“We’re all part of one family… When we find time to contribute, returns come back to us tenfold.” ~Edith Kanaka’ole
Edith Kanaka'ole, also known as "Auntie Edith," is a cultural icon for Hawaii and the first Native Hawaiian on a U.S. coin. She fully embraced the Hawaiian values of love, kindness, and unity, and worked hard to curate a community that cared about preserving Hawaiian culture. She spent her whole life immersing herself and others in her native culture and was known to touch the hearts of everyone she met.
Kanaka'ole was born on the "Big Island," Hawai'i. She grew up in a house full of creativity and culture, with her father being a musician and her mother being a hula instructor. Hula is a Native Hawaiian dance that tells a story and shares the island's history, often accompanied by an oli, which is a traditional chant. When she was halfway through eighth grade, she dropped out of school to focus on things that were important to her or she found interesting. She often joked about how her formal education ended at "seventh grade and a half." This choice set her on the path to becoming a cultural advocate.
After dropping out, Kanaka'ole spent her time studying the art of hula. She took classes from her mother and other hula masters and learned how to choreograph her own dances. She also studied traditional music and learned how to compose her own songs and chants to accompany her dances. Through her training, she felt such a deep connection with her culture that she was inspired to become an outspoken advocate for Indigenous Hawaiian culture, especially as she saw it facing a lot of discrimination.
Kanaka'ole became a brilliant composer of oli and songs and a talented hula choreographer. She considered these arts a powerful way to share Hawaiian history, culture, and identity with others. She quickly became recognized for her talent and toured much of the world performing for others. Back on the island, she saw her culture being wiped away and decided to stand up and fight for it. She opened a school for hula to help others connect with their Native Hawaiian identity and keep the art form alive. She became a professor at the Hawai'i Community College and taught a wide variety of classes on traditional topics. She was also an advocate for revitalizing native language and helped get it reintroduced into schools. In 1979, she was awarded the Distinction of Cultural Leadership award, the highest honor given by the state of Hawaii.
On April 19, 2022, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) discussed the 2023 Edith Kanaka'ole quarter design. Kanaka'ole's granddaughter, Huihui Kanahele-Mossman, was in attendance and shared her thoughts on the design. She told the committee that her family liked the portrait; they found it to be a quality likeness. She loved how the hair and traditional lei po'o flowed, showing movement and morphing into the mountain and river. She shared that the mountain pictured is Mauna Kea, seen from the northeast side of the island, where Kanaka'ole was born. The river pictured is Wailuku, which originates from Mauna Kea and is the longest river in the state.
It was important to include the island language because it is a part of the culture Kanaka'ole fought so hard to preserve. Kanahele-Mossman also found the specific Hawaiian words used incredibly meaningful. She mentioned that they were from an oli chant that her grandmother composed and is still very prevalent throughout the islands. "E ho mai ka 'ike" translates to "granting the wisdom." The complete oli says, "Grant us wisdom from above. That which is embedded into the lyrics of songs. Endow us. Enrich us. Enlighten us."