A limited-time exhibition “Chicago’s Legacy Hula” opened on May 26, 2023, at the Field Museum. Set inside the entrance to the Regenstein Hall of the Pacific, the exhibit includes the story of a Hawaiian musical group that made their way to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Queen Lili‘uokalani sent Hui Lei Mamo, a royal chorus and Hula troupe, from the island kingdom to perform at the Columbian Exposition. Soon after, pro-American forces in Hawaiʻi overthrew the Queen.

The Volcano of Kilauea Cyclorama concession on the Midway Plaisance was run by businessman Lorrin A. Thurston, an American settler who played a prominent role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. The Midway concession, intended to encourage tourism and promote U.S. annexation of Hawaiʻi, featured native Hawaiian musicians and dancers (though historians note that concessionaries directed the Kānaka Maoli artists to give inauthentic performances that would attract the curiosity of visitors).

“Chicago’s Legacy Hula,” developed by the Aloha Center of Chicago and the Field Museum, shares the untold history of four Kumu Hula (master teachers of Hawaiian Hula) who perpetuated, preserved, and protected Hula as a way of life.

The Volcano of Kilauea Cyclorama concession at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. [Image from The Dream City. A Portfolio of Photographic Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition. N. D. Thompson, 1893.]