Queen Lili‘uokalani

Lili‘uokalani was born Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamakaʻeha on September 2, 1838, at the base of “the punchbowl,” an extinct volcano near Honolulu, to a family of high chiefs and advisers to the king. Following Hawaiian tradition, she was raised by parents of higher rank than her own.

Young royals often contracted chicken pox, smallpox, fevers, typhoid, influenza, measles, and other illnesses that were brought by foreigners. 

The image above is of an order that all foreign vessels arriving in Honolulu should be screened for smallpox, which swept across the eight-island nation, as missionaries began coming to Hawai’i. 

[Image courtesy of Hawai’i State Archives]

From a young age, Lili‘uokalani was a talented musician and songwriter, and played music and sang at parties in the Royal Court. She composed over 150 songs in her lifetime, capturing indigenous traditions and combining Hawaiian and European musical forms in many of her songs. The Queen’s Songbook, pictured here,  is a collection of 55 of Liliʻuokalani’s compositions, and includes an essay on Liliʻuokalani and her music, translations, and photographs. The book is a project of Hui Hānai, an auxiliary organization to the Children’s Center.

[Image courtesy of Hui Hanai]

Immigrants from China arrived in Hawaiʻi to work on sugar plantations and rice plantations throughout the Islands, which replaced taro as a mass-farmed crop at the time. More than 50,000 Chinese immigrants arrived in Hawaiʻi between 1852 and 1887.

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

Lili‘uokalani went door to door with members of the Royal family to raise money to build Hawai‘i’s first public hospital, Queen’s Hospital. The hospital is now called the Queen’s Medical Center and is the largest private hospital in Hawaiʻi. It is the state’s designated trauma center, and the first and only Level I trauma center in Hawaiʻi.

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

John Dominis was the son of sea captain, and raised in Hawaii. He attended the Royal School for Hawaiian nobility, where Liliʻuokalani met him as a child, and they became acquaintances. According to Liliʻuokalani’s memoir, the marriage was not a happy one, though Dominis became one of her closest advisors. After they married in 1862, Liliʻuokalani and Dominis moved into his mother’s home, where she felt like an intruder. Dominis became Governor of Oahu in 1864. In 1863, he had a child with one of Liliʻuokalani’s servants, who Liliʻuokalani eventually adopted.

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

[Image Courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

“Aloha ‘Oe,” “Farewell to Thee,” also known as “the song of the lover’s embrace,” was published in 1884, and became the best known of Queen Liliʻuokalani’s compositions, and of Hawaiʻi’s songs.

Laborers from Portugal, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Spain, Russia, and Norway came to work on sugar plantations, which led to the multiculturalism of Hawaiʻi and creation of Hawaiʻi Creole English, commonly referred as “Pidgin,” which is currently spoken by more than half of the residents in Hawaiʻi. Between 1885 and 1924, more than 200,000 Japanese immigrated to Hawaiʻi as plantation laborers until their arrivals stopped with the Federal Immigration Act of 1924.

Lili‘uokalani served as the sole regent in power while her brother, King David Kalakaua, traveled the world in 1881. During the year he was abroad, she managed the eruption of a volcano, and organized the construction of dams to divert the flow of the molten lava, as well as a quarantine to control the spread of smallpox on several islands. 

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

The 1890 McKinley tariff bill made raw sugar from all foreign countries duty free, taking away the advantage that Hawaiʻi had held previously in the sugar industry. Sugar had become the main business of the islands, accounting for $12.6 million of Hawaiʻi’s exports of their 13 million, in 1890. Americans held the majority of the stock- $22.45 million, or 79%. 

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

When her brother, King David Kalakaua died suddenly, Lili‘uokalani became the first and only sovereign queen of Hawaiʻi. She had little time to mourn her brother’s passing, as she immediately had to tackle mounting palace intrigue and attempts to subvert the power of the monarchy.

A revolutionary group of American businessmen called the “Committee of Safety”  staged a coup against Queen Lili‘uokalani, backed by U.S. Marines. 162 fully armed troops from Boston arrived, and marched through downtown Honolulu past `Iolani Palace. Within 48 hours, the kingdom of Hawaiʻi had been overthrown. 

