Aloha

planes flew overhead, darkening the skies. The USS Oklahoma took several hits from torpedoes. The battleship rolled to one side, then slid beneath the water along with four hundred men. Beth Slingerland, a teacher with a husband in the military, watched the planes descend. Black smoke billowed into the air as the aircraft kept dropping bombs. Fireballs appeared over the hangars at the airfield. She could do nothing except worry and wait. Army Air corpsan Everest capra knew they were

under attack as soon as he saw the planes. He ran outside to warn the others, then hurried back to the barracks. Just as the bombs and bullets started. He and a couple of other men dodged enemy fire while gathering injured and taking them to the hospital. An explosion knocked Capra out, but when he awoke, he refused to head to the hospital himself, knowing the Japanese would strike there too. Despite his injuries, he continued to help others.

Honorary Chaplain Joe Morgan at first took shelter under an I beam inside a hangar and hoped for the best. Outside, crew members with nothing other than handguns, took to shooting at the planes. Morgan went to the armory and grabbed the machine gun. Then he fought back. The US had tried to stay out of the war, responding to Japan's invasions and atrocities with sanctions. Japan hoped this attack would prevent the US from intervening in their aggressive expansion in

the South Pacific. For two hours, the assault continued. Every battleship in Pearl Harbor was damaged. Over three hundred planes and hangars and on the airfield were destroyed. Wives waited on word about their husbands, children waited for their fathers. At five that evening, Beth heard her husband's boots on the driveway. They were fortunate. Hundred people died and another thousand were injured. Aboard the Arizona there were thirty eight

sets of brothers. Sixty three of the seventy nine men died. Those four hundred men remained buried in the harbor. With the Oklahoma nine hundred are interred in the Arizona. Pearl Harbor became a memorial. Though the U. S. Navy didn't know when or where Japan would attack, tensions had risen significantly before Pearl Harbor, and intel suggested an aggression was eminent. After the attack, life for everyone on the Hawaiian Islands changed.

The people had been through changes before, though before Japan's assault, the islands and their peoples found themselves under another threat. Long before that first plane flew into Pearl Harbor. For many Hawaiians, paradise had already been lost. I'm Lauren Vogelbam. Welcome to American Shadows. Thirty million years ago, the Pacific tectonic plate shifted, performing a chain of islands right near the center, about as far from anywhere else as you

can get. The volcanic eruptions created a hundred and thirty seven islands in the area, including what are considered the eight major ones today a Maui, ca Lave, Molokai, Lanai, Oahu, Hawaii, ni how and Hawaii often referred to as the Big Island. While there are many volcanoes on the islands, only six remain active today, a two on Maui and the other four on Hawaii. The largest mana Loa, located on the

Big Island, stands nine thousand feet tall. The first Polynesian settlers arrived in Hawaii around four hundred CE, having traveled thousands of miles in big canoes with the stars and elements as their guide. They settled down building new homes. Life near the ocean was comfortable. What the ocean didn't provide small farms did. They and other groups of Polynesian settlers who came of the next few centuries brought crops like tarot, red fruit, bamboo and sugarcane, and domesticated animals

like chicken and pigs. The settlements spread across the major islands, from their blush windward sides to their lean leeward sides as technology and trade systems advanced, starting around the thirteen hundreds, the population boomed and sort of congealed. Large temples appeared. A complex and efficient society evolved. A high chief controlled the land of holding it in trust for the population

and supervising its divisions. A whole island, known as a mokupuni was split into smaller parts called moku, which were themselves divided into ahoopwa, each one a wedge stretching from central mountains to the sea. The size of each ahoopua depended on the available resources. Of Poorer areas were the largest ahoopua, which helped offset having fewer resources. The chiefs

ruled each self sustaining section. Taxes were paid to the high chief and his court through konohiki or supervisors, who oversaw the communal labor and fair use of the land and ocean. The people traded goods with other villagers. The inlanders provided the fishermen with wood for their canoes in exchange for fresh fish. Everyone tended to the farms and livestock, and though people lived in different ahoopwaa, they shared knowledge and labor. The Hawaiians lived in peace with the land,

