The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

By the time Daniel Inouye was born in 1924, his family had been in Hawaii since 1899. After his great-grandfather had amassed a debt that he had no hope of paying off, Daniel’s grandfather Asakichi had decided to move to Hawaii with his wife and young son to earn money to pay his father’s debt. He signed a five-year contract on a sugar plantation working 15-hour days. However, he was able to send very little money home and was soon forced to sign another five-year contract. Frustrated, Asakichi began looking for other ways to make money and decided to construct a bathhouse for the other Japanese immigrants who were missing home. After 30 years, he finally sent enough money home to pay off his father’s debt.

Meanwhile, Asakichi’s son, Hyotaro, grew into a man. He married and had Daniel, his first child. In seventh grade, Daniel fell while playing with his friends and broke his arm badly. The doctor set his arm crookedly, and once the cast was removed, Daniel could barely use the limb. When Daniel’s parents found a new doctor who told them that he could fix the arm, Daniel’s relieved mother told the doctor that they would need to pay in installments.