1. Early life

2. Political activism

3. References

4. Bibliography

5. External links

Emma ʻAʻima Aʻii Nāwahī (September 28, 1854 – December 28, 1935) was a Native Hawaiian political activist, community leader and newspaper publisher. She and her husband Joseph Nāwahī were leaders in the opposition to the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and they co-founded Ke Aloha Aina, a Hawaiian language newspaper, which served as an important voice in the resistance to the annexation of Hawaii to the United States.{{sfn|Silva|1998|page=57}}{{sfn|Silva|2004|page=139}}{{sfn|Kauanui|Kauanui|2008|page=60}} After annexation, she helped established the Democratic Party of Hawaii and became a supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

Early life

Born on September 28, 1854, at Kūkūau, a rural part of Hilo on the island of Hawaii, she was regarded as a hapa-pākē, of half-Native Hawaiian and half-Chinese descent.{{sfn|Proto|2009|pages=44–45}}{{sfn|Bennion|1990|page=149}}{{sfn|Kuʻualoha|2002|pages=254–255}} Her mother Kahaoleʻauʻa was the daughter of a minor Hilo chief, while her father Tong Yee was a Chinese immigrant from Xiangshan County, Guangdong. Her father originally left China to take part in the California Gold Rush but later settled in Hilo in 1850 where he became a successful businessman and co-founded Paukaʻa Sugar Plantation with other Chinese sugar planters from lands leased from King Kamehameha V.^[1]{{sfn|Haley|2014|pages=322–323}} Her parents married on June 25, 1851.^[2] Her father adopted the surname Aʻii (based on the Hawaiian pronunciation of his given name) for himself and his children. She and her four sisters: Aʻana, Aʻlai, Aʻoe, and Mihana were known as Ka Pua O Kina (The Flower of China) and regarded as "famous beauties."{{sfn|Char|Char|1983|page=28}}^[3]

On February 17, 1881, Emma married politician Joseph Nāwahī, in Hilo, as his second wife.^[4] They had three sons: Albert Kahiwahiwa Nāwahī (1881–1904), Alexander Kaʻeʻeokalani Nāwahī (1883–1942) and Joseph Nāwahī, Jr. (1885–1888). Through their sons, they have surviving descendants living to this day.{{sfn|Higashi|Wilson|1999|page=12}}{{sfn|McKinzie|1986|page=64}}^[5] They also adopted a daughter named Emmeline Kaleionamoku "Kalei" Nāwahī (1877–1901), who died while attending St. Andrew's Priory School in Honolulu.^[6]

During her husband's political career and the couple's residency in Honolulu, Emma became a lady-in-waiting and confidante to Queen Liliʻuokalani.{{sfn|Proto|2009|pages=44–45}}{{sfn|Bennion|1990|page=149}}

Political activism

Following the overthrow of the monarchy, on January{{nbsp}}17, 1893, her husband Joseph Nāwahī became the president of Hui Aloha ʻĀina o{{nbsp}}Na Kane (Hawaiian Patriotic League for Men), a patriotic group founded shortly after the overthrow to oppose annexation and support the deposed queen. Emma joined the corresponding female organization, the Hui Aloha ʻĀina o{{nbsp}}Na Wahine (Hawaiian Women's Patriotic League), which was under the leadership of Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell as president.^[7] She served one of the member of the executive committee of the organization in 1893 and later served as the Secretary of the Hilo Branch of the League.{{sfn|Blount|1895|pages=491–492}}^[8]

In 1893, Emma and the other members of the executive committee of Hui Aloha ʻĀina o{{nbsp}}Na Wahine submitted a petition to the United States Commissioner James Henderson Blount sent by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the overthrow. The petitions addressed to the government of the United States read:

To that effect we believe that, in the light of recent events, the peace, welfare, and honor of both America and Hawaii will be better served, for the present, if the Government of the great American Republic does not countenance the illegal conduct and interference of its representatives here and the rash wish of a minority of foreigners for annexation.

Therefore, we respectfully but earnestly pray that Hawaii may be granted the preservation of its independent autonomy and the restoration of its legitimate native monarchy under our Queen Liliuokalani, in whom we have full confidence.