believing in the deep connection between nature and humanity. Along with the konohiki cohuna, who could be considered priests or cultural experts, ensured that the people took great care of the land, its resources, and all the life that resided within it. And some species of fish were taken only during certain times of the year. Of plants were only harvested during certain seasons. All in all, they had created

a harmonious and sustainable life. The Hawaiians made everything they needed, from beautiful cloth and handcrafted canoes to exquisite arts and crafts. They used roots and vegetables to die clothing, and wore flowers for scent. For sports, they held athletic competitions. They feasted and danced and sang, told stories, and played music. Powers within the groups changed from time to time as

chieftains vied for more control. Mostly, though, they lived in peace with each other through the seventeen hundreds, Captain James Cook became the first European to make contact. He stumbled across the Hawaiian islands in January of seventeen seventy eight. At first, the locals welcomed Cook and his crew. He brought iron tools, which they traded for fresh water and food. During his brief visit a year later. His return to the island of Hawaii happened to coincide with a harvest

festival there and the celebration of a god's return. It's hard to tease out legend from history, but it seems that some Hawaiians associated Cook with this god. A Cook and the crew joined in the feasts and dancing that lasted a few days. They left the island shortly afterward, though a storm forced them to return. Their reappearance sparked suspicion this wasn't part of the myth. Tensions escalated. Cook determined that the Hawaiians had stolen items from him, and

chose to deliver swift and harsh punishment. He might have thought these people, whom he considered inferior, would cower, they did not. Angry over Cook's accusations and violence, warriors overwhelmed the British sailors. Most managed to escape, though Captain Cook was captured and killed. In retaliation, the sailors fired their cannons on the shoreline, killing thirty Hawaiians before heading back out to sea. It was just the beginning of Hawaii's

contact with the Europeans. By the turn of the century, the islands were an established port of call for ships trading in goods like furs and sandalwood as part of the increasingly global economy, and unfortunately, Cook's bloody skirmish set the tone of what was to come. Between seventeen and eighteen ten, chief by the name of Kamehameha united the islands and became the first king of this unified Kingdom of Hawaii. Though he died in eighteen nineteen, his title

and leadership fell to his family. For generations. It was a time of cultural upheaval from inside and out. The new generation of Hawaiians was becoming acquainted with more outsiders, this time from the newly formed United States. At first, their contact with Americans came in the form of merchants whalers, followed, then missionaries. Determined to save souls with their faith and Bibles, they brought something else to the islands, diseases that decimated

the local population. Americans pushed westward, and spurred by the government's assurance that taking land inhabited by indigenous peoples was acceptable, especially those who didn't submit to becoming what they called civilized missionaries and colonizing farmers, created many changes within Hawaiian culture. On September two of eight thirty eight, a group had gathered outside one of the grass huts along Pouaina, a volcanic creater on Oahu that the westerners called the punch bowl.

Inside the hut, a woman labored, just as the baby girl entered the world, rain and to fall to the people. The rainfall seems like nature had joined in the celebration. Her parents were well respected and shared lineage with Kamehameha the First. They named their daughter Liliu. The people thought great things were in store for the child. They weren't wrong. Her position and rank climbed shortly after her birth when her parents sent her to live with other higher ranking

family members. The custom, known as hanai is meant to strengthen family bonds. While the new family took over raising Liliu, her briok parents still had to say and what was best for her. The missionaries thought the practice was barbaric, and they aimed to save the indigenous people's souls by doing away with such traditional Hawaiian practices. By the time Liliu turned to the monarchy, that Kamehameha the First, once built, had begun to crumble. Americans and Europeans kept arriving and

carving out territories. The churches, homes, and sugar cane fields cropped up, and the missionaries baptized as Liliu and called her Lydia. After her fourth birthday, Liliu was sent to a missionary school to civilize the indigenous children. The founders allowed only short and infrequent visits with their families. Native customs weren't allowed. Their attire was deemed overtly sexual, so

