William Pūnohuʻāweoweoʻulaokalani White (; August 6, 1851 – November 2, 1925) was a Hawaiian lawyer, sheriff, politician, and newspaper editor. He became a political statesman and orator during the final years of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the beginnings of the Territory of Hawaii. Despite being a leading Native Hawaiian politician in this era, his legacy has been largely forgotten or portrayed in a negative light, mainly because of a reliance on English-language sources to write Hawaiian history. He was known by the nickname of "Pila Aila" or "Bila Aila" (translated as Oily Bill) for his oratory skills.; ;
Born in Lahaina, Maui, of mixed Native Hawaiian and English descent, White was descended from Kaiakea, a legendary orator for King Kamehameha I. Representing Lahaina in the legislative assemblies of 1890 and 1892, he became a political leader for the Liberal faction in the government and established himself as a leader in the opposition to the unpopular Bayonet Constitution of 1887. Throughout the terms of both legislatures, White led attempts to pass bills calling for a constitutional convention. He was criticized by the missionary Reform Party for his support of the controversial lottery and opium bills. He and Joseph Nāwahī co-authored the proposed 1893 Constitution with Queen Liliʻuokalani. They were decorated Knight Commanders of the Royal Order of Kalākaua for their service and contribution to the monarchy. When an attempt by the queen to promulgate this constitution failed on January14, 1893, White's opponents falsely alleged he had tried to incite the people to storm ʻIolani Palace and harm the queen and her ministers. White denied these charges and threatened to sue the newspapers. Three days after the attempted promulgation, the queen was deposed in a coup during the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January17, 1893.
During the Provisional Government of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii that followed it, he remained loyal to the monarchy. Returning to Lahaina, he helped organize native resistance on Maui and in 1893, was arrested for running out pro-annexationist pastor Adam Pali at Waineʻe Church.”Lahaina Row, Peace Will be Kept and Ringleaders Arrested” Hawaiian Gazette, July 4, 1893 He was elected in 1896 as honorary president of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina (Hawaiian Patriotic League), a patriotic organization established after the overthrow to oppose annexation. In 1897 he became an editor of the short-lived anti-annexationist newspaper Ke Ahailono oHawaii (translated as The Hawaiian Herald) run by members of the Hui Kālaiʻāina (Hawaiian Political Association). Following the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, he was elected as a senator of the first Hawaiian Territorial legislature of 1901 for the Home Rule Party. Afterward, his political fortune declined with the party and his many attempts to win re-elections from 1902 to 1914 ended in defeats, although he was elected the first sheriff of Maui County for a brief period before his election was declared void due to inconsistencies in the 1903 County Act.
Early life and family White was born on August 6, 1851,1910 United States census at Lahaina, on the island of Maui, to John Kahue White Jr. and his wife Kahalelana.1866 Census for the Kingdom of Hawaii His paternal grandparents were John White Sr. and Keawe. He was of Native Hawaiian and English descent, thus known as a hapa-haole in Hawaiian and as a "half-caste" in the English press. His paternal grandfather John White Sr. was regarded as one of the oldest foreign-born residents in Hawaii at the time of his death. Known as "Jack" White, he was an Englishman originally from Plymouth, Devon. During the French Revolutionary Wars, he served on the frigate HMS Amelia. Sometime in 1796 or 1797, he arrived in Lahaina and later settled as a permanent resident in 1802. During the final years of the conquest and unification of the Kingdom of Hawaii, he served as a foreign advisor in the court retinue of King Kamehameha I. He received lands on Maui in the Great Mahele in 1848. After residing in the Hawaiian Islands for more than sixty years, he died on August9, 1857.; ; He was living with his son-in-law, Maui sugar planter Linton L. Torbert (William's uncle), around the time of his death.
From his paternal grandmother Keawe, he was descended from Kaiʻākea, his great-grandfather and an aliʻi (high chief) of Molokaʻi, who served as a political counselor, orator and many other different positions during the reign of the first Hawaiian king KamehamehaI. In 1902, the Ka Nupepa Kuokoa printed a brief biography, noting: "... Kaiʻākea was a wise counsellor in ancient times in his occupation taught by his grandfathers from Kapouhiwaokalani to the sons, Mahinuiakalani and Kauauanuiamahi and Kuikai, on down to Kukalanihoouluae, the own father of Kaiʻākea. From these comes Kaiʻākea's political knowledge, that as an architect, an orator, a composer of the historical and genealogical chants, an important genealogical source for these islands and the one who by himself and with his chiefly children arranged the genealogy of the major chiefs of Hawaii, Maui, and Molokai from the high chiefly ranks to the low chiefly ranks."
During the 1860s, White was educated at the Luaʻehu School, the Anglican mission boarding school run by Archdeacon George Mason in Lahaina. Founded by Anglican Rev. William R. Scott in 1863, this institution was a precursor of the present-day ʻIolani School in Honolulu. White was educated with Curtis P. Iaukea, Samuel Nowlein, Robert Hoapili Baker, and other future Hawaiian leaders.
