Comment on 'The TALK STORY FESTIVAL WEBSITE is UP! / 22nd Annual TALK STORY'

     The point about the missionaries introducing the American-style education to Hawai’i in 1820 stuck a cord of interest in me for further research into who exactly where these missionaries. Turns out, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the source for sending missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands. Their purpose was to “civilize” the people with the introduction of churches, schools, and press (para. V. C. 1). Once the missionaries taught English and later mastered the Hawaiian language, they began printing textbooks while translating religious material, “particularly the Bible (para. V. D).” By 1878, Hawai’i had a 78% literacy rate (i.e., ability to read and write).

Tano, M. Indigenous Resource Management:  Department of Defense - Native Hawaiian Consultation.
     Retrieved November 21, 2010, from

     http://www.iiirm.org/hawaiian_consultation/workshop%20materials/hawaiian_history.htm