Gladys Kamakakuokalani Brandt
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Gladys Kamakakuokalani Brandt (also known as Gladys A. Brandt[1] 'Ainoa Brandt, or Auntie Gladys) (August 20, 1906-January 15, 2003)[1] can be credited with a slate of accomplishments, including reviving Hawaiian traditions, the shake-up of the Kamehameha Schools trustee system and the creation of the University of Hawai'i's Hawaiian Studies Center.
[edit] Overview
In her life time, Brandt experienced the negative social changes of the early century, and the resulting Renaissance she helped spark.
Born in 1906,[2] she was among the thousands in attendance [3] at Queen Lili'uokalani's funeral in 1917, an event that signalled the nation, and soon state's downturn. It has been often said that her struggles embodied the whole century for the nation. She denied her culture as a child, ignored her language, and rubbed her skin with lemon juice to try to whiten it. However, she took self-determined leaps towards embracing her Hawai'ian roots in the 1960s and 1970s, and so far as to rebuild them.
Her father, David Kanuha, was involved in the counterrevolutionary movement of royalist Robert Wilcox in the mid-1890s working to restore the monarchy of Lili'uokalani. Arrested and convicted of treason for his beliefs, Kanuha was elected to the new territorial legislature.
He eventually changed the family name to 'Ainoa, meaning "to eat in freedom," a reference to the rallying cry when the kapu against men and women eating together was lifted.
Gladys Kamakakuokalani went to Kamehameha School for Girls, transferring to and graduating from McKinley High School. She then studied at the University of Hawai'i, turning to a teaching career and a marriage with Isaac Brandt in 1927. Her career began teaching in public schools on Maui, O'ahu and Kaua'i, launching a career which would mark many firsts. By 1943, she became Hawai'i's first woman public school principal. She was the first woman to be named superintendent of schools, in 1962.
She then moved on to become the principal of the Kamehameha School for Girls, in 1963. Although the institute was created distinctly for Hawaiians, Gladys was its first Native Hawaiian principal. She was promoted from that position to director of the high school division in 1969, serving until 1971. She looked after the uniting of genders, with the merging of both the boys and girls campuses. She was much need guide to bring stability at a tumultuous time for both social and educational matters.
