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Hawaii State Holidays
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 March 26th is the day Hawaii celebrates Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day. It is celebrated to honor the birthday of Hawaii's second delegate to Congress. Prince Kuhio was born in Koloa, Kauai, in 1871. He was the youngest of three sons of Kauai High Chief David Kahalepouli Piikoi and Princess Kinoiki Kekaulike. He served as the Territory of Hawaii's delegate to the U.S. Congress from 1903 to 1921. With John Wise, John Lane and Noah Alulii, they formed the first Hawaiian civic club in 1917 to stimulate civic efforts and education within the Hawaiian community and promote Hawaiian culture. Kuhio was known as the "Citizen Prince" and was in line to become king before the monarchy was overthrown in 1893. He died of heart disease on January 7, 1922, at the age of 50 and was buried at the royal mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley on Oahu. Kuhio is best remembered for his successful effort to get Congress to pass the 1920 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which provides homesteads for native Hawaiians. It was his dream to save the rapidly declining Hawaiian race from extinction. His plan was to return tenement dwellers to the land and encourage them to be self-sufficient farmers, ranchers and homesteaders on leased parcels of reserved land. |
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