Advocates for a private school system established to educate Native Hawaiians say a new lawsuit targeting the admissions process is an ugly attempt to ignore the wishes of a Hawaiian princess who bequeathed her inheritance to secure a brighter future for her people nearly 140 years ago.
The Kamehameha schools were established in the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I and the last royal descendant in the Kamehameha line. At the time of her death in 1884, the princess’s estate held about 9% of the island chain’s total acreage.
