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Primary sourceNewspaper article18 February 1893

Uncle Sam Addresses Liliuokalani

18 February 1893

A satirical Polish-language verse from an 1893 American newspaper, imagining Uncle Sam courting Queen Liliʻuokalani.

A satirical verse about Liliʻuokalani published abroad, showing how her overthrow was viewed and mocked in the United States.

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Full front page of the Polish-language newspaper Ameryka, Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio, Saturday February 18, 1893, with columns of text, headlines, a masthead, and a few small engraved portraits. The 'Wuj Sam do Liliuokalani' satirical verse appears in the middle column.
Ameryka (Toledo, Ohio), front page, 18 February 1893. Library of Congress. Text is an AI-generated OCR transcription of the scanned page.

About this source

What it is

This is the front page of Ameryka, a Polish-language newspaper published in Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio, dated February 18, 1893. It contains a satirical verse titled 'Uncle Sam Addresses Liliuokalani,' in which the speaker courts the queen with declarations of love and offers to guard her and her country.

Why it matters

Published right after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, this poem shows how immigrant communities in the United States viewed the crisis in Hawaii, using humor to comment on American interest in annexing the islands. It reveals how Liliʻuokalani became a figure discussed even far from Hawaii, in a Polish-American newspaper.

Look closer

  • What is the verse suggesting about the United States' relationship with Hawaii?
  • Why might a Polish-American newspaper be interested in events in Hawaii?
  • The text here was copied from the newspaper page by an AI model reading the scan — how might that affect its accuracy?

This newspaper article is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Queen Liliʻuokalani on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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