17 Jan: The Last Queen of Hawaii
On January 17, 1893, Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown when a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate, the first step towards the islands’ annexation as a US territory and eventual admission as the 50th state in the union.
Interest in Hawaii began in America as early as the 1820s, when New England missionaries tried in earnest to spread their faith there, but only really became serious in 1880s when Queen Liliuokalani began trying to return power to the indigenous Hawaiian people.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss the contemporary US efforts to make amends for the past; look at Queen Liliuokalani’s many talents, including composition; and speculate that Parents’ Day at the Hawaiian Chief’s Children’s School must have been an awkward affair…
Further Reading:
• ‘Five Things To Know About Liliʻuokalani, the Last Queen of Hawaiʻi’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2017): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-about-liliuokalani-last-queen-hawaii-180967155/
• ‘Queen Lili‘uokalani – The First and Last Queen of Hawai‘i’ (PBS, 2020): https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/queen-liliuokalani-the-first-and-last-queen-of-hawaii-kx2oc7/15032/
• ‘Aloha Dying – A Hawaii Documentary’ (Cody Brooks, 2019):
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