Preserving Hawai‘i’s Heritage: Aiko Yamashiro, Executive Director of the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities
Since 1972, the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities (HIHumanities) has encouraged and supported programming that "binds the people of Hawai‘i together as a stronger community." HIHumanities is one of 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils in the US. Organized as the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 1972, HIHumanities is now a 501(c)3 organization. Its key programs include the annual Hawai‘i History Day which engages elementary and high school students in the interpretation of history; robust grant programs; and other community events. HHF reached out to the executive director of HIHumanities, Aiko Yamashiro, to learn more about her own connection with history and path to the present. HHF: Please tell us about yourself—where were you born and raised? What were you like as a kid? Aiko Yamashiro, Executive Director of Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities I grew up in Kāneʻohe. My dad really liked to talk about history, and his own family’s history there as Okinawan immigrants. My great-grandfather came over from Okinawa, and our families worked as peddlers, sold farm produce too, and then my grandparents’ generation were mechanics and okazuya-owners. So Kāneʻohe was full of those kinds of stories for me. As a kid I loved reading and playing ʻukulele. My first job was as an ʻukulele instructor at Roy Sakuma Studios in Kāneʻohe. I got to meet a lot of kids and families that way. In high school I played in the band, and we would play at football games. Castle HS won the OIA championship in 2002. That was so exciting; the town lined the streets with signs waiting for the buses to come home late that night. Looking back, I feel grateful to [...]
