Black History in Hawai‘i

The Hawai‘i Republican Party, led by Prince Kuhio for its first 20 years, continues to thrive as a pro-Hawaiian, pro-American Party for all people of Hawai‘i.

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole

Hawai‘i’s Polynesian origins and multi-race culture have long meant that the black-white divide common in the rest of the United States has not been such an issue here.  From the beginning of active contact with explorers, traders, whalers, and warships; black immigrants blended easily into Hawai‘i’s society.  For many black sailors, a self-sufficient lifestyle as seamen led to their success upon landing in Hawai‘i. 

King Kamehameha I upon conquering O‘ahu, found ‘Black Jack’ Keakaeleele already settled here as a seaman later built Queen Kaahumanu’s first stone house. 

Anthony D. Allen, Sr., here in 1811, was thought by some missionaries later to be Hawai‘i’s ‘only black man'.  Beginning as a farmer, dairyman, and blacksmith, his Honolulu boarding house and saloon bar housed many new arrivals.  He operated the first seamen's hospital, built a bowling alley, and advised the King.  Finding his children unable to attend the ali‘i ‘royal school,’ he gifted some land and started what later came to be known as Washington Middle School. 

New England-born Betsey Stockton, a slave to Princeton University President Ashbel Green, was encouraged by Green himself to read and study.  She became proficient in theology and was sent as a missionary to Hawai‘i. 

Betsey Stockton

She later founded the influential Lahainaluna School for not only Latin, mathematics, and literature, but the practical arts as well. This school became the model for Hampton College in Virginia. 

Kamehameha III’s first small brass band later became the Royal Hawaiian Band made up partly of black men.

A lawyer from New York, Thomas McCants Stewart who served in King Kalakaua’s cabinet, wrote the 1898 Organic Act and helped secure lands during the Republic days.
 

Thomas McCants Stewart

In Hawai‘i we celebrate diverse cultures. The Hawai‘i Republican Party has always been and continues to be an open and welcoming home for civic activism for all ethnicities.  We are the Party of Prince Kuhio, a beloved Republican diplomat who was blind to skin color and who sought the best for all Hawai‘i nei.  

Join us, donate, and volunteer for a brighter Hawai‘i future!

Yours,

Lynn Finnegan
Chairman
Hawai‘i Republican Party