147th Anniversary of Aliiolani Hale's Grand Opening

In this morning's e-mailbox we received the following from Hawaii's King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center:

April 30 marks the 147th anniversary of Aliiolani Hale's grand opening to the public. 

The event commenced at 12 o'clock noon with canon booms from the batteries atop Puowaina, echoed by guns on the U.S. Benicia in Honolulu Harbor. 

The Hawaiian Band played the Hawaii Ponoi as King Kalakaua, Prince Leleiohuku and members of the King's staff left Iolani Palace on foot, flanked on each side by members of the Royal Body Guard. They walked across the street to Aliiolani Hale where they were greeted by the King's ministers and escorted into the new Legislative Hall. 

Already present were Queen Kapiolani, Her Highness Ruth Keeliokalani, Princesses Liliuokalani and Likelike, Queen Dowager Emma, Princess Pauahi Bishop, and several hundred invited spectators. 

After an opening pule, the King read his address which the Hawaiian Gazette described as more comprehensive than any similar one delivered to the Kingdom's Legislature. The first Legislature to meet in the brand new government building was officially opened.

In honor of the grand opening's anniversary, we invite you to tour Aliiolani and the Judiciary History Center. For guided group tours, please call 539-4994. 

NCHE 2013 Conference: Richmond, Virginia

The National Council for History Education (NCHE) has scheduled the 2013 annual conference. Click here for details.

The theme for the conference is 'Emancipation & Human Rights in History.' It is scheduled for March 21-23, 2013.

Please check this link for updated registration information.


Proposals are being accepted. Submission deadline is September 24, 2012


In every era we teach or study, from ancient civilizations to the postmodern world of the twenty-first century, we encounter struggles for emancipation. These may be stories of the enslaved seeking their freedom, the colonized their independence, or the victims of tyranny their liberties. Not all of these struggles end in victory, but each reveals the desire of individuals, groups, and entire nations to liberate themselves from the control of others.
  Our study of movements for emancipation raises critical questions. For example, how does freedom get taken away, and what laws or institutions or ideologies sustain systems of enslavement or domination? What forms does resistance take? What justifications emerge to defend slavery or domination and what challenges are mounted against it? How is emancipation achieved and what are its consequences? What does freedom mean to those who deny it to others and to those who struggle to achieve it?
  While freedom is one of the most basic of human rights, others have been articulated throughout history, including protection from persecution based on race, religious beliefs, gender, or political views, as well as universal access to adequate shelter and food, education, economic opportunity, and political participation. How and why did these ideals develop? What events in history prompted men and women to advocate them or to reject them? What documents best articulate the value of these rights? These and other questions arise from the conference theme and await your answers.
  As we commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, the NCHE invites proposals for presentations and poster sessions on this theme for its 2013 conference in Richmond, Virginia. All proposals will be evaluated on the basis of their intellectual content—that is, whether they are historically accurate and address interesting and important questions appropriate to historical inquiry and teaching—as well as their ability to engage the audience.

A Special Thank-you...

On behalf of the hard working folks at the Hawai’i Council for the Humanities, and the History Judge Coordinators, we want to express our thanks for your help this past Saturday at the State History Day Fair. You are all busy people, especially at this time of the semester (for those on the academic calender.) We all cherish our weekends and your willingness to devote some of that time in support of this community educational project is greatly appreciated.

The projects that will be representing Hawaii at the National History Day event in June represent the defining diversity of this state - in terms of topics, students, schools and regions they come from.  They will certainly be able to present stronger projects based on the helpful feedback you provided (some of you doing this at the state and district fairs.)  All students participating certainly learned something from their involvement, including the rich array of primary sources out there, the fascinating historical back stories of events and peoples and the differences between stating chronology - and making a thoughtful historical argument.  These are areas of intellectual growth requiring cumulative learning over time; History Day activities - esp. feedback from judges - are an important part of this process.

Some of you served at several fairs this year.  We do try to continually broaden our 'pool' of judges but the growing size of most of the district fairs means we have to ensure a large number of judges over several weekends so we especially appreciate those who stepped up repeatedly, we could not have done this year's cycle of fairs without you.

  If you want to see the final results from the State Fair - these will be posted up shortly.

