Portal:Hawaii/Selected biography
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Selected biography
Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye (September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was a Medal of Honor recipient and a United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate from 2010 until his death in 2012, making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in U.S. history. Inouye was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations.
A senator since 1963, Inouye was the most senior U.S. senator at the time of his death. He was also the second-longest serving U.S. Senator in history after Robert Byrd. Inouye continuously represented Hawaii in the U.S. Congress since it achieved statehood in 1959 until the time of his death, serving as Hawaii's first U.S. Representative and later a senator. Inouye was the first Japanese American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the first in the U.S. Senate. Before then, he served in the Hawaii territorial house from 1954 to 1958 and the territorial senate from 1958 to 1959. He never lost an election in 58 years as an elected official. At the time of his death, Inouye was the second-oldest sitting U.S. senator, after Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. For the full article, click here.Duke Kahanamoku
Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968), "The Big Kahuna", is generally regarded as the inventor of the modern sport of surfing. He was also an Olympic champion in swimming.
The name "Duke" is not a title, but a given name. He was named after his father, Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened "Duke" by Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time of the elder man's birth in 1869. The younger "Duke," as eldest son, inherited the name.For the full article, click here.Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu
Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu (March 17, 1768 – June 5, 1832) was queen regent of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and a wife of Kamehameha I. She was the king's favorite wife and also the most politically powerful, and continued to wield considerable power in the kingdom as the kuhina nui or prime minister during the reigns of his successors.
Kaʻahumanu was born in a cave on the Hawaiian Island of Maui in 1768. Her parents were Keʻeaumoku, a fugitive aliʻi or noble from the Big Island, and Namahana, the wife of the late king of Maui, Kamehameha Nui. Her father became an advisor and friend to Kamehameha of Hawaiʻi, and arranged for Kaʻahumanu to marry him when she was thirteen. Kamehameha had numerous wives but Kaʻahumanu would become his favorite. It was she who encouraged her husband's war of unification of Hawaiʻi. For the full article, click here.Haunani Kay Trask
Haunani-Kay Trask Ph.D. (born October 3, 1949) is a California-born Native Hawaiian academic, activist, militant, documentarist and writer. Trask is a professor of Hawaiian Studies with the University of Hawaiʻi System and has represented Native Hawaiians in the United Nations and various other global conferences. She is a noted author of several books of poetry and prose, Light in the Crevice Never Seen, Night Is a Sharkskin Drum and From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii which is a collection of essays on the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Trask produced Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation, an award-winning film. She also has a public-access television program called First Friday. For the full article, click here.Princess Kaʻiulani
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Bernice Pauahi Bishop
Beatrice or Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-12-19 – 1884-10-16) was a Hawaiian lady, a direct descendant of the royal House of Kamehameha, aliʻi, and philanthropist. She was the great-granddaughter, and became the last surviving descendant of King Kamehameha I. Her estate is the largest private landowner in the state of Hawaiʻi. The revenues from these lands are used to operate the Kamehameha Schools, which were established in 1887 according to her last will and testament.
Born in Honolulu to Aliʻi Paki and princess Aliʻi Konia, Pauahi was raised by kuhina nui (prime minister) Kīnaʻu and was later educated by Protestant missionaries. For the full article, click here.Governor Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle (born Linda Cutter on June 4, 1953) has been Governor of Hawaiʻi since being sworn in on December 2, 2002. She was sworn in for a second term on December 4, 2006.
Lingle holds a few distinctions: first Republican elected governor in Hawaiʻi in forty years since the departure of William F. Quinn in 1962, first county mayor elected governor in Hawaiʻi, first female elected governor in Hawaiʻi, first Jewish governor in Hawaiʻi; the first twice-divorced governor of Hawaiʻi; and the first not to have any children. During the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, Lingle served as chairwoman of the convention during the absence of permanent chairman Dennis Hastert from the convention floor. For the full article, click here.Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
Israel "Bruddah Iz" Kamakawiwoʻole (May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997) (pronounced IPA [kamakaʋiwoˈʔole]) was a musician who lived in Hawaiʻi until his death at the age of 38.
He became famous outside Hawaiʻi when his album Facing Future was released in 1993 with his medley of "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World", which was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and television commercials.
Kamakawiwoʻole was nicknamed "The Gentle Giant" by his admirers. He was described as always cheerful and positive, and he was best known for his love of the land and of the people of Hawaiʻi. Through his consummate ʻukulele playing and incorporation of other idioms (such as jazz and reggae), Iz remains one of the major influences in Hawaiian music over the last 15 years. For the full article, click here.Kealiʻi Reichel
Carleton Lewis Kealiʻinaniaimokuokalani Reichel (born 1962) popularly known as Kealiʻi Reichel, is a popular and bestselling singer, songwriter, choreographer, dancer, chanter, scholar, teacher, and personality from the State of Hawaiʻi. He has spent his life educating the world about Hawaiian culture through music and dance.
Kealiʻi (pronounced Kay-ah-LEE-ee) Reichel was born and raised on the island of Maui. Reichel grew up in the town of Lāhainā where he attended Lāhaināluna High School, however he spent weekends and summers with his maternal grandmother in the plantation town of Pāʻia. At the age of 24, Reichel was convicted of theft, and was sentenced to community service, which involved a study of Hawaiian culture. This marked a turning point in his life, as he decided to devote the rest of his life to the study and promotion of Hawaiian culture.Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (born August 8, 1961) was the 44th President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned after his election to the presidency in November 2008.
A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 in December 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. In foreign policy, Obama gradually withdrew combat troops from Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, and signed an arms control treaty with Russia. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
For the full article, click here.Senator Brian Schatz
Brian Emanuel Schatz (born October 20, 1972) is an American politician who is the senior United States Senator for Hawaii, in office since 2012.
Schatz served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1998 to 2006, where he represented the 25th Legislative District, and was chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii from 2008 to 2010. He also worked as chief executive officer of Helping Hands Hawaii, an Oahu nonprofit social service agency, until he quit to run for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii in the 2010 Hawaii gubernatorial election as the running mate of Neil Abercrombie. He served as lieutenant governor until December 26, 2012, when Abercrombie appointed him to serve out Daniel Inouye's U.S. Senate term until the 2014 special election. For the full article, click here.