Hui Aloha ʻĀina

Hui Aloha ʻĀina were two Hawaiian nationalist organizations (one for men and another for women) established by Native Hawaiian political leaders and statesmen and their spouses in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and Queen Liliʻuokalani on January 17, 1893. The organization was formed to promote Hawaiian patriotism and independence and oppose the overthrow and the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. Its members organized and collected the Kūʻē Petitions to oppose the annexation, which ultimately blocked a treaty of annexation in the United States Senate in 1897.

Names

The official name according to both organizations' constitution was Ka Hui Hawaii Aloha ʻĀina (The Hawaiian Patriotic League).[1][2][3] The two organizations have also been called Ka Hui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina o Na Kane and Ka Hui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine or Ka Hui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina o Na Lede.[4][5] During the funeral processions of Princess Kaʻiulani and Queen Kapiʻolani in 1899, the organizations were referred to as Ahahui Aloha Aina and Ahahui Aloha Aina o na Wahine, respectively.[6] The word hui in both organizations' names is the Hawaiian word for a social or community group.[7]

The Hawaiian Patriotic League was also the name of another secret organization founded between 1887 and 1893. It members included Robert William Wilcox and Volney V. Ashford.[8]

History

The organization was founded on March 4, 1893, two and half months after the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani by pro-American forces within the kingdom who established the Provisional Government of Hawaii. The founding officers of Hui Aloha ʻĀina were Joseph Nāwahī, John Adams Cummins, John K. Kaunamano and John W. Bipikane, who were all former legislators or ministers in the Hawaiian monarchical government during the reigns of Liliʻuokalani and her predecessor King Kalākaua.[1]

The objective of the organization was to promote Hawaiian patriotism and independence, oppose the overthrow, restore the monarchy, oppose the rule of the Provisional Government and its successor the Republic of Hawaii and oppose any attempts annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.[9][10]

Nāwahī was elected president while Cummins was elected honorary president. The four vice presidents in 1893 were John E. Bush, John Lot Kaulukoʻu, Kaunamano and Bipikane.[11] By July 1893, the organization claimed total membership of 7,500 native-born Hawaiian qualified voters (out of 13,000 registered voters) and a women's branch of over 11,000 members.[12]

Representatives of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Kane, 1893

A delegation of members presented the case of the monarchy and the Hawaiian people to the United States Commissioner James Henderson Blount who was sent by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the overthrow.[13][14][15]

After Nāwahī's death in September 1896, delegates from the different island branches of Hui Aloha ʻĀina met in Honolulu for the election of a new leadership council on November 28, 1896, which coincided with Lā Kūʻokoʻa (Hawaiian Independence Day). In this meeting, James Keauiluna Kaulia was elected as the new president and William Pūnohu White as honorary president. Vice presidents elected were Kaunamano, Bipikane, Bush, and Edward Kamakau Lilikalani.[16]

In anticipation of a new vote on an annexation treaty supported by President William McKinley, Hui Aloha ʻĀina and other Hawaiian nationalist groups collected the Kūʻē Petitions to oppose the treaties ratification in the United States Senate. Members of Hui Aloha ʻĀina for Men and Hui Aloha ʻĀina for Women collected over 21,000 signatures across the island chain opposing annexation in 1897. Another 17,000 signatures were collected by members of Hui Kālaiʻāina but not submitted to the Senate because those signatures were also asking for restoration of the monarchy. These were submitted by a commission of Native Hawaiian delegates consisting of Kaulia, David Kalauokalani (president of Hui Kālaiʻāina), William Auld, and John Richardson to the United States government. The petitions collectively were presented as evidence of the strong grassroots opposition of the Hawaiian community to annexation, and the treaty was defeated in the Senate.[17][9]

However, a year following the defeat of the treaty in the Senate, Hawaii was annexed via the Newlands Resolution, a joint resolution of Congress, in July 1898. This was done shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War and necessitated by the strategic position of Hawaii as a Pacific military base.[18]

In May 1895, Joseph Nāwahī and Emma Nāwahī also founded Ke Aloha Aina, a weekly anti-annexationist newspaper written in the Hawaiian language to promote Hawaiian independence and opposition to American annexation.[19] The paper ran from 1895 until 1920.[20][21][22]

