HONOLULU
The U.S. Senate has approved a plan to establish the Henry
Giugni Kupuna Memorial Archives at the University
of Hawaii.
The archives, which would honor the late Senate
sergeant-at-arms who had also been Sen. Daniel Inouye’s chief of staff, is in
the Higher Education Bill passed Tuesday.
The archives are intended to aid the development of
curricula and instructional materials by collecting oral histories that shed
light on Native Hawaiian history and culture.
“These archives will enable the sharing and
perpetuation of the culture, collective memory and history of peoples Mr.
Giugni so dearly loved,” Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said in a news
release issued in Washington.
“Henry lived a life full of rich experiences, and along
the way he accumulated a wealth of wisdom,” Akaka said. “Establishing
these archives to perpetuate the traditional knowledge of all indigenous
peoples, such as Henry, will ensure that future generations have access to that
wisdom and, in a sense, will be able to learn from the original sources
themselves.”
Giugni, who died in November 2005 at age 80, became
sergeant-at-arms to the Senate in 1986 after working with Inouye, D-Hawaii, for
many years. He was praised for hiring and promoting minorities and women to
make his Senate workforce reflect America.
“During his life, Henry was a positive influence in the
lives of the many people he touched, and he took great pride in being a
positive role model for Native Hawaiians,” Inouye said in Washington.
“With the memorial archives that bears his name,
Henry’s legacy will endure, and he will still be able to touch many more. His
life story, as well as the stories of other accomplished individuals with
indigenous backgrounds, will serve to inform and inspire not just Americans of
Hawaiian ancestry, but all Americans,” the senator said.
– Associated Press
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
