ON THIS DAY IN 1959, HAWAII OFFICIALLY BECAME A STATE: There was dancing in the streets that day.
Some members of Congress were especially keen to bring Hawaii into the union, because it was seen as a successful multi-racial society. Alas, things haven’t looked quite as good on that front in the last 15 years or so. The link is to some testimony I gave 10 years ago. There have been some twists and turns since then, but the basic story discussed in the testimony is still worth knowing about.