Filling in the Gaps at Kalaupapa

Community Contributed
By Cheryl Corbiell
Kaluapapa is known worldwide as the peninsula where people exposed to Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, were isolated for life. Once a natural prison, today it is a place where families in Hawaii can reconnect with a relative once considered “lost.” Prior to 1866, Native Hawaiians lived on the peninsula for 900 years and left remnants of rock walls, house platforms, heiau, and other structures as evidence of long-term Native Hawaiian habitation. Davianna Pomaika`i McGregor, Ph.D. Professor of Ethnic Studies at University of Hawaii, Manoa is working with the Kalaupapa National Historical Park (KNHP) and interviewing descendants of the original Kalaupapa Native Hawaiians to piece together Kalaupapa’s early history.…