Women's branch

Representatives of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine, 1893

A corresponding women's organization named Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine (Hawaiian Women's Patriotic League) was founded on March 27, 1893 by Emilie Widemann Macfarlane, the part-Hawaiian daughter of Hermann A. Widemann.[23] Martha Widemann Berger (Macfarlane's sister) and Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell were elected vice-presidents. Honorary presidents included Mary Robinson Foster, Elizabeth Kekaʻaniau Pratt, Rebecca Kahalewai Cummins, Bathsheba Robinson Allen, and Irene ʻĪʻī Brown Holloway.[24]

On April 17, Macfarlane and a small group of younger Hawaiian women resigned their positions, after a dispute arose between two factions of the group over the wordings to the memorial seeking the restoration of the monarchy to be presented to the United States Commissioner James Henderson Blount sent by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the overthrow.[25] The organization elected Campbell as the organization's next president.[9] Emma Nāwahī was also a founding member.[26][27]

On April 18, an executive body of seven members: Campbell, Nāwahi, Rebecca Kahalewai Cummins, Mary Ann Kaulalani Parker Stillman, Jessie Kapaihi Kaae, Hattie K. Hiram, Laura Kekupuwolui Mahelona submitted a petition to Commissioner Blount.[26][25]

Dissolution and legacy

The organization merged with Hui Aloha ʻĀina to form the Hawaiian Home Rule Party in 1900. Kalauokalani was elected president and Kaulia as vice-president of the new political party.[28]

In 1996, historian Noenoe K. Silva discovered the 21,269 signatures of the Kūʻē Petitions by Hui Aloha ʻĀina in the National Archives in Washington, DC, but the whereabout of the original Hui Kālaiʻāina petition remains unknown.[29]

Delegates of Hui Aloha ʻĀina, 1893

This list is not a complete list of all delegates or officers of Hui Aloha ʻĀina:

Hawaii

Name	District	Notes	Sources
S. T. Piihonua	Hawaii	Also listed as "S. T. Piihonu"[30]	[31]
Henry West	Hawaii		[31]
K. M. Koahou	Hawaii		[31]
D. Hoakimou	Hawaii		[31]
T. P. Kaaeae	Hawaii		[31]
J. H. Halawale	Hawaii		[31]
S. H. K. Ne	Hawaii		[31]
W. E. N. Kanealii	Hawaii		[31]
C. G. Naope	Hawaii		[31]

Maui

Name	District	Notes	Sources
Ramon Hoe Makekau	Maui		[31]
J. K. Kealoalii	Maui		[31]
David Kanuha	Maui	or "David Kanaha" or "D. Kanuha"[31][30]	[31]
John Richardson	Maui		[31]
Thomas Clark	Maui		[31]
Thomas Benjamin Lyons	Maui		[31]
John Kaluna	Maui		[31]
J. Kamakele	Maui		[31]
S. D. Kapers	Maui		[31]
S. W. Kaai	Maui		[31]
D. S. Kapono Opio	Maui	Not listed in Blount Report	[30]
S. W. Kaai	Maui		[31]

Molokai

Name	District	Notes	Sources
J. N. Uahinui	Molokai		[31]
J. K. Kaipeopulani	Molokai	Also listed as "J. K. Kaiheopuolani"[30]	[31]
D. Himeni	Molokai		[31]
J. P. Kapoehaale	Molokai		[31]
Kekoowai	Molokai	Or "S. K. Kekoawai"[31]	[31]
S. K. Kahalehulu	Molokai	Also listed as "S. K. Kahalehuli"[30]	[31]
S. K. Piiapoo	Molokai		[31]
A. P. Paehaole	Molokai	Not listed in Blount Report	[30]

Oahu

Name	District	Notes	Sources
F. S. Keiki	Oahu	Also listed as F. S. Keike[31]	[30][31]
C. Keawe	Oahu		[31]
John Kapumawaiio Prendergast	Oahu	Also listed as "John Kapamawaho Prendergast"[31]	[31]
Enoch Johnson	Oahu		[31]
Samuel K. Pua	Oahu		[31]
J. K. Kaupu	Oahu	Listed as "J. K. Kaupu"[30] or "S. K. Kaupu"[31]	[30][31]
D. W. Keliiokamoku	Oahu		[31]
S. W. Kailieha	Oahu		[31]
Benjamin Naukana	Oahu		[31]
Kimo	Oahu		[30][31]
D. K. Keliimoku	Oahu	Not listed in Blount Report	[30]
David William Pua	Oahu	Not listed in Blount Report	[30]
John Lot Kaulukoʻu	Oahu	Not listed in Blount Report	[30]

