Outside the School Gates

In addition to her educational duties, she moved into roles that maximized the natural born leader she was. This chapter covers Pope’s conception and creation of a social settlement in the downtrodden Palama neighborhood of Honolulu. Pope collaborated with Chicago social worker Jane Addams and clearly saw how the settlement model could be replicated as a solution to the dire health conditions of Palama. A mission-centered community complex named Palama Chapel was created under the auspices of Central Union Church. Pope worked tirelessly to organize a library, Bible studies, medical care, childcare, kindergarten and social clubs for the community. The social center became a “laboratory” for her pupils to learn both teaching and nursing skills. In 1906, Palama Settlement became a chartered, independent, nonsectarian organization.

Off to Moloka‘i with the Queen, 1892

In 1865, the Hawai‘i legislature passed the Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy that made isolation enforceable by law. Hundreds of acres on Moloka‘i were secured for segregation. Queen Liliuokalani, in one of her first royal acts, despite numerous criticisms and concerns over risking her personal health, went to Moloka‘i to see her afflicted subjects. Pope was invited by the queen to accompany her so that quarantined school pupils could be consoled. A lengthy letter written by Pope includes first-hand impressions of the victims, Father Damian and Marianne Cope, offering an intimate view of this historical occasion.

Pilikia

The transition from traditional Hawaiian to Western culture was a harsh and abrupt one for pupils, and this chapter presents vivid examples of the dramatic clash of cultures. As stressful as the school environment could be for the students, it was at least equally so for the young teachers, who, like their pupils, had to adapt to an environment for which nothing in their home or college experience had prepared them. Trespassing, burglaries, student rebellion, illness, pagan gods, tragedies, violence, and betrayal were constant sources of anxiety for the teachers.

Miss Pope in Charge

This chapter shows how Pope switched the outdated missionary curriculum to a progressive model to ensure meaningful employment for the girls’ future. She also instates teacher training for advanced pupils. Pope deals with several unqualified and unfit teachers. The queen, while ruling her kingdom, moves into an administrative type of role in the school to support both an elevated education and mitigate behavioral issues amongst the pupils. The queen’s frequent attendance at the school is astonishing. Feeling that the school never had a better leader, Charles Bishop, with the queen’s endorsement, offers Pope the esteemed position of founding principal for the soon-to-be-built new school for native Hawaiian girls, Kamehameha School for Girls.

Ida to the Kingdom, 1890–1892

This chapter describes the grueling journey to Honolulu from Chicago and Pope’s first impressions of Honolulu, including the missionary community and the royal family. It covers Pope’s first-hand account of King Kalakaua’s death rituals and funeral. It leads into the ascension of Queen Liliuokalani to the throne.

The Extraordinary Nineteenth Century

This chapter places Pope in her 19th-century era and presents the major themes including immigration, westward expansion, the rise of industrial America, the growth of political democracy, women’s rights, temperance, public education, slavery, the Civil War, and more. The three periods of time—early, middle and late 19th century—show women’s advancement in the educational arena and their “call to teach.” The histories of Mount Holyoke and Oberlin are succinctly offered.

The Turbulent Ending of the Nineteenth Century

In 1898, a series of explosive events led to the U.S. declaring war on Spain. A multitude of soldiers were in the port when the news came that President McKinley had signed the resolution annexing Hawai‘i. Frances Parker, visiting the school, witnessed Pope’s private rebellion, by asking girls to boldly sing their kingdom’s patriotic songs in their native tongue while their Hawaiian flag was removed. Annexation was a divisive issue at the school; it placed Pope on one side and the parents on the other. Pope, while deeply sympathetic to the plight of the country and the Hawaiian culture she had come to love, was well aware that this year of annexation, she would need to teach her girls more than history or literature; she would have to teach them to be Americans in Hawai‘i. Like the girls, Pope had torn allegiances and conflicting emotions, but it would be up to her to motivate the girls, despite their collective sadness over the demise of their sovereign nation.

Endings

This chapter shows the decline of Kawaiaha‘o Seminary, a representation of the old alliance between the monarchy and missionaries to promote the education of Hawai‘i’s daughters. The school could not survive without the queen’s personal and financial support in the days of the Provisional Government under Sanford Dole. The Hawaiians show their outrage at its impending closure in primary-source documents. Pope is slandered in the newspapers along with the queen, causing a temporary rift in their personal and professional relationship. Pope takes to the newspapers to support the queen.

Last Aloha to Mother Pope, 1914

When Ida May Pope died unexpectedly from a stroke while visiting Chicago in the summer of 1914, it was front-page news in virtually every publication in Hawai‘i. Headlines proclaiming the death of “Mother Pope” caused a wail from island to island. The grief expressed spanned class and culture. Memorials were given on every island and covered extensively in newspapers. Her alumnae created The Ida M. Pope Memorial Scholarship Fund and to date, thousands upon thousands of Hawaiian women have acquired a college education through this fund. When women finally did get voting rights on August 26, 1920, Kamehameha graduates across the islands made the news when they competed with each other to earn the distinction as “ first in line” to register. Alice Stone Blackwell reported to the American press that Hawaiian women, who had been disenfranchised by the United States, were taking back the positions they held in “the days of the monarchy.” Ida created a cohort of firebrands.

Kawaiaha‘o Seminary

This chapter offers the storied history of Kawaiahaʻo Seminary and its unique partnership between the missionary community and the Hawaiian monarchical government.