By Dr. Ronald Williams, Jr.
A sizable crowd, gathered and growing, waited eagerly at the corner of Waiʻalae Road and Koko Head in Kaimukī. The quaint town – more of a small but rapidly expanding hamlet really – occupied plains five miles east of downtown Honolulu.
Residents of the area had successfully petitioned Hawaiʻi’s Territorial Board of Education to build a new school to serve area children and, on this gorgeous Friday morning of 12 April 1912, an estimated 300-400 parents, education officials, and government dignitaries gathered to celebrate.
At 10:00 a.m. sharp, an olive-green REO motor car turned off Waiʻalae and into the lot. Everyone in attendance was likely familiar with this particular car and the identity of its owner.
After coming to a stop, Her Majesty Queen Liliʻuokalani, assisted by a pair of attendants, stepped down from the vehicle. The queen had accepted an invitation from the board to set the honorary cornerstone for the territory’s newest educational institution, named in her honor, Liliʻuokalani School.
As she made her way to the event bandstand there was a noticeable shift in tone from excitement to a more somber feel as it became noticeable to all that the queen had grown more feeble since her last public appearance. Although it had been nearly two decades since her forced removal from the throne, she was still queen to her people.
As she approached, everyone stood, sitting only after she had made herself comfortable in her seat. Thereafter, each time she stood, the crowd rose with her. Each time she sat, they followed suit.
Souvenir programs were distributed, along with ribbons bearing a picture of the queen and a caption reading “Liliuokalani School.” Kodaks snapped photos while a film camera brought to the event captured the scene as Her Majesty was handed a ceremonial silver trowel inscribed with the words “Her Majesty Queen Liliuokalani. A Souvenir of the Cornerstone Laying of Liliuokalani School Kaimuki April 12, 1912.”
The Hawaiian Band played a fervent rendition of Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī, the national anthem of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in her honor. The queen’s participation in the event included more than the ceremonial placing of the cornerstone. Gracious as always, even in her poor state of health, Her Majesty stayed to shake the hands of scores of people in an unscheduled reception. It was well into the early evening when the queen, one of the last to leave, finally withdrew to her car.
Even though the film shot that day has been lost to time and memories of the living fall achingly short, Her Majesty Queen Liliʻuokalani managed to leave a profound message, a call to her people that rings critically relevant today.
A time-capsule, set into the cornerstone, contained items placed there by Queen Liliʻu- okalani on that April day in 1912 – items that she intended haumāna 100 years into the future to discover. What was it that the queen chose? What message did she deliver so long after her departure? The answer lies inside a tall copper box, formerly welded shut, that is today part of the collection of the public archives of Hawaiʻi.
Items placed in the Liliʻuokalani School time capsule by Her Majesty Queen Liliʻuokalani:
- An autographed copy of her translation of the Kumulipo, a cosmogonic genealogy that records the history of the universe from the dawn of life to the birth of the first Kanaka (man) and beyond and explains the relationship of man to the earth and all its creatures. This is the story of nā Kānaka ʻŌiwi (the Hawaiian people).
- The second item inserted into the time capsule by Her Majesty was an autographed copy of Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen. With this narrative, the queen documents the progressive, proud Lāhui Hawaiʻi, built and guided by Kānaka ʻŌiwi leaders – and the theft of that nation by the United States in 1898. This is the story of the Hawaiian Nation.
- The other item the queen inserted into the time capsule was a collection of autographed copies of 10 mele she had composed. This music, of and about Hawaiʻi, touched on places, people, and emotions that were dear to her and so many others. This is the story of Hawaiʻi’s treasured places and the feelings they create.
In 1912, as the territorial government in Hawaiʻi pushed an erasure of the past and the creation of a modern story highlighting an American Hawaiʻi, Queen Liliʻuokalani offered subtle, yet powerful resistance. She called on her people a century into the future to know who their kūpuna were; to know who they themselves are.
Note: Despite pleas from the public and a coordinated effort by the Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, the State Department of Education shuttered the doors to Liliʻuokalani Elementary School in 2011, just shy of the school’s centenerary anniversary.
Historian Ronald Williams, Jr., Ph.D., is a kumu of the Aloha ʻĀina Graduate Cohort of the UH Mānoa College of Education. He is the owner of Ka ʻElele Research and Writing and of Nā Leo Publishing.
