Literacy | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Mission_Houses,_Honolulu,_ca._1837._Drawn_by_Wheeler_and_engraved_by-Kalama

January 16, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Literacy was Sought by the People

“One young man asked (a missionary) for a book yesterday, and (he) inquired of him who his teacher was. He replied, ‘My desire to learn, my ear, to hear, my eye, to see, my hands, to handle, for, from the sole of my foot to the crown of my head I love the palapala.’” (KSBE)

“Not long after the passing of Kamehameha I in 1819, the first Christian missionaries arrived at (Kawaihae), Hawaiʻi on March 30, 1820. (They finally anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.) Their arrival here became the topic of much discussion as Liholiho, known as Kamehameha II, deliberated with his aliʻi council for 13 days on a plan allowing the missionaries to stay.

“Interestingly, the missionaries promised a printing press and to teach palapala, or reading and writing. Because Liholiho had learned the alphabet prior to the missionaries’ arrival, he had a notion of the value of a printing press and literacy for his people.”

“A key point in Liholiho’s plan required the missionaries to first teach the aliʻi to read and write. The missionaries agreed to the King’s terms and instruction began soon after.” (KSBE)

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawai¬ʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

“That the sudden introduction of the Hawaiian nation in its unconverted state, to general English or French literature, would have been safe and salutary, is extremely problematical.”

“To us it has been a matter of pleasing wonder that the rulers and the people were so early and generally led to seek instruction through books furnished them by our hands, not one of which was designed to encourage image worship, to countenance iniquity, or to be at variance with the strictest rules of morality. It was of the Lord’s mercy.”

“With the elements of reading and writing we were accustomed, from the beginning, to connect the elements of morals and religion, and have been happy to find them mutual aids”. (Hiram Bingham)

“The initiation of the rulers and others into the arts of reading and writing, under our own guidance, brought to their minds forcibly, and sometimes by surprise, moral lessons as to their duty and destiny which were of immeasurable importance.”

“The English New Testament was almost our first school book, and happy should we have been, could the Hawaiian Bible have been the next.” (Hiram Bingham)

“In connexion with this general mode of instruction, we could, and did teach English to a few, and have continued to do so. We early used both English and Hawaiian together.”

“For a time after our arrival, in our common intercourse, In our schools, and in our preaching, we were obliged to employ interpreters, though none except Hopu and Honolii were found to be very trustworthy, in communicating the uncompromising claims and the spirit-searching truths of revealed religion.” (Hiram Bingham)

As the missionaries learned Hawaiian, they taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians. In later years, the instruction, ultimately, was in English.

“By August 30, 1825, only three years after the first printing of the pīʻāpā, 16,000 copies of spelling books, 4,000 copies of a small scripture tract, and 4,000 copies of a catechism had been printed and distributed.”

“On October 8, 1829, it was reported that 120,000 spelling books were printed in Hawaiʻi. These figures suggest that perhaps 90 percent of the Hawaiian population were in possession of a pīʻāpā book!”

“This literacy initiative was continually supported by the aliʻi. Under Liholiho, ships carrying teachers were not charged harbor fees. During a missionary paper shortage, the government stepped in to cover the difference, buying enough paper to print roughly 13,500 books.”

“In fact, while Liholiho was on his ill–fated trip to England, Kaʻahumanu, the kuhina nui (regent), and Kalanimōku reiterated their support by proclaiming that upon the completion of schools, ‘all the people shall learn the palapala.’”

“During this period, there were approximately 182,000 Hawaiians living throughout 1,103 districts in the archipelago. Extraordinarily, by 1831, the kingdom government financed all infrastructure costs for the 1,103 school houses and furnished them with teachers. Our kūpuna sunk their teeth into reading and writing like a tiger sharks and would not let go.” (KSBE)

“This legendary rise in literacy climbed from a near-zero literacy rate in 1820, to between 91 to 95 percent by 1834. That’s only twelve years from the time the first book was printed!” (KSBE)

It was through the cooperation and collaboration between the Ali‘i, people and missionaries that this was able to be accomplished.

Manu Ka‘iama then noted:

“I think I hear what you are saying, and it is an important point to make and to remember is that their mission was very different, that first generation of missionaries. Their mission or their reason to be here, and the assistance that they provided the ali‘i goes without saying. I guess these letters probably pretty much show that.”

“You can see the relationship and you can see how they worked together and that they learned from each other. And, I would assume that is so and I think we are hard on the missionaries because of maybe the next generation of missionaries …”

“We do, many times, kind of just brush over that earlier history, and we shouldn’t make that mistake, because the fact that these letters show a relationship that you think is honorable….” (Manu Ka‘iama)

Jon Yasuda then added,

“I think literacy was … almost like the new technology of the time. And, that was something that was new. … When the missionaries came, there was already contact with the Western world for many years…. But this was the first time that literacy really began to take hold.”