students clothing reflected a more European style of dress. While the children were allowed to learn to speak, read, and write in Hawaiian, they were also given traditional European courses and Christian religious teachings. King Kameha the Third sent emissaries to France, England, and the United States to establish his position and Hawaiian sovereignty. He succeeded in eighteen forty two, though it would not last. Foreign powers began to eye

the islands for themselves. Disease, potential threats from the West, and an attempted attack from the British became the backdrop for Liliu's childhood. Approximately three hundred thousand indigenous people had lived on the islands when Cook first arrived. By eighteen fifty three, only seventy thousand remained. Mahemeha the third died from smallpox in eighteen fifty four. Liliu's older brothers, Princess Alexander Leeholiho and Luck Mehemeha became king. Kamehameha the fourth

and fifth, respectively, both were against American annexation. Liliyu, now an adult, watched the proceedings within the king's court. With her lineage, she had been groomed to rule. After Kamehameha the Third died, she met with the surviving king's adviser, John Owen Dominus in eighteen sixty. Two years later the pair married. The marriage turned sour when John fathered a child with one of Liliu's servants. She busied herself with

charity projects and political matters. Though a woman, her lineage made her opinion equally valued. In eighteen seventy three, King Kamehameha the fifth died, leaving no heirs. The Hawaiian constitution called for an election. Kamehameha the Fourth's widow, Queen Emma, and Lili's brother David Cala Cola, were their choices, David won the election. King Calaca remained childless, and Liliu became the heir presumptive. From then on, people referred to her

as Princess Liliu Kalani. Meanwhile, sugarcane and pineapple production companies owned by colonists pushed for more power over the royal family. Along with the princess's new status came more responsibility, and she had more say when it came to political matters and acted as regent whenever King Kalacoa traveled. At times had become uneasy, though Queen Emma's supporters looked for ways to move her back into power, and American plantation owners

sought to remove all authority from the Hawaiian government. Princess Liliu Kalani stayed busy with speeches, handling the smallpox epidemic and the logistics of a leprosy hospital in Cacacko. She funded a bank for women and the school to educate young women. In a time when women had few rights and fewer options, the princess and her sister were exceptions. Married women weren't allowed to own land, and their husbands managed all of their business affairs, but the sisters maintained

control of their finances and business decisions. Lilio Kalani visited England in seven her Queen Victoria's jubilee. Buckingham Palace treated her as a monarch equal to their own. During the trip, she received word of a coup. Back in Hawaii, Armed plantation owners had forced their way onto King Colacoa's property. They made him sign over power from the monarchy through the threat of death, granting voting rights to non native landowning colonists. The document that had drafted also granted the

United States control over Pearl Harbor. This document granted more commer sial rights to plantation owners, reduced the right to vote for lower income Native Hawaiians, and excluded Asian immigrants who had come to work the plantations. With his signature, three out of four Native Hawaiians lost their right to vote. It's been nicknamed the Bayonet Constitution because it was signed at gunpoint. Liliu Klanni returned to find her brother in ailing health. Still, he traveled to the US to discuss

a tariff that had severely hindered the sugar industry. He died in San Francisco on January. News of his death didn't reach the islands until the ship returned a week later. The Hawaiians held a traditional funeral ritual and the crowned Liliu Klanni on January twenty nine. She became Hawaii's first ruling queen. For the next few weeks, she remained in mourning for her brother. Afterward, she sought to return the power that had been stolen from the monarchy. The battle

took two years. She planned to reinstate her people into control over both politics and the Hawaiian economy. The plantation owners took to the press in a smear campaign. None of it phazed her, and she pushed forward. A tragedy struck again when her husband, who was also o wah Whu's governor, died on August. While the two didn't have a good marriage, he had supported his wife's endeavors. The plantation owners, including one Sandford B. Dole, worried a return

to the monarchy would affect their profits. Aside from being a landowner, Dole was a lawyer who had been appointed as an associate justice on the Hawaiian Supreme Court. Sandford's cousin, James, owned the Dole Food Company, and both men had a substantial interest in keeping Hawaiian land in American control, and both men had plenty of power. Sandford was part of a clan of business men called the Committee of Safety, who in January of plotted a coup. Their leader, politician

