Ironically, as voting rights for women in mainland America were beginning to spread to a handful of western states, women leaders in Hawaii like Emma Aima Nawahi lost the political power to participate in their own government.

Aima (Emma) Aii was born in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii, on September 28, 1854. As the daughter of a Hawaiian princess and a Chinese sugar miller, Emma grew up with a strong sense of Hawaiian traditions and culture. She married a well-known Hawaiian political leader, Joseph Kahooluhi Nawahi-o-Kalaniopuu, in 1881. The couple soon settled in Honolulu, where they raised several children.

As a journalist, lawyer, and legislator between 1872 and 1892, Joseph had been long associated with the effort to defend the sovereignty of the Hawaiian people. Emma served as one of Queen Liliukalani's ladies-in-waiting (advisors), while Joseph served as minister of foreign affairs in the queen's cabinet. Wealthy U.S. sugar plantation owners conspired to overthrow Queen Liliuokalani in 1893, arresting her in her own palace.

Emma and Joseph now turned their efforts to fighting against the new "Republic of Hawaii," which they believed had been illegally installed without consideration of the wishes of the Hawaiian people, nor the wishes of the thousands of Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino immigrants who toiled on U.S.-owned sugar plantations. Emma despaired that the Americans had cruelly reduced the Hawaiian Queen from a powerful female head of state, to a "common criminal."

In 1895, the Nawahis founded Ke Aloha Aina (The Patriot), a weekly Honolulu newspaper dedicated to restoring Hawaiian sovereignty. When Joseph died suddenly of an illness a year later, Emma found herself in charge of the newspaper's operations. That same year, despite Hawaiian protests, Congress voted to annex Hawaii as a U.S. territory.

Emma Aima Nawahi continued to publish Ke Aloha Aina, with help from her sons and relatives at least until 1908. As editor, she published articles on political news of the day, as well as material on Hawaiian culture and history. Nawahi sold the paper around 1910, but it continued publication under new editors until 1920. That same year, the 19th Amendment finally granted women with American citizenship in the Hawaiian territory the right to vote, 27 years after their powerful queen had been overthrown.

Emma remained active in political, community, church, and women's groups until her death in December 1935. As an important female Hawaiian journalist, Nawahi helped bring new significance to the movement to restore Hawaiian sovereignty, culture, and history, as well as political rights for women.