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

A U.S. provisional government was put in place, with Sanford B. Dole declared the president, and the Queen was forced to abdicate the throne. Annexation had been blocked when President Grover Cleveland withdrew an annexation treaty from the Senate and demanded the restoration of Lili`uokalani to the throne. Refusing to recognize Cleveland’s authority in the matter, Dole and his colleagues established the Republic of Hawaiʻi. 

[Image courtesy of Mills College, Online Archives of California]

The Queen was arrested January 16, 1895, two years from the date that American troops landed to support the takeover by U.S. businessmen. She was imprisoned in a corner room on the second story of `Iolani Palace, guarded day and night, allowed only one attendant and no visitors. Shortly after she was imprisoned, Lili`uokalani was given a document of abdication to sign and was told that, if she refused, several of her followers would be shot for treason.

While imprisoned, the Queen sewed a quilt out of her clothes and Hawaiian flags, and stitched the message: “Imprisoned at Iolani Palace… We began this quilt there.”

After meeting with the Queen, President Grover Cleveland opposed the provisional government and called for Lili’uokalani to be restored to power. But the Committee of Safety established the Republic of Hawaiʻi and refused to cede power. 

[Image courtesy of Library of Congress]

The Committee of Safety and others initiated a campaign of detraction which resulted in the Queen being slandered in the U.S. press, using racist depictions to present a negative image of her as an irresponsible, power-hungry ruler. 

[Image courtesy of Judge Publishing Company]

Despite over 37,000 native Hawaiians across the islands signing petitions expressing their resistance to annexation. Lili‘uokalani declined to attend the annexation ceremonies, as she stated she could not bear to see the Hawaiian flag lowered and the American flag raised in its place. 

[Image courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives]

James Dole, President Sanford Dole’s cousin, started the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1901, just as the monarchy had been overthrown and the sugar industry seemed  to be unsustainable. By early 1922, the company supplied three-fourths of all of the world’s pineapple. After James Dole died in 1958, the company name changed to the Dole Pineapple Company. 

The company’s use of pesticides and herbicides had detrimental effects on the health of the workers, who were mostly Native Hawaiians. Dole’s advertisements reinforced stereotypes of Native Hawaiians, sexualizing Native Hawaiian women, and appropriating their traditions.  In 1989, the plantation opened its doors to the public as the “Hawaiʻi’s Complete Pineapple Experience.” Today, it is the second most visited attraction on Oahu.

[Image courtesy of GETTY]

On Lili’uokalani’s 73rd birthday, she gave a birthday gift to her people, donating her property near Waikahalulu Stream in Nu‘uanu, which is known today as Lili‘uokalani Garden, to a Trust to support orphaned Native Hawaiian children. The trust is still thriving  and serves approximately 10,000 children annually through direct services, and reaches thousands more through public programs and collaborations with community partners.

[Image courtesy of The Queen Lili‘uokalani Trust]

Queen Lili’uokalani died on November 11, 1917, from complications related to a stroke.

[Image courtesy of Library of Congress] 

In 1993, The U.S. Congress issued, and President Bill Clinton signed an apology resolution that acknowledged that the overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani had been illegal.  

[Image courtesy of David Ramirez]

Every year, a celebration takes place in Hawaiʻi in honor of Queen Lili‘uokalani’s birthday. The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, the state’s tourism agency, partners with the Hawaiʻi Pono‘ī Coalition for a celebration that includes live musical performances, hula, speeches by Hawaiian cultural practitioners, palace tours, ‘ono food and living history walks in celebration of the Queen’s birthday.

[Image courtesy of the Hawaiʻi Tribune-Herald]

Thousands of Native Hawaiians blocked the sole access road to Hawaiʻi’s largest mountain, Mauna Kea, which is the proposed site of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Astronomers said the billion-dollar project would offer unparalleled views of the cosmos, and the state issued a building permit for it in 2018. The Mauna Kea mountain is on state public land and is sacred to Native Hawaiians. The protests raised issues regarding the development and use of public lands that are important to Native Hawaiian people. The company behind the project decided to not proceed with construction, though the mountain remains its preferred location for the telescope, and the state said it would support the company, should it resume work. Many of the protestors say their resistance is inspired by the Queen’s legacy and protection of indigenous culture.

[Image courtesy of Pu’uhonua o Pu’uhuluhulu]