In honor of Women’s History Month and the 100^th anniversary of the passage of the 19^th Amendment that guaranteed women’s right to vote, Kahuku Public and School Library will host a historical talk by Dr. Ralph Kim about Hawaiian suffragist Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett. She was the founder of the first Hawai‘i suffrage organization, National Women’s Equal Suffrage Association of Hawai‘i (WESAH).

Dr. Kam looks at how a hapa haole woman of German descent, an American citizen because of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and annexation, fought for the equality of women through a multi-ethnic coalition.

Dowsett’s participation in the networks of society women, the Outdoor Circle, and her other affiliations prepared her for the political battles to secure voting rights for Hawai‘i women.

Ralph Kam is Interim-Director of the Historic Preservation Graduate Certificate Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He wrote Death Rites and Hawaiian Royalty: Funerary Practices in the Kamehameha and Kalākaua Dynasties, 1819-1953 and has published several articles in the Hawaiian Journal of History. He holds a Master of Public Relations degree from the University of Southern California and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Refreshments generously provided by the Friends of the Library Kahuku.

All programs are subject to change. If you require an auxiliary aid or accommodation due to a disability, please contact the library at least 7 days before the program date. We will make every attempt to fulfill all requests for accommodations.