Longtime educator and author Barbara Hilyer has a new children's book out that examines the life of Heléne Hale, a fixture in Hawaiʻi politics for half a century.
Hilyer made an unexpected discovery about her own connection to Hale that eventually led her to write “Heléne Hale: Leading with Aloha.”
Hale is her aunt, but she only discovered that fact about 10 years after her father died. Hilyer came to Hawaiʻi in 1988 and met with Hale to figure out her family's timeline.
"I just was on my own journey of like, who's my dad's family, and who are these people? So I didn't set out to write a book or books. I set out to just answer my own questions," she said.
"She told me the story of how her family had split across racial lines back in the '40s, and she had come to Hawaiʻi to live an authentic life and my father had decided to pass as white and live in Seattle."
Hilyer said that Hale settled in Hawaiʻi in 1947 as a Black woman, and at that time, she was unable to find a job in the continental U.S. due to racial prejudice. She began her career in Kona as a teacher and then entered politics.
In 1963, Hale became the first woman to serve in a local leadership position since Queen Liliʻuokalani, Hilyer said. By the time Hale left the state House of Representatives in 2006, she was 86.
"Her belief in leadership and her community and what you owe is profound throughout her whole life. And she says, 'It's what you owe for the privilege of living in a democracy.' And sadly, I would say we're seeing the results of that now. People aren't living up to the obligations that are incumbent upon them for the privilege of living in a democracy, and we might lose it because of that," Hilyer said.
"I would say, and I think Heléne would say, locally, locally is where it matters. And rather than just be frustrated and coming apart at the seams, which we are, we need to focus — like put that energy into doing something, join something, work with other people who are working on something, knock on your neighbor's doors. Whatever you have to do to start to rebuild the fabric. I think we've become observers in the process of our lives, and I would really encourage people, get back into being the actor in your own life," she continued.
Hilyer will be discussing the book at the Hilo Public Library on March 25 at 5 p.m. For more details, click here.
This interview aired on The Conversation on March 12, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. HPR's Tori DeJournett adapted this story for the web.