“The missionaries, when they came, they may have been the first group who came with a [united] purpose. They came together as a group and their purpose was to spread the Gospel the teachings of the Bible.”

“But the missionaries who came, came with a united purpose … and literacy was a big part of that. Literacy was important to them because literacy was what was going to get the Hawaiians to understand the word of the Bible …

“… and the written word became very attractive to the people, and there was a great desire to learn the written word. … Hawai‘i became the most literate nation at one time.”

Shifting Paradigm Noted by Kaliko Martin

“The Ali‘i Letters project “changed my perspective on the anti-missionary, anti-Anglo-Saxon rhetorical tradition that scholarship has been produced, contemporary scholarship, and it is not to discredit that scholarship, but just to change a paradigm, to shift the paradigm, and it shifted mine.” (Kaliko Martin, Research Assistant, Awaiaulu)

Puakea Nogelmeier had a similar conclusion. In remarks at a Hawaiian Mission Houses function he noted,

“The missionary effort is more successful in Hawai‘i than probably anywhere in the world, in the impact that it has on the character and the form of a nation. And so, that history is incredible; but history gets so blurry …”

“The missionary success cover decades and decades becomes sort of this huge force where people feel like the missionaries got off the boat barking orders … where they just kind of came in and took over. They got off the boat and said ‘stop dancing,’ ‘put on clothes,’ don’t sleep around.’”

“And it’s so not the case ….”

“The missionaries arrived here, and they’re a really remarkable bunch of people. They are scholars, they have got a dignity that goes with religious enterprise that the Hawaiians recognized immediately. …”

“The Hawaiians had been playing with the rest of the world for forty-years by the time the missionaries came here. The missionaries are not the first to the buffet and most people had messed up the food already.”

“(T)hey end up staying and the impact is immediate. They are the first outside group that doesn’t want to take advantage of you, one way or the other, get ahold of their goods, their food, or your daughter. … But, they couldn’t get literacy. It was intangible, they wanted to learn to read and write”. (Puakea Nogelmeier)

Pi-a-pa-01

August 1, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Slate

“Not long after the passing of Kamehameha I in 1819, the first Christian missionaries arrived at (Kawaihae), Hawaiʻi on March 30, 1820. (They finally anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.)”

“Their arrival here became the topic of much discussion as Liholiho, known as Kamehameha II, deliberated with his aliʻi council for 13 days on a plan allowing the missionaries to stay.”

“A key point in Liholiho’s plan required the missionaries to first teach the aliʻi to read and write. The missionaries agreed to the King’s terms and instruction began soon after.” (KSBE)

“There was a frankness and earnestness on the part of some, in commencing and prosecuting study, which agreeably surprised us, and greatly encouraged our first efforts.”

“On the Sabbath, very soon after our arrival, Pulunu came to attend our public worship, and brought two shy, but bright looking little daughters, and after the service, she desired us to take them under our instruction.”

“We readily consented; and both mother and daughters became interesting members of the school. In a few weeks the mother conquered the main difficulty in acquiring an ability to read and write, and the others before many months.” (Bingham)

“On the 1st of August (1820), the slate was introduced, and by the 4th, Pulunu wrote on her slate, from a Sabbath School card, the following sentence in English; ‘I cannot see God, but God can see me.’”

“She was delighted with the exercise, and with her success in writing and comprehending it. The rest of the pupils listened with admiration as she read it, and gave the sense in Hawaiian. Here was a demonstration that a slate could speak in a foreign tongue, and convey a grand thought in their own.” (Bingham)

Demand for slates skyrocketed … “Our house has been thronged with natives applying for books & slates – Our yard has sometime presented the appearance of a market stocked with goats, pigs, poultry, melons & bananas brought to be exchanged for the means of instruction.” (Levi Chamberlain, July 18, 1826)

“Sabbath Augt 27 (1826). At the close of the native service in the morning notice was given that some of the mission would meet in the afternoon those persons who might desire to write down the text.”

“After dinner from 50 to 75 persons assembled with their slates and wrote the text which was given out sentence by sentence. A few remarks were made and the exercise concluded by prayer.” (Levi Chamberlain, August 27, 1826)

Writing material (slates) were a medium of exchange … “A very busy week this has been to me. On Wendnesday the ship began to discharge our supplies – and more or less have been landed every day since. Most of the packages and barrels have been delivered and a little more than half the lumber.”

“I have employed from 8 to 12 natives a day and have paid them at the rate of about 50 cts. per day in books or slates.” (Levi Chamberlain, May 1, 1830)

Saturday May 29th 1830. Since the last date I have been very much engaged. Our yard and the premises have been a scene of labor. Mr. Clark has been superintending the erection of houses in the enclosure in which my house stands.”

