Queen Liliuokalani never wished to be a U.S. citizen. In the 1890s, the same time that women in the American West first began to win the right to vote, she was a head of state who fiercely defended the sovereignty of her own nation and people. She was born Lydia Liliuokalani in 1838. Her adoptive parents were close advisers to King Kamehameha III, and her mother was a direct descendant of King Kamehameha I, the great unifier of the Hawaiian Islands. Liliuokalani went to the best schools beginning at age four, when she learned English fluently at the Royal School. Her happy childhood was spent in the lavish Hawaiian royal court with her aunt, Queen Emma, writing poetry, singing, and riding horses across the beautiful Hawaiian landscape. She was engaged to Prince Lunalilo, but married a sea captain's son, John Dominis, instead. Liliukalani's marriage was a disappointment, and she never had children.

In the early 1870s, the Hawaiian Islands faced political and social upheaval due to the rapid development of American-owned sugar cane and pineapple plantations. Wealthy Americans wanted Hawaiian land and began recruiting workers from Asia to work their plantations. The Hawaiian people and their royal leaders feared they would lose their islands to foreigners and that their ancient culture and society would be destroyed. King David Kalakaua (Liliukalani's brother) tried to negotiate a compromise with the Americans. Instead they used guns to force a new constitution, which stripped the King of his power and allowed only white male Americans to vote. Kalakaua died in 1891, leaving the throne to his sister, Liliukalani.

Queen Liliukalani was over fifty years old when she became leader of Hawaii during this turbulent time. She was a nationalist who believed that the Hawaiian people should rule their own country without outside interference. She also felt that most Americans were democratic people who would believe it was wrong for American sugar plantation owners to steal her people's islands. The queen tried to write a new constitution but failed.

Queen Liliuokalani's struggle came to a head when armed U.S. troops invaded Hawaiian soil and ousted her from her throne. A provisional government run by Americans was installed. The queen and her niece Princess Kaiulani appealed to President Grover Cleveland for help. He was sympathetic, ordered an investigation. and announced that he would not support annexation of Hawaii to the United States unless the Hawaiian people themselves approved.

Sanford Dole, the largest pineapple plantation owner, became president of the Republic of Hawaii in 1894. The Hawaiian people tried to revolt, but the queen and other leaders were arrested after ten days of fighting. Liliukalani was charged with treason and held prisoner for many months in a small room in Iolani Palace. When Liliukalani was finally released in 1896, she appealed to the president for help once again, but he claimed he could do nothing.

Liliukalani lived out the rest of her days in Hawaii, never accepting the annexation of Hawaii as a U.S. territory. Her autobiography, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, was a poignant memoir of her struggle to save Hawaii's land and culture. She wrote many beautiful poems and songs. Her famous "Aloha Oe" is sung around the world today. It is a love song and a hopeful promise that the Hawaiian people may some day "meet again" in their homeland. She died in Honolulu in 1917 at the age of seventy-nine. In 1993, one hundred years after Queen Liliuokalani's overthrow, President Bill Clinton issued an official apology from the American people to the Hawaiian people.