Political Periphery of American Empire: Hawai‘ian Statehood and the Push for Political Agency, 1941-1959

Abstract

This thesis examines the road to statehood for Hawai‘i in 1959 and the Native Hawai‘ian support for the movement following the colonial annexation of Hawai‘i in 1898. This research reveals that the overwhelming Native Hawai‘ian support for statehood was motivated by a collective desire to secure political agency, as well as growing internal concerns over the rapid expansion of the military and tourism industries and the explicit limitation of voting rights. This thesis scrutinizes the extensive historiography of Hawai‘ian statehood while contextualizing these events with primary sources such as newspaper articles, federal legislation, Congressional hearings, travel brochures, and student advocacy letters. By utilizing postcolonial and systemic race theory, I argue that Native Hawai’ian support for statehood should be viewed as a political moment in time exclusive to the 1940s and 1950s, despite later attempts to expand the movement in future decades.