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Description
For the American Girl Historical Characters from Kaya to Courtney, this is what life would have been like for them when they grew up based on where, when, and the context of when they would be in their teens, twenties, and thirties followed by how they spent their forties and beyond and where they are today (if still alive). I did a lot of research on the eras and their contexts and also their outfits. The pieces of art are drawings of them at age 30.

Nanea Mitchell Suda

Nanea Mitchell came of age during the post war era of the latter half of the 1940s and the early 1950s, which was a boom of optimism for the United States and the rest of the World. Although World War II was over, the Cold War had also began with McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and the duck and cover drills. Marriage and birth rates were skyrocketing due to the baby boom. For Hawaii, it wasn't yet a state when Nanea was a teenager and young adult but the statehood commission was founded and there was the process of it transitioning from a nation to a territory to a state as the Queen and the government was overthrown a century ago. As for Nanea, all of the Cold War conflict and these duck and cover drills gave her nightmares and made her relive her trauma of Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii officially became a state in 1959 followed by Alaska, when Nanea was only 27-years-old. Hawaii was also experiencing a boom in industry and tourism at the time. Daniel Inouye, a Japanese American and World War II veteran, was elected to the US Congress and during the 1960s, a lot of women and women of color were getting more involved in politics. In 1962, the memorial of the USS Arizona from Pearl Harbor was opened to the public. After being politically involved for social justice during her youth and during her time at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Nanea abandoned her career path to becoming a teacher and ran for the state senate in 1963 but unfortunately lost. After that, she decided to focus more on protesting the Vietnam War and as an ecofeminist, fighting for abortion and contraception rights, workplace equality, and also for the rights of indigenous people as well as starting campaigns in ocean conservation and opened up a sea turtle refuge in the late 1960s after witnessing many environmental disasters. In addition, seeing all the damage that tourists have done inspired Nanea to make the natural world and wildlife refuge a tourist destination in Hawaii, which helped her heal from her trauma from war. She even campaigned to help create the Environmental Protection Agency and then decided to create a career out of animal and ocean rescue and environmental justice.

Nanea married Gene Suda, the brother of a childhood friend, in 1960 and then had two children with him, a daughter named Kalea and a son named Akira, as both her and Gene believed that their children's names deserved bits of both their Hawaiian and Japanese heritage. As of today, Nanea serves as a retired member of the Kailua-Kona City Council and also a retired employee of the Sea Turtle Haven of Kaloko-Honokohau National Park. She is a proud mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who is still fighting for environmental and climate justice and still donates to conservation and wildlife organizations and also has written a few books on ecofeminism and environmental racism.

She is one of the historical characters who would still be alive as of today (along with Molly, Emily, Melody, Maryellen, Julie, Ivy, and Courtney).

Her dress is designed from a vintage Hawaiian Muumuu dress. I decided to keep her hair down and put a plumeria flower in her hair.
*Vintage 70’s Hawaiian Dress Young Hawaii by Mark Christopher - Thrilling (shopthrilling.com)
*Muumuu Dress made in Hawaii (hawaiianweddingplace.com)
*Aloha Hula Supply - Hawaii,Tahitian,Maori,Flowers

Links About the Eras
*Post-War American Life: Culture of the late 1940s & 1950s - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
*Hawaii Timeline | hawaii-guide.info
*Teachinghistory.org
*Hawaii's History in 1962 - Hawaii History - 1962
*Cold War: Summary, Combatants, Start & End - HISTORY
*The Sixties | Environmental history
*The Sixties . Timeline . Text Version | PBS
*Pictures of Hawaii in Its '60s Heyday (businessinsider.com)
*5 Reasons America Became Obsessed With Hawaii In The 1960s | HuffPost Life

Description
For the American Girl Historical Characters from Kaya to Courtney, this is what life would have been like for them when they grew up based on where, when, and the context of when they would be in their teens, twenties, and thirties followed by how they spent their forties and beyond and where they are today (if still alive). I did a lot of research on the eras and their contexts and also their outfits. The pieces of art are drawings of them at age 30.

Nanea Mitchell Suda

Nanea Mitchell came of age during the post war era of the latter half of the 1940s and the early 1950s, which was a boom of optimism for the United States and the rest of the World. Although World War II was over, the Cold War had also began with McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and the duck and cover drills. Marriage and birth rates were skyrocketing due to the baby boom. For Hawaii, it wasn't yet a state when Nanea was a teenager and young adult but the statehood commission was founded and there was the process of it transitioning from a nation to a territory to a state as the Queen and the government was overthrown a century ago. As for Nanea, all of the Cold War conflict and these duck and cover drills gave her nightmares and made her relive her trauma of Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii officially became a state in 1959 followed by Alaska, when Nanea was only 27-years-old. Hawaii was also experiencing a boom in industry and tourism at the time. Daniel Inouye, a Japanese American and World War II veteran, was elected to the US Congress and during the 1960s, a lot of women and women of color were getting more involved in politics. In 1962, the memorial of the USS Arizona from Pearl Harbor was opened to the public. After being politically involved for social justice during her youth and during her time at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Nanea abandoned her career path to becoming a teacher and ran for the state senate in 1963 but unfortunately lost. After that, she decided to focus more on protesting the Vietnam War and as an ecofeminist, fighting for abortion and contraception rights, workplace equality, and also for the rights of indigenous people as well as starting campaigns in ocean conservation and opened up a sea turtle refuge in the late 1960s after witnessing many environmental disasters. In addition, seeing all the damage that tourists have done inspired Nanea to make the natural world and wildlife refuge a tourist destination in Hawaii, which helped her heal from her trauma from war. She even campaigned to help create the Environmental Protection Agency and then decided to create a career out of animal and ocean rescue and environmental justice.

Nanea married Gene Suda, the brother of a childhood friend, in 1960 and then had two children with him, a daughter named Kalea and a son named Akira, as both her and Gene believed that their children's names deserved bits of both their Hawaiian and Japanese heritage. As of today, Nanea serves as a retired member of the Kailua-Kona City Council and also a retired employee of the Sea Turtle Haven of Kaloko-Honokohau National Park. She is a proud mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who is still fighting for environmental and climate justice and still donates to conservation and wildlife organizations and also has written a few books on ecofeminism and environmental racism.

She is one of the historical characters who would still be alive as of today (along with Molly, Emily, Melody, Maryellen, Julie, Ivy, and Courtney).

Her dress is designed from a vintage Hawaiian Muumuu dress. I decided to keep her hair down and put a plumeria flower in her hair.
*Vintage 70’s Hawaiian Dress Young Hawaii by Mark Christopher - Thrilling (shopthrilling.com)
*Muumuu Dress made in Hawaii (hawaiianweddingplace.com)
*Aloha Hula Supply - Hawaii,Tahitian,Maori,Flowers

Links About the Eras
*Post-War American Life: Culture of the late 1940s & 1950s - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
*Hawaii Timeline | hawaii-guide.info
*Teachinghistory.org
*Hawaii's History in 1962 - Hawaii History - 1962
*Cold War: Summary, Combatants, Start & End - HISTORY
*The Sixties | Environmental history
*The Sixties . Timeline . Text Version | PBS
*Pictures of Hawaii in Its '60s Heyday (businessinsider.com)
*5 Reasons America Became Obsessed With Hawaii In The 1960s | HuffPost Life