50th Anniversary of Hawaii Statehood
August 21, 2009 > MAUI TODAY Comments Off |
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Nat’l Poets Day
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Pepe: Baby
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY — Pikini: Quiet
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “A burdden on the back; a babe in arms.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “Every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last.” (Charles Dickens)
HAWAII ADMISSION DAY – All state and county offices closed: The third Friday of August is a state holiday celebrated each year to commemorate Hawaii’s admission to the union on August 21, 1959 as the 50th state. Statehood bills for Hawaii were introduced into the U.S. Congress as early as 1919 by Hawaii’s non-voting delegates. Additional bills were introduced in 1935, 1947 and 1950. After Congress finally approved the statehood bill in 1959, it was followed by a referendum in which Hawaii residents voted overwhelmingly in support of statehood. On August 21, 1959 (the third Friday in August), President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation making Hawaii the 50th state. Read Paul Theroux’s NYT Op-Ed, Happily a State, Forever an Island