White married the Chinese-Hawaiian Esther or Ester Apuna Akina (1855–1943), sister of fellow statesman Joseph Apukai Akina and sister in-law to Samuel K. Aki, a member of Hui Aloha ʻĀina. They had five known children including Ellen Kananihemolele White (1875–1942), wife of politician David Kalei Kahāʻulelio, and Samuel Tensung Leialoha White (1886–1962), who became an assistant city engineer for Honolulu.1890 Census for the Kingdom of Hawaii They adopted Esther's cousin, Chung Moy, who later became known as Nellie Rose White.
Political career during the monarchy During the early 1880s, White worked as a police officer in Kohala, on the island of Hawaii. According to later opinions, he "made the reputation of being a good officer".; ; ; ; It was in this capacity that he first came into the political arena. In the general election of 1884 he was nominated as one of the many National (Governmental) Party members and ran for a seat in the Hawaiian legislative session of 1884, as a representative from Kohala. He received no votes in this election. Godfrey Brown (an Independent) defeated National Party member George Panila Kāmauʻoha, a colleague of White's in the Kohala police force at the time and also later a member of the 1892 legislature.;
In April 1884, Kāmauʻoha was removed from his position for malfeasance and White was appointed his successor as deputy sheriff of North Kohala. Prior to this, the police department of Kohala had gained a reputation for corruption. After his appointment, the new deputy sheriff became popular in the community for his competency, "strict attention to his duties, as well as his thorough integrity". During his tenure, news reports claimed "he is acknowledged by all law-loving residents to be by far the best one we have had for many year, He is not to be bought, and is no respecter of persons or position, especially when the interest of the public are concerned. However, he did not hold this position for long and was succeeded by J. W. Moanauli. By 1885, White had moved to Hilo where he had begun practicing law.; ; ; ; ;
He became an agent to take acknowledgements to instruments on September12, 1884. On January 1, 1886, he was listed as one of the speakers at a political rally at Halawa. He later became a member of the Hui Kālaiʻāina (Hawaiian Political Association), a political group founded in 1888 to oppose the Bayonet Constitution and promote Native Hawaiian leadership in the government. After the adoption of the constitution, White gave a speech in Hilo speaking out against it. He criticized the exclusion of the Chinese and Japanese from the vote, especially focusing on the latter group because of Hawaii's treaty with the Empire of Japan.; By 1890, he had returned to his native island of Maui.
As a political leader, White received strong support in the Native Hawaiian community. During his terms in the legislature, he became known by the nickname of "Pila Aila" or "Bila Aila" (Oily Bill) for his ability to speak to and humorously charm large crowds. He embraced this moniker although his opponents used it negatively to denigrate him as a slick, smooth-talking demagogue who negatively influenced his constituents.; In the Hawaiian tradition, his skills as an orator were attributed to the kuleana (responsibility) of his family as descendants of Kaiakea.
Legislature of 1890 From 1890 to 1893 White served two terms as a member of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Hawaiian legislature, for the district of Lahaina on the island of Maui. In his first term, he initially ran as a member of the Reform Party against the National Reform Party candidate J. Nazareta. In 1887, the Reform Party (consisting of many descendants of American missionaries and Hawaiian conservatives) had become the established governmental party following King Kalākaua's coerced signing of the Bayonet Constitution. White was opposed to the constitution, and may have switched allegiance at a later point to the National Reform Party, which was established in opposition to the Reform Party in this session.
In a mass meeting at Palace Square on September 9, 1890, he allied with many other leading National Reform politicians in calling for a constitutional convention to draft a replacement for the constitution. Speeches were made by legislators Joseph Nāwahī of Hilo, John E. Bush, Robert William Wilcox and John K. Kaunamano of Oahu, and Luther W. P Kanealii of Maui, among other speakers. Reportedly, Representative Wilcox told the crowd that "any National Reform Party member of the legislature who voted against the convention bill 'ought to be torn limb from limb. At the end of the meeting, White gave the final speech, which "made all who understood Hawaiian, laugh".; ; ; ; However, when the constitution convention bill went up for the vote of the legislature on October 1, it was defeated by a vote of 24 to 16.
White and Bush proposed a bill to the legislature to amend the 1887 constitution to give women the right to vote during this session. The bill did not pass. Had it been made into law, Hawaii would have preceded New Zealand as the first nation to allow women to vote. In 1892, Nāwahī would attempt to pass another bill supporting women's suffrage but it also failed.
The 1890 biannual session commenced on November 14. A few months later, in January 1891, King Kalakaua died while in San Francisco and was succeeded by his sister Queen Liliʻuokalani. White and his wife Ester marched alongside other legislators and their spouses in the funeral procession of the deceased king.; ;
Legislature of 1892–93