“The frames of three native houses are now put up, one of which is designed for a dwelling for himself, another for a study and the last for the accommodation of the natives belonging to his family.”

“The two former buildings are separated from the other houses in the yard by a ti fence. A cook house is soon to be built for the accommodation of his family and ours and it will stand about mid way between our two dwelling houses.”

“A front gate has been put up which will serve for us both, without the necessity of passing out by the printing house.”

“I have also come to the conclusion of building a new store house to be connected with a dwelling for myself to be built of stones & carried up two stories.”

“The stones I am now collecting. I purchase them for Gospels & Slates, to be cut & left on the beach -1 to draw them up. For a Gospel 6 stones 2 feet sq. – for the smallest size slates 10 stones & for the next large -12 stones. More than 1000 have been cut. I shall need at least 3000.” (Levi Chamberlain, May 29, 1830)

“Monday (June) 21st (1830). To day a company of men with whom I have made a bargain to dig the cellar of the new Store & dwelling house for myself commenced their work. I am to pay them 2 ps. unbld. factory cotton & 10 middling size slates.”

But, it was not always positive … “(Lyman) says, ‘We have no calls for books not enough to get the common work done of mahi ai. We cannot even hire common work for slates.’”

“It is evident for this that the business of learning is becoming to the natives an irksome business. Piopio the head woman is thought to be an opposer to that which is good.”

“The course which she has taken with a teacher whom the brethren have favored, & whom she had been seeking an occasion against and unfortunately for him had found, evinced a great deal of hatred.”

“This young man she has sent to Lahaina and Mr. Lyman adds. ‘We do not expect that she will attempt to remove us, but want of power alone will prevent.’ Her influence is of no doubtful character.” (Levi Chamberlain, September 19, 1833)

Writing Slate-1800

December 26, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Aliʻi, the Missionaries and Hawaiʻi

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands.

Collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the introduction of Christianity, the creation of the Hawaiian written language, widespread literacy, the promulgation of the concept of constitutional government, making Western medicine available and the evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing).

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by his father’s wives, Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

The kapu system was the common structure, the rule of order, and religious and political code. This social and political structure gave leaders absolute rule and authority. In addition to the abolition of the old ways, Kaʻahumanu created the office of Kuhina Nui (similar to premier, prime minister or regent) and would rule as an equal with Liholiho – this started the shift from absolute rule to shared rule.

Introduction of Christianity

Creation of the Hawaiian Written Language

After Western contact and attempts to write about Hawaiʻi, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard. People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

In addition to preaching the gospel, one of the first things Bingham and his fellow missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language. The 12-letter we use today was established by the missionaries on July 14, 1826.

Widespread Literacy

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the missionaries printing of 140,000-copies of the pī¬ʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers. (Laimana)

By 1853, nearly three-fourths of the native Hawaiian population over the age of sixteen years were literate in their own language. The short time span within which native Hawaiians achieved literacy is remarkable in light of the overall low literacy rates of the United States at that time. (Lucas)

Constitutional Government

King Kamehameha III asked missionary William Richards (who had previously been asked to serve as Queen Keōpūolani’s religious teacher) to become an advisor to the King as instructor in law, political economy and the administration of affairs generally.

Of his own free will, King Kamehameha III granted the Constitution of 1840, as a benefit to his country and people, that established his Government upon a declared plan. (Rex v. Booth – Hanifin)

That constitution introduced the innovation of representatives chosen by the people (rather than as previously solely selected by the Aliʻi.) This gave the common people a share in the government’s actual political power for the first time.

Western Medicine

Judd, a doctor by training, had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician. While in that role, Judd set up part of the basement in the Mission House as a Western medicine pharmacy and doctor’s office, beginning in 1832.

Later (when Richards was sent on a diplomatic mission to the US and Europe to recognize the rights of a sovereign Hawaiʻi,) King Kamehameha III asked missionary Gerrit P Judd to resign from the mission and serve as his advisor and translator.

Distinctive Musical Tradition

Another lasting legacy left by the missionaries in the Islands related to music. Some songs were translations of Western songs into Hawaiian; some were original verse and melody.

Oli and mele were already a part of the Hawaiian tradition. “As the Hawaiian songs were unwritten, and adapted to chanting rather than metrical music, a line was measured by the breath; their hopuna, answering to our line, was as many words as could be easily cantilated at one breath.” (Bingham)

Missionaries used songs as a part of the celebration, as well as learning process. “At this period, the same style of sermons, prayers, songs, interrogations, and exhortations, which proves effectual in promoting revivals of religion, conversion, or growth in grace among a plain people in the United States, was undoubtedly adapted to be useful at the Sandwich Islands. … some of the people who sat in darkness were beginning to turn their eyes to the light”. (Bingham)

“In view of the fact that the best modern Hawaiian music, now known the world over, owes much to the musical form of these early hymns, one wishes that history had been less restrained. Yet, even in default of any direct, consecutive record, one may piece out quite a little of the story of Hawaiian hymns from references in early letters and accounts of their printing.”

