Alice Kamokilaikawai Campbell

Alice Kamokilaikawai Campbell, also known as Kamokila Campbell or simply Kamokila, (March 17, 1884 – October 23, 1971) was a territorial Senator of Hawaiʻi from 1942 to 1946. She was a leading opponent of Hawaiian statehood, arguing that Hawaiians should not "forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress." After her political career, she was dedicated to sharing moʻolelo, the traditional stories of the native Hawaiians.

Early life and family

Alice Kamokilaikawai Campbell was born in Honolulu on March 17, 1884. She was born into an elite family: her father James Campbell was a wealthy industrialist, and her mother Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell was a descendant of Hawaiian nobility. When Alice was a child, her family were friends with Queen Liliʻuokalani and she would play at the ʻIolani Palace. After her father's death, she inherited part of the Campbell Estate, one of the largest in the Hawaiian islands. After twenty-five years of marriage, they divorced in 1929. She ran a French supper club in San Francisco in the 1930s, but returned to Hawai'i in 1939.

Political career

Campbell's mother had been one of the leaders opposing annexation of Hawai'i in the 1890s, establishing the organization Hui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina o Na Wahine to promote Hawaiian independence, and her sister Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa was a leader for native Hawaiians in her role as a member by marriage of the former Hawaiian royal family and a Republican national committeewoman. After her sister's death, Campbell took over her leadership role in speaking for the rights of native Hawaiians. I do not feel [...] we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress, that we, the lovers of Hawaiʻi from long association with it should sacrifice our birthright for the greed of alien desires to remain on our shores, that we should satisfy the thirst for power and control of some inflated industrialists and politicians who hide under the guise of friends of Hawaiʻi, yet still keeping an eagle eye on the financial and political pressure button of subjugation over the people in general of these islands. Campbell spoke for over two hours, advocating for Hawaiian self-governance and protesting the economic control the Big Five corporations had over the islands. The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled unanimously in her favor saying that public funds could not be used for lobbying and publicity for statehood. Campbell chose the beachfront property to become her home in 1939, living there with her family in a thatched Hawaiian hale and tropical surroundings. She named the property Lanikūhonua, Hawaiian for "where heaven meets the earth." In 2021 the James Campbell Company announced that the 11-acre Paradise Cove property would be redeveloped to include a luau, restaurants, and retail stores.