KŪʻĒ PETITION
VIDEO CONTEST
DEADLINE: JAN 24, 2021 11:59 pm
(Native Hawaiian residents of Hawaiʻi Island Only)
1. Follow Kū-A-Kanaka on Instagram and Facebook
2. Upload a 1 - 3 Minute Video on your pili or relation to the Kūʻē Petitions, i.e. why you should get a free hard copy of this petition.
Winners will be announced on January 31. Good luck!
Mahalo Maile Meyer of Nā Mea Hawaiʻi for donating 1 kaʻau hard copies for our event.
Ka Lei Maile Aliʻi – The Queenʻs Women
A Virtual Re-enactment of
Hawaiian Opposition to US Annexation
JANUARY 17 2021
6 PM
facebooklive @kuakanaka
Our Virtual Audience is invited to Wear Attire from late 1800s and interact with our cast - and our kūpuna - in voicing their protests against US Annexation.
Play will be followed by Open Discussion on Zoom with Director and Cast.
Join us for a virtual, interactive re-enactment of Ka Lei Maile Aliʻi, a short play remembering a meeting of Hawaiian women in Hilo in 1897 to gather signatures for a Petition Against Annexation, known today as the Kūʻē Petition and signed by 21,269 native Hawaiians.
This interactive play was written and first produced and directed by the late "Didi" Lee Kwai. It is based on a newspaper article printed in the San Francisco Call, written by Reporter Miriam Michelson on September 22, 1897 while on deck of the Passenger Ship Australia.
Directed by Pōlani Kahakalau.
Produced by Kū-A-Kanaka, with much gratitude to Didi, Lynette Cruz
and all of our kūpuna who signed the Kūʻē Petition.
Cast members:
Kū Kahakalau Moderator
Leilani DeMello Narrator Reporter Miriam Mickelson
Pōlani Kahakalau Translator
Noʻeau Kalima Minister
Kauʻi Lopes Mrs. Kuaihelani Campbell
Krisha Zane Mrs. Emma Nāwahī
ʻIʻini Kahakalau Audience guide
"It is the old battle - white man against the brown; might against right; strength against weakness; power and intellect and art against docility, intertia and simplicity."
Miriam Michelson, Reporter
The San Francisco Call
Miriam Mickelson,
Reporter, San Francisco Call
MORE ABOUT THE STORY BEHIND
KA LEI MAILE ALIʻI
In 1897, a meeting recorded by US reporter Miriam Michelson took place in Hilo, which began a drive to collect over 20,000 signatures on the five major Hawaiian Islands to protest US Annexation of Hawaiʻi. This Petition to Protest Annexation is known today as the Kūʻē Petition, a historic document, which presents living proof that most of our kūpuna were strongly opposed to US Annexation.
Ka Lei Maile Aliʻi is an re-enactment of this meeting spearheaded by two Hawaiian wahine royalists Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell and Emma ʻAʻima Aiʻi Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu,
based on the article in the San Francisco Call submitted by Michelson.
To view the signatures and learn more about this historic document and perhaps even find the name of your kūpuna, visit The 1897 Petitions Protesting Annexation by Noenoe K.Silva
Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell
Maui chiefess and influential royalist. Mother of seven children. April 17 1893 elected as first President of Hui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina a Hoʻomau Kūʻokoʻa a Nā Lede - the largest organization fighting US annexation.
May 12 1893 gives birth to daughter named Royalist Kealohaaliʻi Laʻakapu Campbell.
November 28 1893 leades 50th anniversary celebration of Lā Kūʻokoʻa at Kawahaʻo Church.
As President of the women's branch of Hui Aloha ʻĀina, she was part of the decision- making committee, and viewed as a leader of the nation along with men like James Kaulia, David Kalauokalani, John Richardson and others. In 1897, Kuaihelani Campbell and ʻAʻima Aiʻi Nāwahī launched a massive anti-annexation petition drive during a meeting at the Salvation Army in Hilo. Her work was instrumental in the defeat of the 1898 treaty of annexation.
Emma ʻAʻima Aiʻi Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu
Hawaiian royalist and central figure in Hawaiian history along with her husband Joseph Nāwahī. Co-founder of Ka ʻAhahui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina a Hoʻomau Kūʻokoʻa o nā Lede, established to help preserve the independent autonomy (ke kuleana kūʻokoʻa) of the Hawaiian Islands. Secretary of its Hilo branch and organizer of the 1897 Hilo Meeting, which launched the Kūʻē Petition Drive. Co-founder of Ke Aloha ʻĀina, a Hawaiian language newspaper, with her husband, which protested US annexation and provided a platform to host messages from H.M Queen Liliʻuokalani to Her kanaka.