And we hope that the distinguished citizen, who so wisely presides over the United States, may kindly receive this our petition, for which we shall evermore pray for God's blessing on him and his Government.{{sfn|Blount|1895|pages=491–492}}}}

In December 1894, a search warrant was served on the Nāwahīs' Kapālama home looking for "sundry arms and ammunition." Although nothing was found, Joseph Nāwahī was arrested for treason and bail was set at 10,000 dollars. He spent nearly three months in jail until being bailed out.{{sfn|Proto|2009|page=101}}

In May 1895, Nāwahī and Emma founded Ke Aloha Aina, a weekly anti-annexationist newspaper written in the Hawaiian language to promote Hawaiian independence and opposition to American annexation.{{sfn|Silva|1998|page=57}}{{sfn|Silva|2004|page=139}}{{sfn|Kauanui|Kauanui|2008|page=60}}

The paper ran until 1920.{{sfn|Chapin|2000|page=7}}^[9]

Following his release, Nāwahī's health deteriorated from the tuberculosis he had contracted during his imprisonment. On the recommendation of his doctor to seek a change of climate, they left Hawaii for a trip to San Francisco, California.{{sfn|Silva|1998|pages=57–58}} They left Honolulu aboard the steamer Alameda on August 20, 1896, along with the families of Edward C. MacFarlane and Hermann A. Widemann, both influential royalists and former cabinet ministers of Liliʻuokalani.^[10] On September 14, 1896, Nāwahī died of tuberculosis in San Francisco. According to Silva, his last words were to Emma, apologizing for "taking her so far from the ‘äina and from her family and friends, to deal with his death alone in a foreign place".{{sfn|Silva|1998|pages=57–58}}{{sfn|Silva|2004|page=142}} Emma had the remains of her dead husband embalmed and returned to Hawaii for two grand state funerals organized by his supporters, and burial at their home in Hilo.{{sfn|Silva|2004|page=142}}

After Nāwahī's death, Emma became an important political leader in her own right, continuing the legacy of her husband.^[11] In 1897, Emma and members of both the male and female branches of Hui Aloha ʻĀina collected over 21,000 signatures by the residents of the Hawaiian Islands opposing an annexation treaty being discussed on the floors of the United States Senate. These Kūʻē Petitions were submitted by a delegation of Native Hawaiians and was used as evidence of the strong resistance of the Hawaiian community to annexation, and the treaty was defeated in the Senate. After the failure of the treaty, Hawaii was instead annexed by the Newlands Resolution, issued in July 1898, shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War.{{sfn|Haley|2014|pages=317–336}}^[7]{{sfn|Mehmed|1998|pages=142–143}}

After annexation, Emma helped organize the Democratic Party of Hawaii in 1899 at the time of the formation of the Territory of Hawaii. In the 1910s, she became a supporter of the women's suffrage movement prior to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920.{{sfn|Yasutake|2017|pages=120–121, 123–124}}{{sfn|Dennis|Hirschfelder|Flynn|2016|page=667}}

Emma died on December 28, 1935 and was buried at Homelani Memorial Park in Hilo alongside her husband.^[12]

