The U.S. invaded Hawaii and even the president called it what it was. You weren't taught this.
This hour-long documentary is a provocative look at a historical event of which few Americans are aware. In mid-January, 1893, armed troops from the U.S.S Boston landed at Honolulu in support of a treasonous coup d’état against the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen Lili‘uokalani. The event was described by U.S. President Grover Cleveland as an "act of war."
Direction
Native Hawaiian filmmakers centering Hawaiian voices, not American guilt.
Writing
Primary sources read aloud—letters, testimony, the queen's own words.
Director
Puhipau
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The filmmakers are part of Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina, a collective that has spent decades producing Hawaiian-centered documentaries when mainstream media wouldn't.
The 1993 Apology Resolution—signed by Clinton the same year as this film—acknowledged the illegal overthrow but offered no reparations or restored sovereignty.
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