Honoring Queen Liliʻuokalani: Hawaiian Sovereignty, Music, and the Power of Hoʻololi
Author's Note: This piece honors Queen Liliʻuokalani through both historical scholarship and modern kānaka diaspora perspective, connecting her legacy of transformation to contemporary movements for justice and sovereignty.
This September marks the 187th birthday of our beloved Queen Liliʻuokalani, born Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamakaʻeha on September 2, 1838. As we embrace this season of hoʻololi—transformation and change—we find profound inspiration in her life's example of turning the deepest adversity into lasting cultural strength.
Queen Liliʻuokalani. Hawaiʻi State Archives.
Mele as Mana: Music Born from Resistance
Perhaps no aspect of Queen Liliʻuokalani's legacy demonstrates the power of hoʻololi more powerfully than her musical compositions. Imprisoned in the upper chambers of ʻIolani Palace for nearly eight months in 1895, she transformed her confinement into one of the most prolific periods of her creative life. In that small room where American conspirators sought to break her spirit, she instead composed some of her most enduring mele.
The Queen's Prayer: Spiritual Resilience in ʻIolani Palace
Her famous "Queen's Prayer" (Ke Aloha o ka Haku), written on March 22, 1895, while under house arrest, stands as a testament to spiritual resilience in the face of political persecution. The prayer's words—"Your loving mercy is as high as heaven, and your truth so perfect"—reveal how she transformed personal anguish into universal hope, creating a bridge between her suffering and the divine strength that would sustain not just her, but generations of kānaka ʻōiwi to come.
Manuscript of "Queen's Prayer" (Ke Aloha o ka Haku), written on March 22, 1895. Hawaiʻi State Archives.
165 Songs of Cultural Preservation
Over her lifetime, Queen Liliʻuokalani composed more than 165 songs, many during periods of intense political pressure and personal loss. Each mele became an act of cultural preservation, ensuring that Hawaiian voices, values, and spiritual understanding would survive the attempted erasure of American colonization. Her compositions like "Aloha ʻOe," "Kuʻu Home," and "Sanoe" remain pōhaku kahua—foundational stones—of Hawaiian musical identity today.
He Puke Mele Hawaiʻi. By Liliʻuokalani. Hawaiʻi State Archives.
ʻOnipaʻa in Action: Steadfast Resistance
Queen Liliʻuokalani's famous words, "E ʻonipaʻa i ka ʻimi naʻauao"—be steadfast in the seeking of knowledge—reveal her understanding that true resistance requires both unwavering commitment and continuous learning. This principle guided her through the illegal overthrow of 1893, her wrongful imprisonment, and the decades that followed as she fought tirelessly for the restoration of Hawaiian sovereignty.
"E ʻonipaʻa i ka ʻimi naʻauao": Continuous Learning as Resistance
Her ʻonipaʻa spirit resonates powerfully with contemporary struggles for justice worldwide. Just as she refused to legitimize the illegal occupation of Hawaiʻi, we see similar steadfast resistance in Palestinian communities maintaining their cultural identity under occupation, in Uyghur people preserving their traditions despite systematic oppression, and in the people of Myanmar continuing their fight for democracy against military rule. Queen Liliʻuokalani's example reminds us that true solidarity means recognizing these parallel struggles while honoring the specific injustices faced by each community.
Hoʻololi as Cultural Strategy
What makes Queen Liliʻuokalani's story so relevant to our modern diaspora experience is how she mastered the art of strategic transformation. When direct political resistance became impossible, she shifted to cultural resistance. When her throne was stolen, she transformed her platform into one of education and advocacy. When imprisoned, she turned confinement into composition.
Strategic Transformation for Hawaiian Diaspora Communities
For kānaka ʻōiwi living in diaspora today, her example offers a powerful model for maintaining cultural integrity while adapting to new environments. She showed us that hoʻololi doesn't mean abandoning our roots—it means finding new ways to honor and strengthen them. Whether we're raising keiki who are learning ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi thousands of miles from home, or finding ways to practice mālama ʻāina in urban environments, we follow in her footsteps of creative cultural preservation.
