Imua, Me Ka Hopo Ole brings together perspectives of Native Hawaiian students, families, lawmakers, teachers, and principals, and examines their various narrative forms, educational activities, and schooling experiences during Hawaiʻi’s territorial period (1900-1959). This website, designed for middle-school through college students and educators, sheds light on the indigenous response towards Americanization and U.S. occupation that was critical for sustaining Native Hawaiian identity.

Four ways to engage:

1. Timeline of relevant events, and how this period relates to Hawaii’s history. Embedded within the timeline are resources for audiences who wish to learn more, such as primary source documents.
2. An overview of Americanization through the school system, which discusses how the education system removed Hawaiian language and culture in favor of American civics and English.
3. Native responses from Students, Teachers and Community members to Americanization. This section provides PDFs of student testimonials, bills and other legislation.
4. For Educators, which include student inquiry lessons and resource links.

Dr. Derek Taira, with funding from the Spencer Foundation, entrusted as a partner to envision and develop this project. We gathered photos from multiple archives and sources, which helped immensely in providing visual context to this work.