Entry #5: Marshallese-US History

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For Marshallese people, it is very important to know our history. We have a famous metaphor that compares the importance of learning one’s history to a canoe in the ocean. Marshallese cultural expert Cent Langidrik explains in A Marshall Islands History, “If you are traveling in your canoe in the middle of a storm and you cannot determine which direction you are traveling or where you are going, the best thing to do is to look behind you. The wake made by your boat will show you if you are going straight or moving from side to side without making any progress. Look backward to see where you are going” (3). Thus, to understand the great difficulties Marshallese people in the US face, specifically in regards to their health, one must understand how Marshallese people got here; looking backward to understand the present and see where we are going–and possibly try to change course.

Traditional Marshallese Canoe 


The relationship between the United States and the Marshall Islands began during World War II when the Japanese occupied many parts of the Pacific. The United States saw possibility in the Marshall Islands both for a military base and a place for nuclear testing because of its isolation. In 1946, a U.S. Navy officer came to Bikini Island and told Chief Juda, “We are testing these bombs for the good of mankind, and to end all wars.” Very few Marshallese spoke English or even understood it. Chief Juda and the Marshallese people on Bikini did not realize fully what they were agreeing to, but all he knew was that the “good of mankind" was part of Christianity; so he said, “If it is in the name of God, I am willing to let my people go” (Keju-Johnson 309). The people of Bikini left their island and have never been able to return.


Between 1946 and 1958, 67 nuclear devices were detonated on and around the northernmost Marshall Islands. Measured in tons of TNT, it was the most extensive nuclear weapons testing ever carried out by the United States. Tony DeBrum, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs & Health, Republic of the Marshall Islands, explains the massive extent of the testing in the documentary Unnatural Causes: Collateral Damage, “The yield of those tests has been estimated at one point seven Hiroshima shots. Every day. Every day for twelve years” (Adelman 3).  On March 1, 1954 life in the Marshall Islands changed forever. “Bravo” was the codename for the largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested (Walsh et al 298). It was a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb equivalent to 1000 Hiroshimas. A miscalculation caused radioactive fallout to drift onto two inhabited atolls. More than 200 men, women and children were on those atolls (Adelman 3).

Adelman, Larry. “UNNATURAL CAUSES | About the series . Video clips | CALIFORNIA NEWSREEL.” Unnatural Causes, California Newsreel, https://unnaturalcauses.org/video_clips_detail.php?res_id=79. Accessed 22 October 2023.


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