Category Archives: Social Commentary

No Prejudice, 1893.

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NO PREJUDICE!

There is None, Thank Heaven, In America Now.

None So Poor We Do Not Do Them Reverence,

Provided They Have a Title in the Family.

Kanaka, Negro, the Child of Adventurer or Throned Lewdness, It Matters Not If the Title is Good.

Correspondence of the Mail.]

New York, May 30.—This is the age of liberality and emancipation—liberty of thought and emancipation from all confining prejudices. We live in an age in which all men and women may do as they please, provided they do not infringe on the rights of others, and we have found the happy millennium when all men are free and equal in age as they were at the time of their creation. Continue reading →

Different coverage of Ioane Ukeke performance, 1880.

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[Found under: “BRIEF MENTION.”]

One of those delightful and chaste performances known as the “Hula” was presented to a dense and admiring audience at the Chinese Theatre on Saturday last. The illustrious reviver of this heathen dance, Mr. Ioane Ukeke, Continue reading →

The empty gourd sounds the loudest, 1971.

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Readers Forum

Hula Contest Judging

Editor, The Tribune-Herald:

This is the first time I have written a letter to the editor of any newspaper.

Just couldn’t resist Mr. Lanakila Brandt’s invitation in his letter to you about a Hula Contest, seeking a rebuttal or an augmentive comment.

Have neither to offer, but do have a comment:

How could he or anyone question the integrity of the judges made up of Masters of the Hula, such as Mrs. Lokalia Montgomery and Miss Iolani Luahine. Continue reading →

Lahilahi Webb on gestures, 1938.

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Come in! Mrs. Lahilahi Webb like all Hawaiians is friendly. To wave you in, the hand begins with a half-hearted blackshirt salute, then moves toward the body in a downward motion from the wrist.

Gestures Louder Than Words for Hawaiians

By EUGENE BURNS

Days agone, King Kalakaua, so the story goes, was invited to San Francisco. The Mary Monarch did not want to take a tattle-tale retainer along, so he took a deaf mute. Continue reading →

Chicken fight, 1939.

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Apprehended

When cargo ships from the Matson Shipping Company make a stop here in Hilo, there is always a shipment of some boxes of chickens that are brought ashore. When they are brought to the place where they are cared for in the American Railway Express Office, there is not just one box of chickens or just one chicken, but there are  many boxes of chickens with about four chickens per box. These chickens that are being sent are only fighting chickens. They are chickens with fine feathers; most are dark red [ulahiwa]. Continue reading →

A new Hawaiian language newspaper to be printed on Kauai? 1909.

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A NEW HAWAIIAN NEWSPAPER

In the office of the Attorney White [John D. White] of Kauai, announced was the idea to publish a Hawaiian newspaper for the Sun-Snatching Island [Kauai], however, the name of the newspaper to be published was not revealed.

Continue reading →

Medical treatment 100 years ago, 1920.

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THE POOR SICK

While we were in the Office of the County Attorney [Loio Kalana] of Hawaii, a poor Hawaiian Mother appeared with her weakly daughter, and she expressed to the County Attorney of Hawaii. Because of the debility of her daughter, the daughter was in Hilo Hospital for forty days, and when she got a little better, she was discharged even if we could see that the young girl had not conquered her wasting away from sickness. Continue reading →

Continuation of Theodore Kelsey’s lament, 1948.

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A Hawaiian Lament
By THEODORE KELSEY
II

A little seaward of this forbidden domain the face of the father valley-ridge is sadly disfigured by a large quarrying scar, obliterating the interesting light-colored formation of Ka Upena a Maui—Demi-god Maui’s Fishnet.

Continuing down the road a short distance we come to the place where, on the upper side, the large sacred rock of Kane-hoa-lani has been split up. Continue reading →

Mail delivery in Kona, 1869.

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Pertaining to the Letter Carriers in Kona.

I have great praise for the work of the Letter Carriers from Kealakekua to  Waiohinu; great as well is my praise for the vigilance of the people of South Kona in regard to their Letters and Newspapers. At each group of houses [kauhale] all the way to Manuka, there is a Mail Box on the side of the rode, and it is there that the Letters that the kamaaina want to send are left, and it is there too that Letter Carrier leaves the Letters and Newspapers for that place. There are perhaps twenty Mail Boxes on that road. This is as per the decree of the Postmaster General [Luna Leta Nui], to carry the Letter Bag partially empty, delivering and picking up at each group of houses. This happened within this year in South Kona. But in North Kona, this is not happening, and perhaps in other places as well. Continue reading →