Denied the throne by the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole spent much of his adult life struggling to restore the health and dignity of his people.
Dubbed Ke Ali'i Maka'ainana — Prince of the People — by those who would have been his subjects, Kuhio was born in 1871 in Koloa, Kaua'i, an heir of the chief Kaumuali'i. He attended the Royal School and Punahou School, then proceeded to St. Matthew's College in California and the Royal Agricultural College in Britain before graduating from an English business school.
With the ascent of the House of Kalakaua to the Hawaiian throne in 1884, Kuhio was appointed to the Cabinet by King David Kalakaua, his uncle, administering the Department of the Interior.
After the overthrow, Kuhio and his brother David Kawananakoa participated in an unsuccessful attempt to restore the monarchy — an act that landed Kuhio in jail for a year.
Disenchanted, Kuhio left Hawai'i for South Africa, joining the British army in the Boer War. But the prince could not abandon his home, and shortly after he returned, he was appointed Hawai'i's lone congressional delegate, a position he held from 1903 to his death in 1921.
Kuhio's decision to align himself with the powerful Republican Party was fraught with pitfalls, but it allowed him to pursue his agenda of helping Native Hawaiians from a position of real influence. He is credited with developing the county government system still in place today, and with staffing civil service positions with Hawaiian appointees.
Kuhio's greatest accomplishment came in 1920 with the drafting of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, an ambitious measure that would make 203,500 acres of land available for Native Hawaiian use.
On June 27, 1922, six months after Kuhio died of heart disease, David Kamai became the first Hawaiian homesteader to move to Kalaniana'ole Settlement on Moloka'i.
