Bernice Pauahi Bishop
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| Bernice Pauahi Bishop | |
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| Birth name | Bernice Pauahi Bishop |
| Born | December 19, 1831 |
| Spouse | Charles Reed Bishop |
| Died | October 16, 1884 |
| Lady Bernice Pauahi Bishop was the last surviving member of the Kamehameha dynasty. Her refusal to accept the crown allowed for the Kalākaua dynasty to come to power. | |
Beatrice or Bernice Pauahi Bishop (December 19, 1831 – October 16, 1884) 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.
Her father, lord Aliʻʻi Abner Kuhoʻoheiheipahu Paki (c 1808-55), was a noble from the island of Molokai, and son of lady Aliʻi Kawao and lord Alii Kalani-hele-maiiluna Paki who himself descended from Aliʻi Aimoku of the island of Maui.
Bernice's mother was Princess Aliʻi Laura Konia (c 1808-57), declared Royal Highness by decree of her grandfather Kamehameha I. She was the younger daughter of Aliʻi Pauli Kaoleioku (1767-1818), by his official wife, Aliʻi Keoua-Wahine, daughter of Kauhiwawaeono of Maui. Pauli Kaoleioku was an illegitimate but legitimated natural (eldest) son of king Kamahameha the Great.
Bernice Pauahi was adopted at birth by Princess Kinaʻu Kaʻahumanu II, Kuhina-Nui.
Contrary to a chiefly posthumous but popular belief, the great lady Bernice Pauahi never used in her lifetime, nor was officially entitled to, the title Princess. This frequent error is repeated in a wide variety of modern publications.
Pauahi went to a school called the Chiefs Children School until about high school. Afterwards, it was renamed the Royal School. Her teachers were Mr. and Mrs. Cooke. Pauahi really enjoyed horseback riding and swimming, and she also liked music, flowers, and outdoors.
Pauahi married businessman Charles Reed Bishop in 1850 despite the objections of her parents. It had been planned from childhood that Pauahi, born into Hawaiian royalty, would marry her hanai brother Lot Kamehameha. Very few people attended her wedding at her request. One of the few witnesses was that of Princess Elizabeth Kekaʻanaʻiu, her cousin. The couple had no children of their own; they adopted a son from her cousin Ruth Keʻelikōlani but the infant died at the age of six months.
King Kamehameha V offered her the throne before he died, but Pauahi declined.
On the October 16, 1884, at the age of 52, Princess Pauahi died of cancer in Keōua Hale, Honolulu. She is interred in the Kamehameha Crypt, Royal Mausoleum, Mauna ʻAla, Nuʻuanu Valley, Oʻahu. After her death, her husband helped establish the Kamehameha Schools in 1887, and created the Bishop Museum in Honolulu in 1889 as a memorial to her.
Her goal was to use a portion of her estate to establish a school to educate boys and girls. When she wrote her will, only 44,000 Hawaiians remained. Princess Pauahi's will was consummated upon her death in 1884 and her wishes were carried out.
Lately there has been some controversy over the interpretation and legality of her will, with some insisting that her intention was to only admit children of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry, others interpreting her will more liberally, as well as those who contend her instructions are manifestly unconstitutional. On December 5, 2006, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned an earlier ruling in the John Doe vs. Kamehameha Schools lawsuit which ruled the Kamehameha Schools policy amounted to unlawful discrimination. The 8-7 decision allows Kamehameha Schools to continue its native Hawaiians only admissions. Eric Grant, the attorney for John Doe, said he would appeal to the Supreme Court. [1]
The 1883 will[2] directed that the remainder of her estate be held in trust "to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools...one for boys and one girls, to be known as and called the Kamehameha Schools." She directed her five trustees to invest her estate at their discretion and use the annual income to operate the schools, and also:
...to devote a portion of each years income to the support and education of orphans, and others in indigent circumstances, giving the preference to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood...
She also directed:
- that replacement trustees be appointed by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, and that they be Protestants
- that all teachers be Protestant, without regard to denomination
These clauses were deemed unconstitutional in 1993 by the 9th Circuit Court.[3]
After Mrs. Bishop's death in 1884, her husband Charles Reed Bishop started work in carrying out her will. The original Kamehameha School for Boys was established in 1887 on the site of the current Bishop Museum. The girls' school was established in 1894 on a nearby campus. By 1955 the schools moved to their current 600 acre (2.4 km²) headquarters in Kapālama Heights.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/12/05/hawaiian.school.ap/index.html
- ^ http://www.ksbe.edu/pauahi/will.php
- ^ E.E.O.C. v. Kamehameha School/Bishop Estate, 990 F.2d 458, 460-464 (9th Cir. 1993).
