The history of coffee on the Hawaiian islands goes all the way back to 1825 just after King Kamehameha II and his wife died of the measles in London, England. The British government agreed to transport their bodies back to Hawaii, then called the Sandwich Isles, on board the HMS Blonde under the command of Lord Byron. On board was also Chief Boki who was the then governor of Oahu and upon a layover in Brazil, purchased some Arabica coffee trees to plant back on Oahu. From there, the coffee trees made it to other islands including the Kona coast of the Big Island through the efforts of the Reverend Samuel Ruggles in 1928 after the world coffee market collapsed at the turn of the 1900s. Because of this collapse, most large coffee plantations in the Hawaiian islands disappeared and were divided into much smaller plantations from 5 to 15 acres. Photo and historical information from Jonesblog.com

Dr. Scott Robertson speaks about Aloha POSSE (Preserve Our Social Studies Education) at a press conference in front of the Hawaii State Department of Education on July 21. To see videos from the press conference, click here.

The Hawaii Convention Center's foyer is crowned with canvas canopies, intended to be "reminiscent of ocean white caps and the sails of voyaging canoes." The canvas canopies may also resemble the makeshift homes and shelters of the thousands of houseless people living on Hawaii's streets each day. Photo by Vernon Brown

The function of insulators, pictured above on a utility pole, is to support or separate electrical conductors without allowing current through themselves. Photo by Carolineee1991

Speakers gather on stage at the Annual Native Hawaiian Convention. Courtesy Photo