page_title: Emilie Widemann Macfarlane
section_title: Opposition to annexation
hierarchical_section_title: Emilie Widemann Macfarlane / Civic engagement / Opposition to annexation
caption_attribution_description: English: Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine or the Hawaiian Patriotic League for Women, which petitioned against annexation. Among these women are Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell, Emma Nāwahi, Rebecca Kahalewai Cummins, Mary Ann Kaulalani Parker Stillman, Jessie Kapaihi Kaae, Hattie K. Hiram, Laura Kekupuwolui Mahelona.[1] Caption title. "Na lākou i lawe ka palapala kūʻē hoʻohuiʻāina a nā wahine ia J.H. Blount" Notes by Noenoe K. Silva. "This photo is from the Library of Congress and was printed inside Ka buke moolelo o Hon. Joseph K. Nawahi (Biography of Hon. Joseph K. Nāwahī), by J. G. M. Sheldon (Kahikina Kelekona), in 1908"--Notes. Included in the photograph are Abigail Kuaihelani Maipinepine Campbell and Emma ʻAʻima Nāwahī; other women pictured are unidentified.
context_page_description: Emilie Kekāuluohi Widemann Macfarlane was a Native Hawaiian activist and civic organizer during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
  She was known for her charitable work and civic involvement in Honolulu, including women's suffrage, public health, education, and the preservation of Hawaii's historical legacy.
  Macfarlane was born of German and Native Hawaiian descent, and her family were connected to the aliʻi class of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She married Hawaiian-born British businessman Frederick W. Macfarlane and had three children.
  In 1893, shortly after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Macfarlane was elected the first president of Hui Aloha ʻĀina for Women, an organization formed in opposition to the deposition of Queen Liliʻuokalani and efforts to annex the islands to the United States. Macfarlane resigned after a few weeks in office after a subsequent rift with members of the organization. In 1895, she co-founded the Hawaiian Relief Society to assist the victims of a cholera epidemic in Honolulu.
context_section_description: In the wake of native opposition to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 17, 1893, Macfarlane and other Hawaiian women with royalist sympathies formed Ka Hui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine (the Hawaiian Women's Patriotic League, also known as Hui Aloha ʻĀina for Women). The group was founded on March 27, 1893, shortly after its male counterpart (Hui Aloha ʻĀina for Men) was formed to support deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani and oppose the overthrow and related plans to annex the islands to the United States.
  Macfarlane was elected the first president of the organization; her sister, Martha Widemann Berger, and Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell were vice-presidents. When US President Grover Cleveland sent James H. Blount to investigate the overthrow, both Hui Aloha ʻĀina groups drafted resolutions to restore the monarchy. The drafting of the resolution for the Hui Aloha ʻĀina for Women was particularly contentious. The version drafted by Macfarlane and the group's leaders was rejected; Macfarlane resigned the presidency on April 17, 1893, and was replaced by Campbell. The sisters' great-granddaughter, Alice Flanders Guild, said that they remained lifelong friends despite the rift. According to contemporary newspaper reports, the rift in the group stemmed from suspicions by its older Hawaiian members that the younger, better-educated members wanted to replace Liliʻuokalani with Queen Kapiʻolani or Princess Kaʻiulani.
  Below is the resolution by Macfarlane and the earlier leadership. The use of the word "Queen" and the absence of Liliʻuokalani's name were the reasons for suspicion by the older women:
  Greeting: We, the members of the Hawaiian Women's Patriotic League, formed for the sole purpose of perpetrating the independence of Hawaii, a kingdom for whom our ancestors fought and bled in war, do hereby implore Your Excellency to recommend to your Government the restoration of our beloved Queen on the throne of Hawaii, and that the present stage should be brought to an end. The people of Hawaii have received you with a warm welcome, and it would be a deed of humanity on your part to grant the earnest and humble supplications of the patriotic women subjects of the sovereign of Hawaii nei.
caption: The Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine leadership after Macfarlane's April 1893 resignation
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