Lydia Kaonohiponiponiokalani Aholo taught traditional language to Native Hawaiian students. Photo Credit: Kamehameha Schools Archives

I always enjoy sharing stories about educators who have worked with indigenous groups of students. One of these educators was Lydia Kaonohiponiponiokalani Aholo, a Native Hawaiian teacher who taught aspects of the traditional culture to other indigenous Hawaiian students.

Lydia was born on February 6, 1878, in the little town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. She was the third child born to mother Keahi Aholo, who died when Lydia was only six years old, and father Luther Aholo, the Secretary to John Owen Dominis, who was serving as the Governor of Maui at the time. Dominis was the husband of Queen Liliuokalani, the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands. The royal adopted Lydia, even over the strong objections of her husband and other members of her family.

As a young girl, Lydia attended first Kawaiahao Female Seminary, and then Kamehameha School, a private school for Native Hawaiian girls. In fact, she was a member of the first graduating class for girls in 1897. She then studied Music and Secretarial Sciences at Oberlin College, a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music located in Oberlin, Ohio.

Once she returned to the Islands, Lydia accepted a teaching position at her alma mater, Kamehameha School for Girls. She worked under Principal Ida May Pope. There Lydia taught the Hawaiian language. As a teacher, former students and family members described her as very strict about matters of etiquette and the proper way to conduct oneself in public. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Lydia performed secretarial services as a stenographer and accountant, and she also worked for the Hawaiian Homes Commission and for the Federal Credit Union as a Secretary-Treasurer. She retired from the teaching profession at the age of 75.

All of her life, Lydia’s talent for. music was well-known, particularly in the area of traditional Hawaiian songs. She served as a mentor to her grand-nephew, Alfred Apaka, Jr, and instructed him in the proper enunciation, phrasing, and interpretation of traditional Hawaiian songs. In addition she became the Director of the Liahona Glee Club, which had been organized in the 1920s.

Lydia Aholo never married or had children of her own. She passed away on July 7, 1979. She was 101 years old. She is interred at Nuuanu Memorial Park. To learn more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this link to Kaiwakiloumoku Indigenous Institute.

Educator Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt worked tirelessly to advance social causes, especially the knowledge of Hawaiian students about their own culture. Photo Credit: Kamehaha Schools

Many hardworking educators dedicate themselves to social causes of importance in addition to their classroom responsibilities. One of these is this beautiful lady, Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt, a Native Hawaiian teacher, who worked tirelessly towards increasing the knowledge of Native Hawaiian students about their own culture.

Gladys is old enough to have attended the funeral services in 1917 of Queen Liliuokalani, the last reining monarch of Hawaii, and still young enough to witness the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 which brought the United States into World War II.

When Gladys began her career as a teacher, she worked in public schools in Hawaii. Eventually she became an instructor at the prestigious Kamehameha Schools, a private institution set up to educate Native Hawaiian students.

As a youngster, Gladys was led to feel deeply ashamed of her Hawaiian heritage, so much so that she rubbed her face with lemon juice to lighten her complexion. By the time she became the Principal of Kamehameha Schools, however, she had resolved to fight tirelessly for the inclusion of courses to preserve Native Hawaiian culture. She supported instruction in Hawaiian language, song, and the controversial standing hula dance which had been forbidden by the school’s trustees. The story of her work is truly an inspirational one.

Equally inspirational is the story of the dedication and sacrifice of Hawaii’s teachers in the days and weeks following the bombing of Pear Harbor. From serving as ambulance drivers, setting up shelters for survivors, teaching their students how to use gas masks, taking their students into the sugar cane fields to harvest the crops, and re-establishing some semblance of order for their students when school resumed, their deeds are truly remarkable.

You can read about Gladys and her fellow Hawaiian teachers in my book, Chalkboard Champions:  Twelve Remarkable Teachers Who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students.