and lawyer Lauren A. Thurston, set to work. They gained support from other US politicians and the captain of a US worship anchored in Honolulu Harbor. By January fourteenth of that year, Lilio Kalani had received over sixty hundred signatures to repeal the document her brother had been forced to sign, and she proposed a new constitution. But all was not as it seemed. One of her ministers made a copy

of the new constitution and sent it to Thurston. By January six the Committee of Safety held a public meeting to denounce the queen. Some of her council fled the palace, fearing for their safety. Outside, indigenous Hawaiians gathered. They were tired of foreign powers buying off their officials and thwarting the Queen's efforts. A hundred and sixty two US sailors and marines arrived that day support the coup. Hawaiian attempts

to resolve the conflict with an negotiation failed. The next day, Thurston and his men gathered outside the court house demanding that the queen stepped down. He declared martial law and for the queen to be removed. The remaining council advised her to surrender control to the U. S. Government instead of the committee. It should be noted that the plantation owners were American, but that the U. S. Government didn't

officially sanction the coup. By midnight, Lilio Klannie had signed over her control to what she thought was the United States, though she had been betrayed once more. Sandford Dole became the head of the new government. He immediately pushed to have Hawaii annexed. In February, President Benjamin Harrison agreed. When Grover Cleveland took office a month later, he ordered an investigation. The commissioner reported what had happened and that the people

supported the queen, not Sandford's government. Cleveland ordered that Lilio Klanni be reinstated, but only if she granted amnesty to those involved with the coup. Dole refused to hand over his power, and even when Liliuklawi agreed and President Cleveland didn't intervene, and Sandford Dole proclaimed himself president of the

newly formed Republic of Hawaii. Paradise had been forcefully taken, and without help from President Cleveland, Hawaii no longer belonged to the indigenous people, and without voting rights, they had no means to get it back. In December of Congress realized they had a problem that allowed American citizens to overthrow a foreign government and had taken control by threat of war. Dole clung to his ill begotten power while Congress talked about justice. The indigenous people felt by they

had waited long enough for the president to act. Hawaiian royalists plotted to take back control. Their rebellion failed. Dole's got namant had the rebels and the queen arrested for treason. The Republic offered her a deal abdicate and saved the lives of six of her people, who faced a death sentence. She agreed and was heavily fined and sentenced to five years of hard labor. Afterwards, she remained under house arrest. A year later, Dole announced that he had generously pardoned

the Leio Kalani without any children of her own. She traveled to Washington with her niece, whom she designated as her heir. Her attempts to convince the president to restore Hawaii's independence failed. The United States and x Hawaii in under the McKinley administration and treated it as a US territory. Hawaii became the fiftieth U S state in nineteen fifty nine. Congress offered a formal apology to Hawaiians in Today, native Hawaiians remain the only indigenous people in the United States

to not have political sovereignty. A tourism flourished when Hawaii became a date. Air travel made it easier for the middle class to visit. Tourism outstripped both the pineapple and sugar industries in terms of income. Hotels, shops, high rises, and golf courses have cropped up, and the beaches are crowded. While it's still a paradise, there is a debate over who's paradise. A one cultural icon from the past remains strong though. The song Looha Oi is still sung today

and has been recorded by many musicians. It's a song of farewell and the hopes for reunion. As the story behind the melody goes, it was written in the late eighteen seventies. A young woman had taken a trip on horseback with a group of others at a ranch belonging to Colonel James Boyd. At the end of the ride, she watched as he and a close friend shared an

embrace and a passionate kiss. The lovers parted reluctantly. The longing and affection shared between the two inspired the young woman to write the words to the melody that we all know today. Years later, she would sing the song again when control over Hawaii was stripped from her people. That woman, it's none other than Queen Juliu Kalani. There's more to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. Very few came to

the peninsula, at least willingly. King kameh Mayha the Fifth Law went into effect on January three, eight six, and families were ripped apart. Surrounded by rough seas and steep sea cliffs. The topography of the Peninsula of law Papa on the island of Molokai lent itself to seclusion. Yet there are long stretches of sandy beaches. While it was and still is a natural Paradise, a yse fifth largest island, housed a lepre colony in the eighteen hundreds. Humans have

been afflicted with leprosy for millennia. The disease is often disfiguring, causing sores, and internally it causes nerve damage. Although not the most contagious, repeated exposure raises the risk. When it first appeared in early history, people believed the disease was a curse or punishment from the gods. Others thought leprosy was hereditary and shunned entire families if one member fell ill.

