HONOLULU (Island News) — Prince Kuhio Day celebrates the royal heir turned statesman who is remembered by his long-lived ambitions to keep Native Hawaiians in Hawaiian soil.
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole was born on March 26, 1871 on Kauai. He was the youngest child of High Chief David Kahalepouli Piikoi and Victoria Kuhio Kinoike Kekaulike, who was the sister of Queen Kapiolani.
During Prince Kuhio’s early teens following the death of his parents, he was adopted by Queen Kapiolani and her husband King David Kalakaua as their hanai child. He was declared a royal prince in 1884 when Kalakaua ascended the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a result of a proclamation that saw the end of the Kamehameha Dynasty.
Following the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, Prince Kuhio joined the revolutionaries in an attempt to restore the monarchy. The revolution was unsuccessful which led to his arrest. He was charged with treason and imprisoned for a year. After leaving Hawaii, he returned when it was annexed as a territory of the United States in 1898.
Although Prince Kuhio would have succeeded Queen Liliuokalani as King of Hawaii if the overthrow did not happen, he served his home through new avenues. He was elected as the Territory of Hawaii’s congressional delegate for 10 consecutive terms as a Washington, D.C. correspondent.
Prince Kuhio was often called Ke Alii Makaainana (Prince of People), earned through his altruism when serving Hawaiian people. One of his most noteworthy accomplishments as a delegate was spearheading the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act signed by President Warren G. Harding in 1921. This act provides homestead lands for Native Hawaiians through 200,000 acres of land set aside by the U.S.
From 1902 until he died in 1922, he served as a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives in Congress. His legacy, embodied through his efforts to protect, preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian culture and people, has outlived him more than a century since his passing.