Kauai

Name	District	Notes	Sources
Charles Kaheʻe	Kauai	Also listed as "Charles Kaho"[30]	[31]
George W. Mahikoa	Kauai		[31]
Joseph Apukai Akina	Kauai		[31]
John W. Kamaliʻikane	Kauai	Also listed as "D. N. Kamaliikaue"[31]	[31]
Samuel P. Kaleikini	Kauai		[31]
John Molokai	Kauai	Listed as "John Molokai"[30] or "J. Molokui"[31]	[31]

Members in 1893 photograph

Portrait	Name	Notes	Sources
	Sam M. Kaaukai		[32]
	John W. Bipikane		[32]
	Henry Stuart Swinton		[32]
	James Keauiluna Kaulia		[32]
	Luther W. P. Kanealii		[32]
	Joseph Nāwahī		[32]
	John Sam Kikukahiko		[32]
	Samuel K. Aki		[32]
	John Adams Cummins		[32]
	David William Pua		[32]
	John Kapumawaiio Prendergast	Also listed as "John Kapamawaho Prendergast"[31]	[32]
	Aberahama Kaikioewa Palekaluhi		[32]
	John E. Bush		[32]
	John Mahiai Kaneakua		[32]
	Frank Samuel Keiki		[32]
	John K. Kaunamano		[32]
	John Kekipi		[32]
	John Lota Kaulukou		[32]
	James Kahai Merseburg		[32]

References

1. "Another Society – The Hawaiian Patriotic League Is Formed". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. March 14, 1893. p. 5.
2. Silva 2004, p. 131.
3. Forbes 2003, pp. 489–491.
4. Ho 2000, p. 130.
5. "Ka Hui Aloha Aina a na Lede". Ka Leo o ka Lahui. II (673). Honolulu. March 30, 1893. p. 3. Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
6. Kam 2017, pp. 141, 144–145.
7. Pukui & Elbert 1986, p. 86.
8. Kuykendall 1967, pp. 528–529, 627.
9. 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.
10. Dudoit 2019, p. 53.
11. Blount 1895, p. 1298.
12. Hune & Nomura 2003, p. 33.
13. "Representative Committee of Delegates of the Hawaiian People to present a memorial to Hon. James H. Blount, praying for the restoration of the monarchy under Queen Liliuokalani". Library of Congress. c. 1970. Archived from the original on December 23, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
14. Blount 1895, pp. 911–914.
15. Blount 1895, pp. 1294–1298; "Patriotic Leaguers – They Determine On Secret Actions – A Demand for the Restoration of the Monarchy Favored". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. May 2, 1893. p. 5. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
16. "Local Brevities". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. November 27, 1896. p. 9.; "The Endorsement". The Independent. Honolulu. December 3, 1896. p. 2.; "Hui Aloha Aina – Meet in Arion Hall to Choose a President". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. November 30, 1896. p. 8.; "The Hui Aloha Aina – 'Oily' Bill White Of Lahaina Is Honored By Election". The Hawaiian Star. Honolulu. November 30, 1896. p. 1.; "Ahahui Aloha Aina". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. December 1, 1896. p. 1.; "New Officers – List in Full of the Hui Aloha Aina for the Ensuing Year". The Hawaiian Star. Honolulu. December 1, 1896. p. 1.; "Ahahui Aloha Aina". Ka Makaainana. VI (22). Honolulu. November 30, 1896. p. 1.; "Ahahui Aloha Aina". Ka Makaainana. VI (23). Honolulu. December 7, 1896. p. 1.
17. Haley 2014, pp. 317–336.
18. Mehmed 1998, pp. 142–143.
19. Silva 1998, p. 57 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSilva1998 (help); Silva 2004, p. 139; Kauanui 2008, p. 60; Dudoit 2019, pp. 51–53
20. Chapin 2000, p. 7.
21. Like, Nawahi & Silva 1998, pp. 76–105; Like, Nawahi & Silva 2002, pp. 118–138
22. Silva 2017, pp. 120, 121, 133, 145.
23. "Women Organize – A Branch of the Hawaiian Patriotic League is Formed". The Hawaiian Gazette. Honolulu. April 4, 1893. p. 8. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
24. "Hawaiian Patriotic League – A Woman's Branch Organized – List of Officers". Evening Bulletin. Honolulu. March 28, 1893. p. 4. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
25. "Female Patriots – The Original Officers Draw Out – Something About a Throne For Kapiolani, the Relict of Kalakaua". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. April 18, 1893. p. 5. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
26. Blount 1895, pp. 491–492.
27. 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.
28. Williams 2015, pp. 14–15.
29. Omandam, Pat (July 21, 1998). "The Hui Aloha 'Aina Anti-Annexation Petitions". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. Archived from the original on July 1, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
30. "Patriotic Leaguers – They Determine On Secret Actions – A Demand for the Restoration of the Monarchy Favored". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. May 2, 1893. p. 5. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
31. Blount 1895, p. 504.
32. "Representative Committee of Delegates of the Hawaiian People to present a memorial to Hon. James H. Blount, praying for the restoration of the monarchy under Queen Liliuokalani". Library of Congress. c. 1970. Archived from the original on December 23, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.