“And when one has the good fortune to touch with one’s own hands many of the early songbooks printed in Hawaiian, the search toward a complete account of them becomes a fascinating pursuit.” (Wilcox; Damon The Friend, March 1935)

“When our Protestant missionaries came to hymnody in Hawaiian – as they very soon did – they reared a natural superstructure upon this rich and rhythmical foundation of the Bible. It was a veritable treasure house.”

“But strangely, too, another very deep-seated source of balance and rhythm and figured speech flowed in the cultural consciousness of the Hawaiian people to whom these new Christian messages were being brought. Instinct in the Hawaiian mode of thought was the impulse and the act of prayer, of supplication, of praise.” (Wilcox; Damon The Friend, March 1935)

MISSION-HOUSES-drawing-by-James-P.-Chamberlain-LOC-ca-1860

November 22, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kamakau’s Account of Early Literacy

“Education made rapid progress. Immediately after his arrival Mr. Bingham gathered some of the young people into a school. Kaomi Moe, Kapi’o Moe, Ka-uhi-kua, Wahine-ali’i, H ulu-moi, Oliver ‘Abpa, and Maiao were some of the pupils.”

“At the end of a year he held an exhibition at which great progress was shown. Mr. and Mrs. Thurston and many of the other missionaries taught pupils; another foreigner taught the chiefs at Kailua.”

“Liholiho sent his wives and the young chiefs to school. In April or May, 1821, the king and the chiefs gathered in Honolulu and settled teachers to assist Mr. Bingham.”

“Kahuhu, John ‘I’i, Ha’alilio, Prince Kau·i·ke·aouli, were among those who learned English.”

“In April, 1823, there arrived assistants to the first missionaries, and a start was at once made upon adapting Hawaiian speech sounds to the English alphabet …”

“As soon as the chiefs saw what a good thing it was to know how to read and write, each chief took teachers into his home to teach the chiefs of his household.”

“Ka‘ahumanu took Naomi Moe to her home, and when all her household had her learned to read and write, she sent some of them to other islands to teach, and all the other chiefs sent teachers to their lands in other districts to teach the people to read and write.”

“Before the end of the year the old people over eighty and ninety years old were reading the Bible. Ke-kupu-ohi, Ka-‘ele-o-Waipi‘o, Kamakau, and their families all learned to read and write; the household of Hoa-pili used to read the Bible on the Sabbath day.”

“his was why education spread so rapidly. When the missionaries began to settle in the outer districts they found that the people already knew how to read.”

“Reading aloud in unison was the method used.”

“The missionaries were all eager in their work, and the pupils absorbed their spirit. The quickest pupils were advanced, and this made the pupils ambitious to be at the head.”

“The teachers made great strides in their methods of teaching, not only in reading but also in writing. All followed the same method and drilled good behavior into the pupils.”

“They were taught to bow to men and boys when they met and to bend the knee slightly as they bowed to women and young ladies.”

“These things were impressed upon the minds of all.”

“The old Hawaiian ways of salutation were touching noses, bowing the head, greeting with the mouth, weeping, rolling on the ground, or kneeling as a sign of submission.”

“These were the forms taught by early Hawaiian parents. There were other forms required in the households of chiefs, but the country people expressed their affection in these ways.”

“Even when in modern times the old ways have been discountenanced the country people still keep up the ways of their ancestors.”

“The translation of the Bible was a great help in educating the people.”

“It was ten years or more before even portions of the Bible were translated, but after that small portions put into Hawaiian, for instance Matthew, chapters 5 to 7, the first part of Luke, and the first part of the Psalms. The books of Matthew, Mark, and John, as well as other portions translated by the missionaries, Mr. Loomis had printed in America.”

“Thus portions of the Bible were given to the Hawaiians. The chiefesses became more proficient in writing than others because they wrote all the Scripture verses translated by the teachers and used as texts for sermons and in other connections.” (Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs, p 248-249)

Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau was born on October 29, 1815 at Manua‘ula, Kamananui in Waialua. O‘ahu. At age 17 Kamakau sought Western learning and went to study at the missionary high school at Lāhainaluna. Shorty thereafter he became a teacher’s helper.

At age 26, he began to write articles about Hawaiian culture and history, interviewing kūpuna who were knowledgeable and willing to share their wisdom with him.

As is still common today, kūpuna of Kamakau’s time did not reveal their knowledge to just anyone, especially the Mo‘olelo of the Ali‘i Nui. The kūpuna obviously trusted Kamakau to entrust him with their secrets, probably because he was of some ali‘i lineage. (LK Kame‘eleihiwa; Ruling Chiefs, P v-vi.)