For Kānaka ʻOiwi, our Aliʻi are so important. They symbolize us as a people, and the generations who forged the path on which we walk.
As Native Hawaiians, our kingdom was stolen, our lands reallocated under colonialist laws, blood quantum requirements were enacted by the American Congress to try and assure that we do not survive as a people for many more generations. Because of land mismanagement and invasive species introduction, many scientists have called us the endangered species capital of the world.
To add insult to injury, people can’t even let us keep the images of our beloved Queen who strove to do so much for her people. Emalani sold her personal jewels and hit up her friends to do the same to build the Queen’s Hospital so that Hawaiians could have proper health care.
And people can’t even let us have her image without appropriating it and giving it to someone else! Honestly, it is hurtful on a personal AND A CULTURAL level.
Below is one of the images often misrepresented as Mary Ellen Pleasant (August 19, 1814 – January 11, 1904), a Black entrepreneur who lived many years in San Francisco. It does a disservice to BOTH women to steal Emalani’s image and use it for Mrs. Pleasant. Mrs. Pleasant does not need to be represented by a Hawaiian. And Queen Emma is OUR beloved Emalani, not a San Francisco businesswoman. Please respect BOTH women and stop using Emalani’s image to represent Mrs. Pleasant, and please speak up when you see others do so.
One of the images claimed to be Mary Ellen Pleasant. It is heavily documented as being an image of Dowager Queen Emma of Hawaiʻi.
The below standing portrait was made based on a photograph taken after August of 1862. We know this because the original photo has the christening cup of her son, Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Leiopapa a Kamehameha. The cup was a gift from Queen Victoria. Tragically, the little prince died on August 27, shortly before the cup arrived. I expect it was a mourning photo and that there is symbolism to the flowers.
The photo may even be after the death of her husband, Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku, whom she lost a little over a year later, November 30, 1863.
For more images of Queen Emma which have been misidentified as Mary Ellen Pleasant, visit this web page.
Here I am sorting my digital collection of ʻEmalani images, trying to arrange them chronologically, to find provenance of them all, and to start including a little history.
With Dr. & Mrs. Rooke. Original photo at the Bishop Museum. https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/item/ark:70111/1z99Emma and Alexander Liholiho were married on June 19, 1856
Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku (Kamehameha IV) and Queen Emma Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea Rooke 1862 image by Henry L Chase , Front Street, Honolulu
1865
Photograph by Camille Silvy, LondonStudio at 38 Porcester TerraceLondonCarte-de-visite depicting a full-length portrait of Emma Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea Rooke, then Queen Dowager of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She is standing and faces three-quarters left. Her hands are together in front of her, left hand over right. She is wearing a Western style dress, with a light coloured headdress and a veil. On the left of the photograph stands a table with books on it. A curtain is hanging behind the table. Provenance: From an album of ‘Royal Portraits’ compiled by Queen Victoria Royal Collection Trust
1866
Emma Gardener collection (?) dated 1865, however Queen Emma did not arrive in New York until 1866After her European tour, Queen Emma arrived in New York in August of 1866. This image is on paper produced by Edward and Henry T. Anthony & Co
After her European tour, Queen Emma arrived in New York in August of 1866. This image was published by Edward and Henry T. Anthony & CoIdentified as a Henry L. Chase image.Carte de Visite by Bradley and Rutholfson, San Francisco, October 1866. This is the image most commonly mis-identified as Mary Ellen Pleasant, due to it being used by Helen Holdredge in her book on Mrs. Pleasant.Carte de visite of Queen Emma which has been altered and identified as Mary Ellen Pleasant.What I think is especially charming about how she signed this carte de visite: “On sea,” which is how we would say it in Hawaiian. She then corrected it to “at sea,” the English phrasing.USS Vanderbilt
186?
Although this image is sometimes identified as the wedding of ʻEmalani and Liholiho, Kamehameha IV, it is not. The image is a montage of several members of the Hawaiian royalty based on their photos. While many of their lifetimes did overlap, this is not an accurate representation of a specific moment in time. The image of ʻEmalani is based on a photo of her wearing widow’s weeds, therefore the image of her is post-1863, the year her husband died. In it, she is wearing the same gown as in the carte de visite below. The images must, therefore, be at least a year prior to 1870.
