Community members are invited to view “E Mau Ke Ea: The Sovereign Hawaiian Nation,” a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit now on display through December in Kauaʻi Community College library.
A special talk story with Halena Kapuni-Reynolds — associate curator for Native Hawaiian history and culture at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, producer of the exhibit — is also planned for 5 to 6 p.m. Sept. 8 in the college library.
The community is invited to attend.
“E Mau Ke Ea: The Sovereign Hawaiian Nation” introduces visitors to the complex and nuanced history of the Hawaiian Nation.
It recounts consolidation of the islands in 1810 by King Kamehameha I and establishment of a society based on law, literacy and diplomacy.
It takes visitors through the undermining of Hawaiʻi’s independence and annexation in the late 19th century by the United States.
The exhibit also highlights the rise of the Hawaiian rights movement in the late 1960s.
And it features the resurgence of Hawaiian nationalism today.
Visitors will leave with an accurate and detailed understanding of Hawaiʻi’s political history during the past two centuries and influential roles Native Hawaiians played.
