Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Noenoe on February 26, 2008 at 6:13pm

aloha no kākou,
Pauahi, I think your instincts are exactly right. I did do a little research on this. Some of that is in Oiwi vol. 2. Lots of people said "e hoomau i ke aloha i ka aina" and refused to accept annexation. Wilikoki was sent up there to argue the illegality of the annexation and try to overturn it, but he couldnʻt. He believed that the only thing to do was get representation in the american system. He came home and founded the Home Rule party, which was at first united and then split into many factions.

We still need lots of research into the manaʻo of our kūpuna of the 20th century. They wrote down what they thought, so itʻs possible to retrieve some of it.

ke aloha ,
noenoe

Permalink Reply by Pono Maliu on March 3, 2008 at 8:32pm

Robert Wilcox, upon his return from the mainland advocating for native Hawaiian rights in the Organic Act, spoke to a rally sponsored by Aloha 'Aina and Hui Kalai'aina, the two main Hawaiian political clubs. In his speech, he said, "The question of the restoration of the Monarchy is gone from us forever. We are now a people, however, who can vote. You all know we have two-thirds of the votes in this country." He also advised against racial loyalties, saying, "We are all Americans. We should not consider personality." On June 7, 1900, the Hawaiian Independent Party was established, its motto being, "Equal Rights for the People".

I never read anything about Wilikoki trying to overturn annexation, on the contrary, he was pleading with the U.S. to make sure that the white power brokers didn't disenfranchise native Hawaiians with income requirements (such as they had in the Hawaiian Kingdom), or other voter qualifications. The only people that got left out of suffrage in 1900 were the Asians, who had their vote taken away by the Bayonet Constitution of 1887. They only got to start voting after the ones born in 1900 came of age in the 20's and 30's.

Where did you find anything about him fighting against annexation?

Permalink Reply by Luahiwa on February 26, 2008 at 10:48pm

aloha mai kākou,

I typed in "repubalika" and "home rula" into the search fields of nupepa.org and found the absence of citation a noticeable void. For the first term, it shows up 270ish times between 1894-1899, then only four times in 1902, and no mention again until 1922. Of those four occurrences in 1902 can one find the only two citations for "home rula" (nupepa: Ke Kiai). I cannot say if ulukau is exhaustive, but that drop-off begs the question "why the void?"

What a great question!

Permalink Reply by Noenoe on February 27, 2008 at 8:57am

aloha e Luahiwa,
When you "huli" in Ulukau, it can only search the text that has been OCR'd or converted to typed text. So the papers that have been digitized as images aren't searched. There was a newspaper called Kuokoa Home Rula that started in 1901 and lasted til around 1910 or 1912 or so. Another home rule paper Ka Na'i Aupuni started in 1905 I think and lasted a few years.

I think the community split almost immediately when David Kawananakoa and John Wise decided to join the Democratic Party instead of sticking with the Home Rulers; then somehow--I'm not sure why--the Home Rule party split in two, with some becoming Kuokoa Home Rula and others becoming Home Rula Repubalika. Then Kuhio was courted by the Republicans to run against Wilikoki and that pretty much took the power out of the Home Rule party.

There was a lot going on between 1902 and 1922. Definitely need more research. I am currently doing some research on some of the Home Rule partiers and will keep you folks posted on whatever I learn. I also have a student working on this.

ke aloha,
noenoe

Permalink Reply by Pono Maliu on March 3, 2008 at 8:34pm

I think it was Andrade that wrote, "Unconquerable Rebel" - it may be a good starting source for research on Wilikoki, even if it mostly draws from haole history.

Permalink Reply by 'Umi Perkins on February 27, 2008 at 10:03am

Does anyone know what Kuhio's winning margin was in 1902? That would be interesting to know - was it a 3 -way race, nearly even with Wilcox, or a blowout... Apparently Wilcox was being considered for Territorial governor as well? This suggests he wasn't completely out of power with poitical insiders...

But all of this is trying to get at what the people were actually thinking, voting being a measure of that
-but people vote strategically as well - so letters, and oral histories would be another very valuable way
to get at that if they are in sufficient quantity.

How powerful was the censorship that was going on to keep these voices silent?