1871
1871 by Henry L. Chase https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/item/ark:70111/1z8N
1880
ʻEmalani was a renowned horsewoman. In this image she is wearing an English-style riding habit accented in the inimitable Hawaiian style. 1880 https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/item/ark:70111/1Dw0This stately image was made by Andreas Avelino Montano, a Colombian from California. He came to Hawaii and was active from 1876 to 1883 as a photographer and portrait painters for Queen Emma and other fashionable aliis. He had a skill for portraying Hawaiian women. His studio at 87 Fort Street in Honolulu became known as Hale Paʻikiʻi (photographer house). He tutored the painter Charles Furneaux. He married Mary Jane Fayerweather, a quarter Hawaiian and three quarter Caucasian woman, sister of Julia Fayerweather Afong, and widow of Benoni R. Davidson. Although she was five years his senior they had four children: Emma, Rose, Maggie and Harry. He later retired photography and became a rancher.1883
This is a lei for the Holy Sovereigns Two foremost of the world May your sacred heavenly kapu be eternal Your lei is the anguish of the people
The jewels of Heavenly Emma were transformed A hospital was built Life was restored for the flowers of the land By the acumen of the king
Your fame is much discussed Even from the mouths of children And the teachers of this land A love unmatched on these shores
It is right you are transformed The people of distant lands heard About the many good deeds Of your humble souls
And what of us, the people of the land What work for this day Learn steadfastly, harvest the healing herbs Heal the wounds of the land
In honor of the Holy Sovereigns
Though their lives were filled with personal sorrow, the Hawaiian King and Queen strove always to do their best for their people.
This mele is based on He Lei Keia no ʻ Ema, one of the lei songs written for Emma Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻ ea Rooke. I wanted to retain much of the feel of the songwriting of her era, and for those who know the mele, bring it back so that they can see that imagery, as well as my own. Lines were selected from throughout the original mele to act as the haku of this lei, with new verses braided in.
The first verse takes its first line from the original, but is dedicated to both Emma and Alexander ʻ Iolani Liholiho. The verse references the attention that Hawaiʻ i was receiving on the world stage, and the difficulty of retaining sovereignty. The difficulties of the people were taken to heart by the royal couple.
The second verse references the diligence with which ʻ Ema and ʻ Iolani worked to create hospitals and health care for the people of Hawaiʻ i. When the missionary-influenced legislature refused to work to create health care, the Queen sold her personal jewelry, and called on her friends to do the same. The King worked with local business people to fundraise. Through their personal networks, they raised the funds to create what is now the Queen’s Health Care System.
The third verse honors the royal couple as strong proponents of education. At his funeral, some 800 students and teachers processed to the funeral to offer ʻ Iolani their aloha.
The second to the last verse is almost the same as the second to the last in He Lei Kēia no ʻ Ema. Here, I use it to reference the honoring of them in the liturgical calendar of the Anglican and Episcopal communions as the Holy Sovereigns. They are heard of in distant lands, wherever the Anglican and Episcopal calendars are observed.
As the last verse of the original mele called for people to rally to support and vote for ʻ Emalani, to continue her work, the last verse of this mele calls us to rally and carry on their work of education and healing.
Even after the death of their son, little Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha and then the November 30, 1863 death of her husband, ʻ Emalani remained dedicated to her people, taking a personal and active interest in healthcare and education.
Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Leiopapa a Kamehameha in his fireman outfit. by H.L. Chase Hawaiʻ i State Archives image
In 1865, on the advice of her physician, ʻ Emalani voyaged from Hawaiʻ i to improve her health and in support of the Anglican church in Hawaiʻ i, which she and her husband had been instrumental in formally establishing in the islands.
She traveled first to England, visited London, and then spent the winter at Hyères in the French Rivera. From there she went to Northern Italy and Southern Germany, and then to Paris. She returned to London in June 1866, and then went sightseeing in Ireland before sailing for New York and then traveling on to San Francisco.
Queen Emma: A Narrative of the Object of Her Mission to England, a pamphlet describing her travel and mission in England, was published in London in December 1865 by Day and Son. American missionary Samuel C. Damon re-published it in his newspaper The Friend in June 1866, pointing out some errors in the work.
ʻ Emalani became an especial friend of Queen Victoria. The two women had much in common. Both were of island kingdoms. Both had lost sons. Both were widowed. They already had exchanged letters for some time and at last them met on September 9, 1865. In November, ʻ Emalani spent a night at Windsor Castle.
Queen Victoria recorded in her journal on the afternoon of September 9, 1865:
After luncheon I received Queen Emma, the widowed Queen of the Sandwich Islands or Hawaii. Met her in the Corridor & nothing could be nicer or more dignified than her manner. She is dark, but not more so than an Indian, with fine features & splendid soft eyes. She was dressed in just the same widow’s weeds as I wear. I took her into the White Drawing room, where I asked to sit down next to me on the sofa. She was moved when I spoke to her of her great misfortune in losing her only child. She was very discreet & would only remain a few minutes. She presented her lady, Mrs. Hoopile whose husband is her Chaplain, both being Hawaiians….
Kanahele 1999
An image of Queen Emma taken during her stay in England. “Dowager Queen Emma”; Taken in England; Ethel Damon Coll.; PC #110-M glass negative 5×7 Queen Emma in San Francisco, 1866, age 30. Portrait taken when she was mourning the deaths of her son and her husband. Judging by her dress, at this time she was in Second Mourning. Despite claims otherwise, this is NOT an image of Mary Ellen Pleasant. Bradley & Rulofson imageThe Queen’s Hospital, 1905 Hawaiʻ i State Archives, Old Hospital; c. 1905; PP-40-9-013