Bibliography

• Blount, James Henderson (1895). The Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the Third Session of the Fifty-Third Congress, 1893–'94 in Thirty-Five Volumes. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 191710879.
• Chapin, Helen G. (2000). Guide to Newspapers of Hawaiʻi: 1834–2000. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society. hdl:10524/1444. OCLC 45330644.
• Dudoit, D. Mähealani (2019). "1. Against Extinction: A Legacy of Native Hawaiian Resistance Literature". Voices of Social Justice and Diversity in a Hawai'i Context: Grandparents, Grandchildren, Schools, Communities, and Churches. Leiden: BRILL. pp. 45–62. ISBN 978-90-04-38754-6. OCLC 1121642768.
• Dudoit, D. Mähealani, ed. (1998). ʻÖiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal. 1. Honolulu: Kuleana ʻÖiwi Press. ISBN 0-9668220-1-3. OCLC 402770968.
  • Silva, Noenoe K. "Kanaka Maoli Resistance to Annexation". In Dudoit (1998), pp. 40–75.
  • Like, Edward L.; Nawahi, Emma A.; Silva, Noenoe K. "Editorial of Ke Aloha Aina". In Dudoit (1998), pp. 76–105.
• Dudoit, D. Mähealani, ed. (2002). ʻÖiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal. 2. Honolulu: Kuleana ʻÖiwi Press. ISBN 0-9668220-2-1. OCLC 402770968.
  • Like, Edward L.; Nawahi, Emma A.; Silva, Noenoe K. "Translations of Articles from the Hawaiian Nationalist Newspaper Ke Aloha Aina". In Dudoit (2002), pp. 118–138.
• Forbes, David W., ed. (2003). Hawaiian National Bibliography, 1780–1900, Volume 4: 1881–1900. 4. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2636-9. OCLC 123279964.
• Haley, James L. (2014). Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-60065-5. OCLC 865158092.
• Ho, Fred Wei-han (2000). Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America. Edinburgh: AK Press. ISBN 978-1-902593-24-1. OCLC 247425124.
• Hune, Shirley; Nomura, Gail M. (2003). Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology. New York: NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-3633-3. OCLC 237796795.
• Kam, Ralph Thomas (2017). Death Rites and Hawaiian Royalty: Funerary Practices in the Kamehameha and Kalakaua Dynasties, 1819–1953. S. I.: McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4766-6846-8. OCLC 966566652.
• Kauanui, J. Kēhaulani (2008). Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-9149-4. OCLC 308649636.
• Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson (1967). The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty. 3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-87022-433-1. OCLC 500374815.
• Mehmed, Ali (1998). "Hoʻohuiʻaina Pala Ka Maiʻa: Remembering Annexation One Hundred Years Ago". The Hawaiian Journal of History. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society. 32: 141–154. hdl:10524/358. OCLC 60626541.
• Pukui, Mary Kawena; Elbert, Samuel H. (1986). Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0703-0. OCLC 1005492788.
• Silva, Noenoe K. (2004). Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-8622-4. OCLC 191222123.
• Silva, Noenoe K. (2017). The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen: Reconstructing Native Hawaiian Intellectual History. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-7313-1. OCLC 961214024.
• Williams, Ronald, Jr. (2015). "Race, Power, and the Dilemma of Democracy: Hawaiʻi's First Territorial Legislature, 1901". The Hawaiian Journal of History. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society. 49: 1–45. doi:10.1353/hjh.2015.0017. OCLC 60626541 – via Project MUSE.