Neil Thomas Proto
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 262
Get eBook
There were two battles for Hawaii's sovereignty led by Queen Liliuokalani. This book, The Rights of My People, revisits these battles - the 1893 coup d'etat and the annexation in 1898 - from a new perspective, against the backdrop of the harsh remnants of the Civil War, the missionary's disquieting view of race, and the emerging role of Hawaiian women. The Rights of My People explores the fate of the Crown lands, a quarter of the Hawaii islands, taken in the 1893 coup d'etat and contested aggressively by Liliuokalani through 1910. Woven into the story are threats of execution and assassination and the forces of bigotry, condescension, and deception she confronted. The events unfold in Honolulu, Hilo, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, D.C. She challenged the United States before Congress repeatedly for complicity in taking the Crown lands. Finally, in the grandeur of what is now the Renwick Art Gallery, the United States Court of Claims heard and decided Liliuokalani v. United States of America.