KLMA was formed as a kupuna-led Hawaiian Civic Club in 2003 to honor the life and legacy of the Hawaiian Kingdom's last reigning monarch, Queen Liliuokalani. This work began with the historical re-enactment titled "Ka Lei Maile Alii – The Queen's Women,” written by Helen Edyth Didi Lee Kwai and first presented in 2001 at the Kanaina Building on Iolani Palace grounds. The drama was adapted from an 1897 news article published in the San Francisco Call describing a meeting of Ka Ahahui Hawaii Aloha Aina o Na Wahine (the Women’s Hawaiian Patriotic League) at the Salvation Army Hall in Hilo to collect signatures for the Kue Petition protesting annexation of Hawaii to the United States. In 2010, KLMA displayed a sampling of some 300+ names from the petition on placards that read, on the reverse side, "No Treaty of Annexation," first at McKinley High School around the statue of American President, William Mckinley, and subsequently as an accompaniment to the re-enactment and at other community events. The artistic project was meant to resemble a cemetery. The boundaries of that “cemetery” created a space over many years for countless families to reconnect with their ancestors who pushed back against American imperialism in the Pacific and in support of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s continued independence.

At the annual conventions hosted by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, KLMA authored and passed dozens of resolutions that affirmed an accurate understanding of Hawai'i's political, legal, and cultural history, and that advocated for progressive change on contemporary social justice issues based on that historical research. The organization’s push toward federal recognition of Hawaii as a “tribe” was a position KLMA could not support.  On December 28, 2016, KLMA returned its charter to the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs and from 2017–2023 reformed itself as a branch of Ka Ahahui Hawaiʻi Aloha ʻĀina (HAA), the re-formed Hawaiian Patriotic League. HAA, originally created on March 4, 1893, successfully blocked a treaty of annexation of the Hawaiian Kingdom to the United States, collecting and submitting 21,269 signatures of the Kue Petition to the U.S. Congress in opposition. The petition, referred to as “The Great Petition” was successful in defeating the Treaty of Annexation in the US Congress. No Treaty meant no legal means by which the Hawaiian Kingdom could be annexed to the United States. The Hawaiian Kingdom, thus, cannot be said to be legally part of the United States. HAA, the organization, was dissolved in 1901 and reconstituted as of March 4, 2017 to affirm the continuity of the Hawaiian Kingdom as an independent nation state, as well as to help revive Hawaiian national identity through anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist education and solidarity work. KLMA is committed to ending the prolonged illegal U.S. occupation of our country. 

In 2023, KLMA became an independent organization and continues to present historical dramas, as well as host public talks and community round tables on Hawaiian history and the struggle for life beyond occupation. KLMA has recently joined forces with other organizations, primarily on the West side of Oahu, and works in partnership with Malama Makua, whose goals of peace, justice, and ho’iho’i ea resonate with KLMA’s mission, board and membership. KLMA believes the Queen would approve and we continually follow her directive.

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