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| Queen Lili`uokalani. Painting by William Cogswell |
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Lili'uokalani(1) composer, author, philanthropist, was the last sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands from 1891 -1895. She as born Lydia Kamaka 'eha Loloku Lili ‘u Walaniaikeiki 'i 'onohi Ka ‘alaniali ‘i Neweweli ‘i Paki Dominis to High Chief Caesar Kapa ‘akea and High Chiefess Keohohaloe, and according to Hawaiian custom was raised by High Chief Abner Paki and Chiefess Kunia. She was also the adopted sister of princess Bernice Pauahi Paki Bishop, to whom she was especially close. During this time, Lydia Kamakaha Paki, as she was known, was educated from 1842-1849 at the American missionary Chiefs' Children's School, where she learned English. She was known as Lil ‘uokalani after her designation as heir to the throne in 1877. After an engagement to Prince William Lunalilo, she married John Owen Dominis, the Italian-American son of an Italian sea captain who made his home in Hawaii. The marriage was childless and Dominis died the same year Lili'uokalani became queen.(2)
Lil ‘uokalani became queen of the Kingdom of Hawaii in January 1891 after her brother's death. As queen she attempted to restore some of the power the monarchy had lost under her brother's rule. These actions precipitated rebellion by the American colonists who controlled Hawaii's economy. In 1893, the U.S. Marines occupied government buildings in Honolulu and deposed the queen. Under the leadership of Sanfold Dole, the colonists applied for annexation from the United States. Lil ‘uokalani applied to President Grover Cleveland for reinstatement, and although the president opposed annexation, Dole set up a provisional government. In 1895 Queen Lil ‘uokalani was placed under house arrest for eight months; she later abdicated in exchange for the release of her supporters. After her forced abdication, Lili 'uokalani was released and lived in Honolulu as a private citizen until her death.
Queen Lili ‘uokalani was supported by the Anglican bishop and religious orders throughout her imprisonment in 1895 and afterwards. She was later confirmed at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Honolulu, in May 1896. Lil ‘uokalani was active in Anglican charitable organizations. An accomplished musician and composer of Hawaiian hymns and songs, the queen translated and arranged the service for Holy Communion into a Hawaiian setting. At the time of her death in 1917, Queen Lil ‘uokalani was buried according to the rites of the Episcopal Church. She left her estate for the establishment of an orphanage for poor children, with a preference for those of aboriginal birth from the islands (3)
Notes
1. Biographical information and translation from Pua Hopkins. Additional information on Lili 'uokalani found in Barbara Bennett Peterson, Notable Women of Hawaii (Honolulu: Univerity of Hawaii Press, 1984) 240-44. Also, see Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen (Rutland: Charles Tuttle and Company, 1964).
2. Bennett, Notable Women of Hawaii, 240.
3. Information provided by Pua Hopkins, 2001.
Excerpt from Freedom is a Dream. Sheryl A. Kojawa-Holbrook, ed. (New York: Church Publishing, 2002): 85-86. Reprinted with permission.