Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 1996 — Education package chronic!es queen's trial [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Education package chronic!es queen's trial

The Judiciary History Center has announced the completion of Trial of A Queen: 1895

Military Tribunal, a curriculum package , designed for middle M

and secondary school students, focusing on the Republic of Jj Hawai'i's legal Jj nroceedin 2S Jl

against Queen j Lili'uokalani. Lili'uokalani was accused of ! treason for the unsuccessful attempt by her

supporters, in 1895, to over- 1 throw the Republic # of Hawai'i and reinstate her as queen. Th

cnarges were later changed to misprision of treason, for

concealing knowledge of an act of treason.

The curriculum package, eonsisting of a lesson booklet with handouts, historical docu-

ments and background informaL tion of historical

figures, helps students discover the events that took plaee. The cur-

riculum concludes with a vie wing of the v i d e o , Trial of a

Q u e e n , filmed during JĒ the public per- ' formances of the trial, and student's

critiques ot the entire legal proceedings.

Through this exercise students leam and understand part

of Hawai'i's history and the workings of a judicial process. The queen's trial, in particular, raises issues of misuse of

power, and resulted in the queen renouncing her elaim to the throne.

"It's important because it shows that Hawaiians didn't automatically weleome U.S. citizenship. They still had a yeaming for sovereignty," says Lani Ma'a Lapilio, the execu-

tive director of the Judiciary History Center. The public program on the Trial of a Queen, including statewide performances and

culminating ii the production of a eumieulum guide, was made possible through grants from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the H a w a i ' i Committee for the Humanities, a public program of the Nationa Endowment foi the Humanities. The Trial eumeulum is scheduled for distribution to H a w a i ' i ' s public and p r i v a t e schools in

early September. For more information contact Matt Mattice (539-4994) at the Judiciary History Center.

"It's important because it shows that Hawaiians didn't automatically weleome U.S. citizenship. They still had a yearning for sovereignty." - Lani Ma'a Lapilio

Queen Lili'uokalani

1 (Ctr.) Capt. William A. Kinney, the proser cutor against the queen. Courtesy of E. Van Dyke.