#HawaiianHistoryMonth PANIOLO
September 2, 2021 Kawena Komeiji
Kamehameha III brought Mexican cowboys (vaqueros) to Hawaiʻi so they could train Hawaiians on how to ride horses and steer cattle. Paniolo, Hawaiian cowboys, were able to pick up these skills pretty quickly and adapted the practices to suit their own needs, including creating the kaula ʻili and the kī hōʻalu (slack key) guitar tuning. The paniolo became so proficient at their jobs that horse racing and other rodeo events were held at places like Kapiʻolani Park.
In 1908, Ikua Purdy, Archie Kaaua, and Jack Low were sent to compete in the Frontier Days Rodeo in Wyoming. People made fun of them because of their unusual gear and vaquero/Hawaiian flair but these paniolo ended up getting the last laugh. Ikua Purdy set a roping record and won first place while Archie Kaaua placed second and Jack Low placed sixth. In 1999, Purdy was inducted in the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame and a statue in Waimea, Hawaiʻi forever memorializes his win. It is also rumored that Disney+ will be making a movie about these three paniolo.
Library Resources
- Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman
- Aloha Cowboy by Virginia Cowan-Smith
- Cattle Colonialism: An Environmental History of the Conquest of California and Hawaiʻi by John Ryan Fischer
- Rough Riders: Hawaiʻi’s Paniolo and Their Stories by Ilima Loomis
- The Hawaiian Horse by Billy Bergin and Brady Bergin
Other Resources
<This news article was published in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser’s August 23, 1908 issue. (Found at this NPS link and courtesy of the Library of Congress. )
[About the header image: PP-13-6.016a was retrieved from the National Park Service website and is shared courtesy of the Hawaii State Archives.]
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