Research suggests that leprosy, now known to be caused by bacteria called microbacteri in leprey, has been around since humans have been human. It's followed roots of migration in trade and war for over forty thousand years. Until nineteen forty, there was no cure or effective treatment in medieval Europe. Those afflicted often walked on a different side of the road than others, or rang a bell or war clothing to warn others to keep their distance, and mostly though

people were quarantined for life. This is where the island of Molokai comes in. No one knows when leprosy was introduced to Hawaii. It may have arrived multiple times, but starting in the eighteen twenties, European missionaries began reporting leprosy like symptoms on the islands, and by the eighteen sixties, with the population growing through immigration and colonization, it was considered enough of a problem that may have the Fifth and his Board of Health passed the Act to prevent

the spread of leprosy. It created a policy of permanent segregation that would send over eight thousand people with leprosy to live out their lives on call pop U Peninsula on Molokai. Hawaiians sometimes called it the disease that separates families, and children fell victim to it more often than adults. One father, Damon, saw his calling on the island in eighteen fifty eight. He and his brother were part of

the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Belgium. His brother had been asked to go to Hawaii, but fell ill. Damien took his place. He first arrived in eighteen sixty three and ministered to the people on the Big Island for ten years until the colony on Molokai needed help. He and three other priests alternated caring for those sent to live on the peninsula. He traveled to the island by boat along with cattle and fifty patients. The colony petitioned to have a full time priest lived with them,

and Father Damon never hesitated. He wrote to his superiors that he would not be leaving the island. The people needed him. They had come to the island expecting the worst and feeling they'd been sent there to die. Father Damon became determined to give them a place to live. He learned their language and helped build homes. Together with the patients, he planted gardens and trees. He organized schools for the children when he wasn't busy tending to residence

medical needs. The children enjoyed the usual thing that had on the Big Island, like bands and choirs, and when people died, he helped bury them. He returned to the Big Island to campaign for more funding. He relentlessly championed better conditions, more supplies, and clothing. His tireless work attracted worldwide attention, shedding light on leprosy and the colony on Molokai. For twelve years, he lived with the people on Molokai

before he contracted leprosy himself. The Health Board certified him as an inmate on March thirty of eighteen eighty six. Though he could no longer leave the island, he stated that he was with his people and happy. The disease caught up with him three years later, and he died at the age of forty nine on April fifteenth of eighteen eighty nine. The colony, the Kingdom of Hawaii, and the world mourned his death. In two thousand nine, Father

Damon was named the patron Saint of people with leprosy. Today, leprosy is more commonly called Hanson's disease. It's now relatively rare, as there are treatments, manicure courses of antibiotics and steroids.

Although the forced relocation of people with leprosy to Molokai ended in the nineteen sixties, of freeing the population there, six or so of the law survivors still choose to make the island home of all the islands, Molokai is said to retain much of its original beauty and indigenous roots. The people who live there celebrate their connection with nature. The land or aena, is so important to Hawaiians that they believe it should be treated with the utmost respect.

For every commercial city full of hustle, bustle and modern ways of life, there are places where nature and the aena remain relatively untouched. Guides still navigate by the stars like their ancestors. At night. There are celebrations with food, music, and dancing. Residents and visitors are frequently moved to say the places like kloup op up on Molokai, our paradise found.

American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbond. This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Alexander Steed, and produced by Jesse Funk and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Monkey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick, and special thanks to Elijah McShane. To learn more about the show, visit Grim and Mild dot com. Or more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.