In the Ka Wai Ola article “Education as the Hope of a Nation,” Kamehameha Schools Strategic Communications Director Sterling Wong describes the enduring importance of Ke Ali‘i Pauahi’s commitment to education as a foundation for Hawai‘i’s future. We share an excerpt here, with the full article available at Ka Wai Ola.

At just 11 years old, Ke Aliʻi Pauahi witnessed the most harrowing event her beloved Hawaiian Kingdom would endure in her lifetime.

British naval captain George Paulet intervened in a dubious land dispute between his country’s consul and the Hawaiian monarchy. He ultimately seized control of the sovereign Hawaiian Nation through the threat of military force.

For five long months, the Union Jack flew over Honolulu as Pauahi’s granduncle, King Kamehameha III, was forced to surrender his authority. Adding insult to injury, Paulet ordered Hawaiian Kingdom flags gathered and burned.

Then came a reversal as dramatic as the loss: Rear Admiral Richard Thomas arrived with orders from Queen Victoria to restore the kingdom’s independence.

On July 31, 1843, Pauahi watched her nation rise again. That day, later celebrated as Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, Restoration Day, became the first national holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

As a student at the Chiefs’ Children’s School, Pauahi recorded the joy of that moment in her own hand: “[t]hey pulled down the English flag and hoisted the Hawaiian flag and we were all rejoicing. This evening the largest children went down to Mrs. Hooper’s and we sang, ʻGod Save the King.’”

On the inside cover of her journal, the young chiefess drew the symbols she held most dear: the hae Hawaiʻi, flying proudly on its staff, and the hae kalaunu (royal standard) of her uncle and king, Kauikeaouli. Beneath them were the carefully written letters “BERN,” a tender shorthand for her own name.

Even as a child, Pauahi felt a deep love and connection to her nation, the kingdom founded by her great-grandfather, whose name she would one day bestow upon her schools. She understood the magnitude of her family’s kuleana to the nation and its people, as well as the challenges that lay ahead.

The hope she carried from Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea never left her. That day held all the elements that would shape her future.

Her granduncle, the king, stood firm in his belief in education. The school he founded prepared her for a life of high responsibility in the Hawaiian Kingdom. And in the day’s ceremonies, she witnessed the resilience of her lāhui. From these seeds grew Pauahi’s conviction that education would be the surest path forward for her people, a belief that would one day be written into her kauoha, her will, as her final and greatest gift.

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bernice pauahi bishop, pauahi, hawaiian history, legacy, kamehameha schools, hawaiian culture, hawaiian governance

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