Friday, January 13, 2023

HAU`OLI LĀ HĀNAU JOSEPH NĀWAHĪ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is the birthday of Hawaiian Kingdom patriot Joseph Kaho`oluhi Nāwahīokalani`opu`u. 

A writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, newspaper editor, and artist, Joseph Nāwahī was a Hawaiian patriot and Renaissance man. 

Born in Puna, Hawai`i in 1842, he was an outstanding pupil at the Hilo Boarding School, Lahainaluna on Maui, and the Royal School in Honolulu. 

Elected to the legislature of the Kingdom in 1872, he represented Hilo for nine terms over the next twenty years. 

A trusted advisor of Lili`uokalani during the last months of the monarchy, Nāwahī played a leading role in Hawaiian nationalist politics.

He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom (1892–1892.) 

He and his wife, Emma, helped to found the Hui Aloha `Āina political party and its newspaper Ke Aloha `Āina, as they worked tirelessly and selflessly to stop annexation, and to restore Hawai`i’s independence as a nation. 

His editorials and speeches are some of the most passionate and articulate expressions of faith in the Hawaiian people. 

Imprisoned for acts deemed “treasonous” to the illegal provisional government that had overthrown the monarchy in 1893 he contracted tuberculosis from his time in the damp cells of O`ahu prison, which seriously affected his health. 

After his release he and his wife moved to San Francisco in an attempt to recuperate from his illness. 

Sadly he died from tuberculosis in San Francisco in 1896. 

In his final words he apologized to his wife that she had to see him die on other than his beloved native soil.