References

Bibliography

• {{cite book|last=Bennion|first=Sherilyn Cox|title=Equal to the Occasion: Women Editors of the Nineteenth-century West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbB3mwlDReIC|year=1990|publisher=University of Nevada Press|location=Reno|isbn=978-0-87417-163-1|oclc=21759963|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Blount|first=James Henderson|authorlink=James Henderson Blount|title=The Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the Third Session of the Fifty-Third Congress, 1893–'94 in Thirty-Five Volumes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jVHAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA491|year=1895|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|location=Washington, DC|pages=|oclc=191710879|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Chapin|first=Helen G.|title=Guide to Newspapers of Hawaiʻi: 1834–2000|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=newsguide|year=2000|publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society|location=Honolulu|oclc=45330644|hdl=10524/1444|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last1=Char|first1=Tin-Yuke|last2=Char|first2=Wai Jane|title=Chinese Historic Sites and Pioneer Families of the Island of Hawaii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERZzAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Published for the Hawaii Chinese History Center by University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-8248-0863-1|oclc=255259005|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last1=Dennis|first1=Yvonne Wakim|last2=Hirschfelder|first2=Arlene|last3=Flynn|first3=Shannon Rothenberger|title=Native American Almanac: More Than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OnBrDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT667|year=2016|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Canton, MI|isbn=978-1-57859-607-2|oclc=946931890|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Dudoit|editor-first=D. Mähealani|editor-link=Mahealani Dudoit|title=ʻÖiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=d-0oiwi1-000Sec--01haw-50-20-frameset-book--1-010escapewina%3dd&a=d&cl=&d=D0&toc=1&p=frameset&p2=book&l=en|volume=1|year=1998|publisher=Kuleana ʻÖiwi Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=0-9668220-1-3|oclc=402770968|ref=harv}}
  • {{harvc|contribution=Kanaka Maoli Resistance to Annexation|last1=Silva|first1=Noenoe K.|in=Dudoit|year=1998|pp=40–75|id=CITEREFSilva1998}}
  • {{harvc|contribution=Editorial of Ke Aloha Aina|last1=Like|first1=Edward L.|last2=Nawahi|first2=Emma A.|last3=Silva|first3=Noenoe K.|in=Dudoit|year=1998|pp=76–105|id=CITEREFLikeNawahiSilva1998}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Dudoit|editor-first=D. Mähealani|editor-link=Mahealani Dudoit|title=ʻÖiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=d-0oiwi2-000Sec--11haw-50-20-frameset-book--1-010escapewin&a=d&cl=&d=D0&toc=1&p=frameset&p2=book&l=en|volume=2|year=2002|publisher=Kuleana ʻÖiwi Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=0-9668220-2-1|oclc=402770968|ref=harv}}
  • {{harvc|contribution=Translations of Articles from the Hawaiian Nationalist Newspaper Ke Aloha Aina|last1=Like|first1=Edward L.|last2=Nawahi|first2=Emma A.|last3=Silva|first3=Noenoe K.|in=Dudoit|year=2002|pp=118–138|id=CITEREFLikeNawahiSilva2002}}
  • {{harvc|contribution=Notable Hawaiians of the 20th Century|last=Hoʻomanawanui|first=Kuʻualoha||in=Dudoit|year=2002|pp=224–266|id=CITEREFKuʻualoha2002}}
• {{cite book|last=Haley|first=James L.|title=Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9ugBAAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-312-60065-5|oclc=865158092|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last1=Higashi|first1=Kuʻulei|last2=Wilson|first2=William H.|title=Iosepa Kahoʻoluhi Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=d-0aplc07-000Sec--11en-50-20-frameset-book--1-010escapewin&a=d&p2=book|year=1999|publisher=ʻAha Pūnana Leo|location=Hilo|isbn=978-1-58191-081-0|oclc=54793365|ref=harv}}
• {{cite journal|last=Kai|first=Peggy|title=Chinese Settlers in the Village of Hilo Before 1852|journal=The Hawaiian Journal of History|location=Honolulu|publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society|volume=8|year=1974|hdl=10524/221|oclc=60626541|pages=39–75|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last1=Kauanui|first1=J. Kēhaulani|authorlink=J. Kēhaulani Kauanui|title=Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iq7PEFMI2GcC|year=2008|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham, NC|isbn=0-8223-9149-X|oclc=308649636|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last1=McKinzie|first1=Edith Kawelohea|editor-last=Stagner|editor-first=Ishmael W.|title=Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QB92bdJ8igwC|volume=2|year=1986|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-939154-37-1|oclc=12555087|ref=harv}}
• {{cite journal|last=Mehmed|first=Ali|title=Hoʻohuiʻaina Pala Ka Maiʻa: Remembering Annexation One Hundred Years Ago|journal=The Hawaiian Journal of History|location=Honolulu|publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society|volume=32|year=1998|hdl=10524/358|oclc=60626541|pages=141–154|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Proto|first=Neil Thomas|title=The Rights of My People: Liliuokalani's Enduring Battle with the United States, 1893–1917|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uapNBAAAQBAJ|year=2009|publisher=Algora Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-0-87586-720-5|oclc=319248358|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Silva|first=Noenoe K.|authorlink=Noenoe Silva|title=Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G3IFQ2YAsXgC|year=2004|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham|isbn=0-8223-8622-4|oclc=191222123|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Yasutake|first=Rumi|chapter=Re-Franchising Women of Hawaiʻi, 1912–1920: Politics of Gender, Sovereignty, Race, and Rank at the Crossroads of the Pacific|editor-last1=Choy|editor-first1=Catherine Ceniza|editor-last2=Wu|editor-first2=Judy Tzu-Chun|title=Gendering the Trans-Pacific World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04lZDgAAQBAJ|year=2017|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-33610-0|oclc=976394366|ref=harv}}

External links

• {{commons category-inline|Emma Nāwahī}}

• The World We Live In (single)
• The World We Live In (song)
• The World We Love
• The Worldwide Federation of Aramaic Speakers
• The Worldwide Flood
• The World Without US
• The World Without US (Documentary)
• The World Won’t Listen
• The World Wreckers
• The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates
• The Worm (Audioslave song)
• The worm (dance move)
• The Worm (disambiguation)
• The Worm Runner's Digest
• The Worn Path
• The Worried Man
• The Worry Trap
• The Worry Wart
• The Worry Website
• The Worshipful Company of Gardeners
• The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
• The Worship of Venus
• The Worship Project
• The Worst
• The Worst (album)