Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day, or Prince Kuhio Day, is a time for celebration of someone who timeanddate.com says is one of Hawaii’s greatest leaders. On Thursday, March 26th, school was cancelled statewide for a day in honor of the life and deeds of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole. When 25 students were asked if they knew who Prince Kuhio was, only three responded that they did. Others were only aware that he was a Hawaiian prince who gave students a day off. Brittany Wilcox, a senior from Alaska studying English, said “It is really disappointing” that not many people who attend this university know who he was. “We need to promote state pride,” said Wilcox.Born in 1872 in Kauai, Prince Kuhio was, according to princekuhio.net, “a cultural hybrid. Hawaiian in appearance, name and loyalties, his overall attitude was a makeup of his education.” Kuhio received his primary education in California and England, and spent a year abroad in Japan. Prince Kuhio was an exemplary leader and would have been king were it not for the fact that “all of his chances for ascending to the throne were dashed with the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893,” as stated by princekuhio.net.In 1895 the prince, “a royalist, was arrested for treason for plotting a counterrevolutionary attempt.” As a result, he was in jail for two years as a political prisoner. After Kuhio was released, “he and his wife traveled extensively throughout Europe and were treated as visiting royalty,” according to princekuhio.net.Kuhio then returned back to Hawaii and was the elected Republican delegate to the United States Congress representing the territory of Hawaii. During his time as a congressman, Kuhio sponsored a bill in 1919 “calling for Hawaiian statehood, a full forty years before it became a reality,” according to princekuhio.net. He went to Congress again in 1921 and “stirred the emotions of Congress” when he spoke of the great decline in the Native Hawaiian population, states princekuhio.net. Prince Kuhio was truly a “son of the islands,” and wasn’t just some prince that provided the state of Hawaii with another holiday. April 2, 2015.
Writer: Max Betts
