Posted
on September 2, 2014
She
was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
She
was also Hawaii's only queen who ruled in her own right, rather than
being just the-wife-of-the-king.
And
she lost her throne because of some pretty shady dealings by the U.S.!
What's
in a name?
The
first thing I noticed about Queen Liliuokalani (aside from the fact that she was born on this date in 1838) is her long name. But
then I read that her name was at birth was much longer: Lydia Lili'u Loloku Walania
Wewehi Kamaka'eha!
Wow!
That's a mouthful, even for a Hawaiian name!
Still,
like other Hawaiian names, it is lovely and flowing. Imagine my
surprise when I realized that her name roughly translated to
“Lydia smarting tearful burning pain sore eyes”!!!
That's
because the Premier, Elizabeth Kina'u, developed an eye infection
just when Lili'u was born.
When
Lili'u's brother made her the Crown Princess, he also change her
name. (For some reason, he didn't think that her birth name was regal
enough for a queen—LOL!) He changed it to Lili'uokalani, which means “the
smarting of the royal ones.” I think that is still a bit weird, but
a whole lot better than that burning-pain sore-eyes stuff!
Shady
Dealings by the U.S.
The
Kingdom of Hawaii lasted from 1795 until 1893. It originated when a
warrior chief conquered and subjugated the people of various islands
using the help of western weapons and British advisors. That warrior
chief became King Kamehameha the Great (because history is written by
the winners). Kamehameha's children and grandchildren and great
grandchildren ruled the unified kingdom—but with constantly
diminishing strength. When Kamehameha had died in 1819, he'd left his son
with an army and navy of tens of thousands of men, weapons, and many
warships. But the people of Hawaii began to catch diseases from the
increasing number of European and American visitors, and
the Hawaiian population began to plummet. The armed forces also decreased in number as soldiers and sailors caught diseases and died. The army and navy, which had put
down revolts in 1819 and 1824, were unable to stop a French invasion
in 1849, and Honolulu was sacked. Kamehameha III sought help from
powerful forces and made Hawaii into a protectorate of the United
States.
By
the time Queen Lili'uokalani came to power, there was no Hawaiian
navy, and the army was just a few hundred men. She did not have the
power to stand against a group of Americans and Europeans who pretended to be concerned about the safety of American citizens in Hawaii
– but who really wanted to overthrow the monarchy and join the U.S. The Americans
and Europeans formed what they called the “Committee of Safety,”
and U.S. Government Minister John L. Stevens called up one company of
U.S. Marines and two companies of U.S. Navy sailors.
So,
yeah.
 |
| I don't know why the U.S. would even want Hawaii...do you? |
The
queen was deposed, but she didn't yield her authority to the
Committee of Safety, and she didn't yield her authority to the
provisional government they set up. Instead, she formally protested
the takeover and yielded her authority—under protest—only to the
U.S. government.
She
was counting on the U.S. government to do the right thing...
 |
| Okay, I DO know why the U.S. wanted Hawaii: it is strategically located in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean! |
But
you know how this turns out, right? The U.S. government hemmed and
hawed, passed around the responsibility of deciding what to do, and
eventually found the conspirators who had overthrown the queen “not
guilty” of having caused the overthrow. A group tried to overthrow the new government and restore the queen to power, but the plan failed. Lili'uokalani was arrested
and ended up in house arrest. She was eventually given a full pardon,
and she traveled to the U.S. to protest against the annexation of
Hawaii by the U.S. She even sued the United States, seeking payment
for the land her family had owned in the past.
 |
| Basically, the U.S. just grabbed Hawaii with the threat of force. |
None of that worked, either.
In
1993, about 100 years later, the U.S. Congress admitted wrongdoing
and issued an apology. Is that one of those "better late than never" things? Or is it more like "too little, too late"?
Peace
and poetry...
Lili'uokalani
was a peaceful woman who believed in principled stands and peaceful
resistance. We often celebrate people who use these ideas and win
against greater powers – people like Martin Luther King, Jr., and
Mahatma Gandhi – but we can also honor peaceful people who lost
against greater force.
One
way that Lili'uokalani expressed her feelings for her people and her
country was in her writing, including in her writing of song lyrics and melodies.
The queen played guitar, piano, organ, 'ukulele, and zither. She sang
alto. She loved performing music written by others – in Hawaiian
and in English, sacred music and secular music – but she became
known for her own compositions.
Her
most famous song, “Aloha Oe” (which translates to
“Farewell to Thee”), became a symbol for her sorrow over the loss
of her country. It became even more popular when Elvis Presleysang it in the movie Blue Hawaii.
Also
on this date:
Anniversary of the last day of the Julian calendar
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
No comments:
Post a Comment