Legacy of Transformation: Literary Sovereignty and Lasting Impact
Queen Liliʻuokalani's greatest hoʻololi may be how she transformed the narrative of Hawaiian resistance itself. Rather than allowing her story to end with political defeat, she ensured it would continue through cultural victory. In 1898, she made the revolutionary decision to write her own story in "Hawaiʻi's Story by Hawaiʻi's Queen" - her autobiography that stands as one of the first memoirs ever written by a reigning monarch.
"Hawaiʻi's Story by Hawaiʻi's Queen": Revolutionary Autobiography
This act of literary sovereignty was extraordinary in its time. While monarchs across the world allowed others to write their histories, it was the Queen of a small, isolated island nation in the Pacific who had the clarity and courage to ensure her voice - and her people's truth - would be preserved in her own words. She understood that whoever controls the narrative controls the legacy, and she refused to allow American colonizers to write the final chapter of Hawaiian sovereignty.
Liliuokalani, 1838-1917, “Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, Liliuokalani,” UHM Library Digital Image Collections
Her autobiography wasn't written for personal vindication, but as a gift to future generations of kānaka ʻōiwi. In its pages, she documented not just her own experiences, but the systematic dismantling of Hawaiian independence, ensuring that the truth of illegal annexation would survive in the historical record. Her mele still strengthen lāhui gatherings, her words still guide sovereignty movements, her autobiography still provides firsthand testimony of American colonial crimes, and her example still inspires indigenous communities worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions About Queen Liliʻuokalani
Q: How many songs did Queen Liliʻuokalani compose? A: Queen Liliʻuokalani composed more than 165 songs throughout her lifetime, many during periods of intense political pressure, including her famous "Queen's Prayer" written during her imprisonment in ʻIolani Palace.
Q: What does "E ʻonipaʻa i ka ʻimi naʻauao" mean? A: This famous quote from Queen Liliʻuokalani means "be steadfast in the seeking of knowledge," reflecting her belief that true resistance requires both unwavering commitment and continuous learning.
Q: Why is Queen Liliʻuokalani's autobiography historically significant? A: "Hawaiʻi's Story by Hawaiʻi's Queen" was revolutionary as one of the first memoirs written by a reigning monarch, ensuring Hawaiian perspectives on illegal annexation would be preserved in the historical record.
Q: What is hoʻololi and how did Queen Liliʻuokalani embody it? A: Hoʻololi means transformation or change. Queen Liliʻuokalani embodied this by transforming adversity into strength - turning imprisonment into musical composition, political defeat into cultural victory, and personal suffering into lasting inspiration for Hawaiian sovereignty movements.
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Glossary
Hoʻololi: Transformation, change
ʻOnipaʻa: Steadfast, firm, resolute
Kānaka ʻōiwi: Native Hawaiian people
Lāhui: Nation, people
Mele: Song, chant
Pōhaku kahua: Foundation stones
Keiki: Children
Mālama ʻāina: Care for the land
Sources and References
Primary Sources
Liliʻuokalani, Queen of Hawaiʻi. Hawaiʻi's Story by Hawaiʻi's Queen. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1898.
Liliʻuokalani, Queen of Hawaiʻi. "Ke Aloha o ka Haku (The Queen's Prayer)." Composed March 22, 1895.
Liliʻuokalani, Queen of Hawaiʻi. Musical compositions including "Aloha ʻOe," "Kuʻu Home," and "Sanoe."
Historical Archives and Institutions
Hawaiʻi State Archives
Bishop Museum Archives, Honolulu
University of Hawaiʻi Archives
Kamehameha Schools Archives
Scholarly and Cultural Resources
ʻAwaiaulu: Hawaiian Literature Online (awaiaulu.org)
Kanaeokana: Hawaiian Cultural Resources
Hawaiian historians and cultural practitioners
Kumu Hula lineages and oral traditions
Cultural and Language Sources
Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and kūpuna
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi language resources and dictionaries
Traditional Hawaiian mo'olelo and oral histories
Contemporary Context
Modern Hawaiian sovereignty movement documentation
Hawaiian diaspora community resources
Contemporary indigenous rights movements (referenced for solidarity context)