With thanks,

The Hawai’i Council for the Humanities, and Malia Lau Kong, Cynthia Smith and Paul Field (History Day Judge Coordinators)

Hawaii History Day 2012: Windward District

Hawai'i History Day, an affiliate of National History Day (NHD), is a year-long history education program that invigorates the teaching and learning of history in grades 4-12. It promotes a theme-based, research-centered model for history and civics education. Students present their projects in a display, performance, documentary, essay or web site project. History Day culminates in the presentation and evaluation of these projects at school, district, state and national history days.

Public, Private, Charter, Hawaiian Immersion and Home School students in grades 4-12 are eligible to participate in the Hawai'i State DOE District in which their school is located.  Please note:  For Hawaii entrants, group projects are limited to 1-3 students.

This is a program of the Hawai'i Council for the Humanities. Below are pictures from today's event at Windward Community College, Oahu.

Deadline NOW: 'Nation, Race, and Genocide' Online Development Seminar

Today is the deadline for registering for an online professional development seminar. This one is sponsored by the National Humanities Center (NHC) and the National Council for History Education (NCHE). We urge Hawaii history educators looking for professional development opportunities to register for this seminar and others offered by NHC:

The study of 20th-century history provides us with an enigmatic contrast. Most casual American observers view the last century as a time of great technological and social progress. And doubtless, technological advances in medicine and transportation, social movements such as decolonization, civil rights and the women's movement, and communications revolutions resulting in globalization improved human life in a number of ways. Yet, in stark contrast, the 20th century also stands out also as a century of genocide. Most scholars agree that 20th-century genocides cost far more lives than did even such epic conflicts as WWI and WWII.

This seminar will examine exactly how genocides came to be such a defining element of the 20th century. In so doing, the discussion will focus on how two of the 20th century's most influential ideas, the notions of nation and race, played a role in fostering one of the greatest forms of human evil. Specific topics to be addressed will include the legal and scholarly definitions of genocide, the history of genocide prior to the 1900s, an examination of selected case studies of genocide from across the 20th century and around the world, and an analysis of international efforts to eradicate the practice of genocide.

The leader/facilitator of this seminar is Professor Jonathan Reynolds of Northern Kentucky University. 

To register go to this link today.   Go here for the promotion code you will need. 

Kahuku High School Rehearses for We the People National Competition

Pictured above are a group of Kahuku High School students rehearsing their essay presentations in the Hawaii State Supreme Court this past week. I was privileged as head of History Education Hawaii, Inc., to listen and provide feedback in company with a panel of judges from Hawaii's legal community.

We the People is the most extensive education program in the country developed to teach young people about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The students have studied the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights for months to prepare for their roles as experts testifying on selected constitutional issues before a panel of judges.

According to a recent study by Professor Richard Brody of Stanford University, high school students who participate in We the People display more political tolerance and feel more politically effective than most adult Americans and most other students and are more interested in politics.

Administered by the Center for Civic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education by an act of Congress, the program is currently being implemented in every congressional district, the four trust territories and the District of Columbia.

Sandra Cashman, who runs the We the People program in Hawaii, deserves our thanks and gratitude for keeping this valuable program alive.

On behalf of my fellow history educators and historians throughout Hawaii I wish the students representing Hawaii good luck and much success at the We the People nationals in Washington, D.C.

Historically yours,

Jeffrey Bingham Mead

C-SPAN's American History TV

History Education Hawaii is delighted to share with our readers and visitors news from C-SPAN's American History TV. Go to this link.  Go to this link for a description of this wonderful media outlet.

This week American History TV is featuring material as part of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.

Fellowships: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

Since 1995, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has hosted over 220 scholars through a program of residential fellowships and travel grants at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies.

Fellowships and grants are open to all scholars working on Jefferson projects and are awarded on a competitive basis. Foreign nationals are particularly encouraged to apply. Residential accommodation may be available on a limited basis.

History Education Hawaii strongly encourages Hawaii-based history educators and scholars to apply. Many include grants for travel expenses.

To learn more go to this link today.

History Education Job Search: AcademicKeys.com

In our ongoing efforts to assist unemployed and under-employed history teachers, History Education Hawaii recommends checking out a job and career web site called AcademicKeys.

"AcademicKeys.com is the premier source for academic employment. Our 17 discipline-focused sites offer comprehensive information about faculty, educational resources, research interests, and professional activities pertinent to institutions of higher education. More than 89% of the top 120 universities (as ranked by US News and World Report) are posting their available higher ed jobs with AcademicKeys.com." For more information about AcademicKeys.com please click this link to the 'About Us' section.

We recommend clicking this link to the humanities section of the site for faculty positions in history education and related fields. Good luck!