This Niʻihau shell lei was gifted to my mother and me by my aunt, who visited Hawaiʻi in the 1980s. Though not a family heirloom, it connects me to my Native Hawaiian heritage. The shells come from the island of Niʻihau, a privately owned island inhabited only by Native Hawaiians. The lei represents more than beauty—it’s tradition, spirituality, and livelihood. The shells, gathered on hands and knees in an act considered prayerful, are rare and fragile; one in three break during stringing. I have visited Hawaiʻi as a tourist, but holding this lei makes me feel grounded in something deeper—connected to a place that runs through my family's history.

The photograph is of my maternal grandfather for his Navy recruitment. He enlisted in December 1941, just after Pearl Harbor. Though I never met him, his story has shaped ours. After his service, he settled in NYC and began our family’s life there. At his funeral, my mother learned he once came in close second in a swim competition to Johnny Weissmuller—Olympic gold medalist and Hollywood’s Tarzan— a story we later confirmed through a newspaper clipping. We’re grateful to ancestry.com and newspapers.com for helping us uncover this part of his story.

These three items—a necklace, a photo, and an article—anchor me to stories I didn’t grow up knowing. They remind me that even without heirlooms passed down through generations, I can still reach for the past. They speak to both the erasure and endurance of Native Hawaiian identity in the wake of colonization, and they help me begin to reclaim and honor that legacy.

– J. Pietro

Relationship:  unknown unknown