foodland supermarket, Hawaii, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Black-sand beach, made by waves battering volcanic rock, on the Big Island, Hawaii, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hawaiian scene, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene at Dole's 15,000-acre Wahiawa plantation near Honolulu, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Young Catholics at St. Catherine's Church on Kauai, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Washing hung out to dry, Hawaii, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fans at a football game, Hawaii, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Drum majorette leads band at Honolulu football game, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Football game, Honolulu, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Mamala paddle dance which was performed in honor of Lono, god of peace and agriculture, is taught to fourth-grade students at the Kamehameha Schools by teacher of pure Hawaiian blood, Mrs. Esther Waihee McClellan. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hawaiian women pose, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dunking pool at a Hawaii fair, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Roman Catholic church, Hawaii, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hawaiian police, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on a Hawaiian plantation, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Tourists in Hawaii, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Surfing, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A young Hawaiian mother, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hawaii, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Pearl Harbor, 1959. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Swimming in a freshwater pool, Hawaii, 1959. 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