The U.S. Mint released its new commemorative quarter design Monday that will honor Edith Kanaka‘ole, a renowned kumu hula and the first Native Hawaiian to be featured as a part of the American Women Quarters Program.
The Keaukaha native, who died in 1979, was one of the five women selected as honorees, whose quarters are scheduled to be released in 2023.
“She helped preserve and spread Hawaiian language, traditions, and history, contributing so much to the Native Hawaiian community, Hawaii and our nation,” U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, wrote in a news release. “It is fitting that she be honored with this special recognition.”
On the back of Kanaka‘ole’s coin is her portrait, with the left side of her hair and lei po‘o blending into elements of a Hawaiian landscape. Engraved beneath her portrait is the phrase, “E ho mai ka‘ike,” which means, “granting the wisdom,” according to the U.S. Mint’s website.
The phrase includes the title of one of Kanaka‘ole’s most renowned chants, “E ho mai,” said Maile Loo, the executive director of the Hula Preservation Society. Kanaka‘ole made the chant simple and straightforward so that it could be easily learned, she said.
“If there’s someone who knows a chant, it’s probably that one,” Loo said. “That chant is really beloved by so many and it really is something that allows people to feel included.”
Luana Kawelu, the president of the Merrie Monarch Festival, took Kanaka‘ole’s Hawaiian language class in her third year of college. She remembers Kanaka‘ole as someone who loved her hometown of Keaukaha, and committed herself to teaching anyone who sought her instruction.
“She was a kind, soft and gentle person who we all could trust and look up to,” Kawelu said. “She took very good care of people in her community through educating them about culture and places in the community.”
Kanaka‘ole is still widely recognized as a key leader of the Hawaiian renaissance movement in the 1970s. She established the internationally acclaimed Halau o Kekuhi and developed courses on ethnobotany, Polynesian history, genealogy and Hawaiian chant and mythology as an instructor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and Hawaii Community College.
In 1990 her family established the nonprofit Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation to perpetuate the teachings of Kanaka‘ole and her late husband. It continues to support Native Hawaiians by offering things such as scholarships, cultural workshops and activities, restoration projects, and contract consultations requiring Hawaiian cultural or spiritual expertise.
Although Kanaka‘ole was widely known for her impact on hula and the Hawaiian language and culture, she maintained a humble and loving mentality, Kawelu said.
“She was a cultural expert that we could all look up to,” she said. “If anybody had to get that honor, I’m glad it was her.”
The American Women Quarters Program is issuing up to five new coins each year from 2022 to 2025.
The other four honorees for the 2023 American Women Quarters Program are Bessie Coleman, the first African American and Native American female pilot; Jovita Idar, a Mexican American journalist, activist and teacher; Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. first lady and the first chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights; and Maria Tallchief, who is Native American and the nation’s first prima ballerina.
Learn more about the American Women Quarters Program by visiting usmint.gov.
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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
