Emma Nāwahī

Emma ʻAʻima Aʻii Nāwahī (September 28, 1854 – December 28, 1935) was a Native Hawaiian political activist, community leader and newspaper publisher. She and her husband Joseph Nāwahī were leaders in the opposition to the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and they co-founded Ke Aloha Aina, a Hawaiian language newspaper, which served as an important voice in the resistance to the annexation of Hawaii to the United States.[1][2][3] After annexation, she helped established the Democratic Party of Hawaii and became a supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

Emma Nāwahī
Emma Nāwahī
Born	Emma ʻAʻima Aʻii September 22, 1868 Kūkūau, Hilo. Hawaii, Kingdom of Hawaii
Died	December 28, 1935 (aged 81) Hilo. Hawaii County, Territory of Hawaii
Occupation	Newspaper publisher
Spouse(s)	Joseph Nāwahī
Children	3
Parent(s)	Tong Yee Aʻii Kahaoleʻauʻa

Early life

Born on September 28, 1854, at Kūkūau, a rural part of Hilo on the island of Hawaii, she was regarded as a hapa-pākē, of half-Native Hawaiian and half-Chinese descent.[4][5][6] Her mother Kahaoleʻauʻa was the daughter of a minor Hilo chief, while her father Tong Yee was a Chinese immigrant from Xiangshan County, Guangdong. Her father originally left China to take part in the California Gold Rush but later settled in Hilo in 1850 where he became a successful businessman and co-founded Paukaʻa Sugar Plantation with other Chinese sugar planters from lands leased from King Kamehameha V.[7][8] Her parents married on June 25, 1851.[9] Her father adopted the surname Aʻii (based on the Hawaiian pronunciation of his given name) for himself and his children. She and her four sisters: Aʻana, Aʻlai, Aʻoe, and Mihana were known as Ka Pua O Kina (The Flower of China) and regarded as "famous beauties."[10][11]

On February 17, 1881, Emma married politician Joseph Nāwahī, in Hilo, as his second wife.[12] They had three sons: Albert Kahiwahiwa Nāwahī (1881–1904), Alexander Kaʻeʻeokalani Nāwahī (1883–1942) and Joseph Nāwahī, Jr. (1885–1888). Through their sons, they have surviving descendants living to this day.[13][14][15] They also adopted a daughter named Emmeline Kaleionamoku "Kalei" Nāwahī (1877–1901), who died while attending St. Andrew's Priory School in Honolulu.[16] During her husband's political career and the couple's residency in Honolulu, Emma became a lady-in-waiting and confidante to Queen Liliʻuokalani.[4][5]

Political activism

The Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine, 1893

Following the overthrow of the monarchy, on January 17, 1893, her husband Joseph Nāwahī became the president of Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Kane (Hawaiian Patriotic League for Men), a patriotic group founded shortly after the overthrow to oppose annexation and support the deposed queen. Emma joined the corresponding female organization, the Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine (Hawaiian Women's Patriotic League), which was under the leadership of Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell as president.[17] She served one of the member of the executive committee of the organization in 1893 and later served as the Secretary of the Hilo Branch of the League.[18][19]

In 1893, Emma and the other members of the executive committee of Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine submitted a petition to the United States Commissioner James Henderson Blount sent by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the overthrow. The petitions addressed to the government of the United States read:

We, the women of the Hawaiian Islands, for our families and the happiness of our homes, desire peace and political quiet, and we pray that man’s greed for power and spoils shall not be allowed to disturb the otherwise happy life of these islands, and that the revolutionary agitations and disturbances inaugurated here since 1887, by a few foreigners may be forever suppressed.

To that effect we believe that, in the light of recent events, the peace, welfare, and honor of both America and Hawaii will be better served, for the present, if the Government of the great American Republic does not countenance the illegal conduct and interference of its representatives here and the rash wish of a minority of foreigners for annexation.
Therefore, we respectfully but earnestly pray that Hawaii may be granted the preservation of its independent autonomy and the restoration of its legitimate native monarchy under our Queen Liliuokalani, in whom we have full confidence.

And we hope that the distinguished citizen, who so wisely presides over the United States, may kindly receive this our petition, for which we shall evermore pray for God's blessing on him and his Government.[18]

In December 1894, a search warrant was served on the Nāwahīs' Kapālama home looking for "sundry arms and ammunition." Although nothing was found, Joseph Nāwahī was arrested for treason and bail was set at 10,000 dollars. He spent nearly three months in jail until being bailed out.[20] In May 1895, Nāwahī and Emma founded Ke Aloha Aina, a weekly anti-annexationist newspaper written in the Hawaiian language to promote Hawaiian independence and opposition to American annexation.[1][2][3] The paper ran until 1920.[21][22]

