13 Facts About Peter Aduja

Peter Aquino Aduja was the first Filipino American elected to public office in the United States.

Peter Aduja was elected as a representative in the Hawaii Legislature in 1954.

Peter Aduja was born in Ilocos Sur in the Philippines and emigrated with his family at the age of eight to Hilo, Hawaii.

Peter Aduja was raised in nearby Hakalau, Hawaii, while his father worked on a sugarcane plantation as a sakada.

Peter Aduja attended Hilo High, where he was the student body president and an Eagle Scout, graduating with the class of 1941 as salutatorian.

Peter Aduja taught on the island of Hawaii, at Naalehu Intermediate School, before attending Boston University, where he earned a law degree in 1951.

In 1953, along with Ben Menor, Peter Aduja took the bar examination, and both became Hawaii's first Filipino lawyers.

In 1954, Peter Aduja was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives, becoming the first Filipino to be elected to public office in Hawaii and the United States.

Peter Aduja represented one of three seats of the island of Hawaii.

Peter Aduja's district included Kailua, the North Shore, and Kahuku.

Peter Aduja departed the Hawaii House of Representatives in 1974, and returned to the public sector in his final position as a member of the City of Honolulu's Kaneohe Neighborhood Board, which he was on from 1986 until 1994.

In 1991, Professor Dan Boylan wrote that Peter Aduja was one of three important Filipino politicians in Hawaii during the beginning era of Filipino politics in Hawaii.

Peter Aduja was survived by two children and two grandchildren.