Wilhelmine Dowsett: Hawaii Suffrage Pioneer
Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 5:30–6:30 PM
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Beguez, illustrator
Wilhelmine Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett, a hapa haole woman of Native Hawaiian and German descent, fought for the equality of women during the Territorial Period through a multi-ethnic coalition. As founder of the National Women’s Equal Suffrage Association of Hawaii, the first organization established to secure the vote for women, Dowsett used her leadership skills to press the 1919 Legislature to pass voting rights for Hawaii women. In this program Dr. Ralph Kam recounts the life and civic legacy of one of Hawaii’s greatest suffragists. This public program is brought to you in partnership with Historic Hawaii Foundation.
Presenter
Dr. Ralph Kam holds an MA and PhD in American Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, specializing in Asian Pacific American studies and media studies, and an MA in Public Relations from the University of Southern California. He wrote Death Rites and Hawaiian Royalty: Funerary Practices in the Kamehameha and Kalakaua Dynasties, 1819-1953 (2017) and co-authored Partners in Change: A Biographical Encyclopedia of American Protestant Missionaries in Hawaii and their Hawaiian and Tahitian Colleagues, 1820-1900 (2018). He also has written 9 articles for the Hawaiian Journal of History.