Following his release, Nāwahī's health deteriorated from the tuberculosis he had contracted during his imprisonment. On the recommendation of his doctor to seek a change of climate, they left Hawaii for a trip to San Francisco, California.[23] They left Honolulu aboard the steamer Alameda on August 20, 1896, along with the families of Edward C. MacFarlane and Hermann A. Widemann, both influential royalists and former cabinet ministers of Liliʻuokalani.[24] On September 14, 1896, Nāwahī died of tuberculosis in San Francisco. According to Silva, his last words were to Emma, apologizing for "taking her so far from the ‘äina and from her family and friends, to deal with his death alone in a foreign place".[23][25] Emma had the remains of her dead husband embalmed and returned to Hawaii for two grand state funerals organized by his supporters, and burial at their home in Hilo.[25]

An anti-annexation meeting at Hilo, 1897

After Nāwahī's death, Emma became an important political leader in her own right, continuing the legacy of her husband.[26] In 1897, Emma and members of both the male and female branches of Hui Aloha ʻĀina collected over 21,000 signatures by the residents of the Hawaiian Islands opposing an annexation treaty being discussed on the floors of the United States Senate. These Kūʻē Petitions were submitted by a delegation of Native Hawaiians and was used as evidence of the strong resistance of the Hawaiian community to annexation, and the treaty was defeated in the Senate. After the failure of the treaty, Hawaii was instead annexed by the Newlands Resolution, issued in July 1898, shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War.[27][17][28]

After annexation, Emma helped organize the Democratic Party of Hawaii in 1899 at the time of the formation of the Territory of Hawaii. In the 1910s, she became a supporter of the women's suffrage movement prior to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920.[29][30]

Emma died on December 28, 1935 and was buried at Homelani Memorial Park in Hilo alongside her husband.[31]

References

1. Silva 1998, p. 57. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSilva1998 (help)
2. Silva 2004, p. 139.
3. Kauanui 2008, p. 60.
4. Proto 2009, pp. 44–45.
5. Bennion 1990, p. 149.
6. Kuʻualoha 2002, pp. 254–255.
7. Kai 1974, pp. 65–67; Char & Char 1983, p. 28
8. Haley 2014, pp. 322–323.
9. Hawaiʻi State Archives (2006). "Ai-i–Kahaoleaua marriage record". Marriages – Hawaii (1832–1910). p. 6. Retrieved June 5, 2014 – via Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library.
10. Char & Char 1983, p. 28.
11. "Ua halao Mrs. Mihana Kalaniwahine Ai". Ka Hoku o Hawaii. XXI (43). Hilo. April 3, 1928. p. 2. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
12. Hawaiʻi State Archives (2006). "Nawahi–Aii marriage record". Marriages – Hawaii (1832–1910). p. 398. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2014 – via Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library.
13. Higashi & Wilson 1999, p. 12.
14. McKinzie 1986, p. 64.
15. Grave Marker of Joseph Nawahi, Jr. and Mrs. Kahaoleaua. Hilo, Hawaii: Homelani Memorial Park.
16. "Died". The Independent. Honolulu. March 11, 1901. p. 3. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.; "Death of Miss Nawahi". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. March 11, 1901. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
17. Silva 2004, pp. 123–163; Silva, Noenoe K. (1998). "The 1897 Petitions Protesting Annexation". The Annexation Of Hawaii: A Collection Of Document. University of Hawaii at Manoa. Archived from the original on December 30, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
18. Blount 1895, pp. 491–492.
19. Michelson, Miriam (September 30, 1897). "Strangling Hands Upon A Nation's Throat". The San Francisco Call. LXXXII (122). San Francisco. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
20. Proto 2009, p. 101.
21. Chapin 2000, p. 7.
22. Like, Nawahi & Silva 1998, pp. 76–105; Like, Nawahi & Silva 2002, pp. 118–138
23. Silva 1998, pp. 57–58. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSilva1998 (help)
24. "Local And General News". The Independent. Honolulu. August 19, 1896. p. 3. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.; "Passengers". The Hawaiian Gazette. Honolulu. August 21, 1896. p. 8. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.; "Passengers". The Hawaiian Gazette. Honolulu. August 21, 1896. p. 8. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.; "The Alameda Always On Time". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco. August 28, 1896. p. 7. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
25. Silva 2004, p. 142.
26. "Emma Aima Nawahi". Women of the West Museum. Los Angeles: Autry Museum of the American West. Archived from the original on July 13, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
27. Haley 2014, pp. 317–336.
28. Mehmed 1998, pp. 142–143.
29. Yasutake 2017, pp. 120–121, 123–124.
30. Dennis, Hirschfelder & Flynn 2016, p. 667.
31. "Noted Figure In Hawaiian History Dies". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. December 28, 1935. p. 1. Retrieved August 16, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Deaths". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. December 30, 1935. p. 14. Retrieved August 16, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Mrs. Nawahi Dies". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. January 4, 1936. p. 41. Retrieved August 16, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Died". The Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu. December 29, 1935. p. 16. Retrieved August 16, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Mrs. E. Nawahi, Hilo Kamaaina, Passes At 86". The Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu. December 29, 1935. p. 7. Retrieved August 16, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

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  • Silva, Noenoe K. "Kanaka Maoli Resistance to Annexation". In Dudoit (1998), pp. 40–75.
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External links

• Media related to Emma Nāwahī at Wikimedia Commons