As part of my ongoing moʻokūʻauhau research, and from a deep love of history, I’ve been sitting with an important question: What were our people actually saying in their own voices during these pivotal moments in Hawaiian history? Too often, the story of Hawaiʻi in 1893 is told about us, rather than by us. The narratives that most people encounter are filtered through foreign newspapers, official government reports, or later historical interpretations. But our kūpuna were writing, publishing, debating, praying, warning, grieving, and hoping, in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, and in real time. To better understand that lived reality, I decided to return to the source. While researching my own genealogy, I found myself repeatedly turning to Hawaiian-language newspapers. ( Papakilo ) In them, I heard something unmistakable: clarity, restraint, faith, fear, resistance, unity, and deep aloha ʻāina, all expressed directly by the poʻe of that time. I wanted to know: ...
A space for engaging with the knowledge, voices, and lived experiences of our kūpuna.