As a preview, another question I have in mind is "what did Hawaiians (as generalization) DO (for work, etc.)
during the Teriitorial period?" This gets into understanding the various ways they dealt with the new
politico-social order... but maybe we should n't jump ahead..

Any ideas on how some of the research Noenoe is alluding to could be conducted?

Permalink Reply by Noenoe on February 28, 2008 at 11:13am

aloha e ʻUmi,
I'm not sure about the extent of censorship or even if there was censorship at the time. Kanaka were really outspoken in the newspapers Ke Aloha Aina etc. Until WWI and for some until WWII, there was a great sense of the country as our country.

I've attached two articles below: the first is about what happened immediately after annexation and the second is actual several short articles about Kuhio and the 1902 election by me and by Davianna McGregor.

ke aloha no,
noenoe

Permalink Reply by Noelani on March 5, 2008 at 6:06am

Aloha kakou,
When I think about research I thing about combinations of source materials that we need to sift through. For information on voting you could look at district voting records, as well as coverage in the newspapers. Broadsides ---large 'olelo ho'olaha posters that were circulated tell us something about the political stance and rhetoric of each of the candidates running.

On the questions of "what did Hawaiians do..." again, I would check the newspapers for advertisements to see what kinds of businesses Hawaiians are engaged in. Newspapers also talk about the different kinds of associations or unions that folks are meeting in: 'olelo ho''olaha, advertising a meeting, or minutes from meetings are sometimes published in the newspapers. Also there may be business directories for places like Honolulu that will tell you people's contact information as well as the business they are engaged in. Probate records----the division of estates tell you something of the property owned by individuals, their relative wealth in relation to others. This is just off the top of my head, but I'm sure if I had more sleep I could think of other ways to conduct research: the key is process and getting into a combination of source materials and then synthesizing.
Aloha,
Noe

Permalink Reply by Luahiwa on February 27, 2008 at 5:34pm

…there was a lot going between 1902 and 1922…>>

mahalo nui, Noenoe, for the memory trigger! Just to veer a bit on a tangent, google has this available for free download:

Hawaiian Phrase Book

Published around 1917, (first edition was published in 1906) the first sentence says it all,
"The primary object of this Manual is to teach natives to converse in English."

Go look at what that "manual" taught. I like to start around page 40 "A conversation with a native woman".

A stark reminder at the price our kūpuna paid. I believe this adds to the research considering what social attitudes our kūpuna were forced to endure alongside all of the political and spiritual strife.

naʻu

Permalink Reply by Tane on February 29, 2008 at 6:58pm

I never liked that book; it was so racist and derogatory. One learns how to speak in Hawaiian and talk down to a native as if they were ignorant underlings. I could just hear the haughtiness in their voice. My first instinct was to punch them in their mouths and kick their okole down the alanui. Any newcomer would quickly be proficient in telling a native speaker how to be a perfect servant and to know their place. Tsah!

Permalink Reply by Luahiwa on March 1, 2008 at 5:31pm

The racism of that book was the point; John Harris Soper who wrote it was also the General Hūhā (I forget his actual job description) that fought to suppress Wilikoki mā. He was one of the earliest elected in the then-fledgling T.H. legislature.

His resume is here.

again, I added this because I had a memory trigger. Often much touches on the events of the 1890s, but we don't do enough to pay attention this quit-provocative query as posted by ʻUmi. Why did Kūhiō go Repubalika and not stick with Home Rula? Surely this split the kanaka vote. Did he think doing so was shrewd move? Was it because w/o Kaʻiulani or any aliʻi of that rank left that he thought becoming a Gov under a T.H. govt was the best thing for the Hawaiians? What did Kūhiō think about Wilikoki (and vice versa?)

What an excellent question this is!

naʻu

Permalink Reply by 'Umi Perkins on March 1, 2008 at 7:30pm

mahalo everyone for these excellent insights - I think what we need is a people's history of
Hawai'i - it occurs to me that we focus so much on two individuals (Kuhio and Wilcox) during this
period, and ali'i in general all the way through, but
when I look at the vast differences even within my own family, I'm reminded that the situation must have
been very complex. Likewise, when I see political coallitions today, they are based on tenuous, and
temporary alignment of interests..

Noenoe's book comes closest to this people's history I think as it represents
the voice of the whole of the people. I brought up oral histories because that could be the
next layer...

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