the photo of kahapea was taken on march 12, 1959, shortly after u.s. president dwight eisenhower signed the hawaii admission act, admitting hawaii as the 50th u.s. state. kahapea was a twelve-year-old paperboy in honolulu at the time. people had taken to the streets to celebrate hawaii's admission to the u.s. and kahapea reportedly could not keep up with the demand for the special edition "honolulu star-bulletin" statehood newspapers. kahapea was selected as the newsboy to hand the first statehood newspaper to then honolulu mayor neal blaisdell, who was late for the photographer's appointment. with the mayor late, the reporter began talking to kahapea, which led to the now famous photograph. in 2009, on the fiftieth anniversary of statehood, kahapea recalled the instance when an associated press reporter took the now iconic photograph, "he just asked me how i normally sold my papers. so, i held up my hand with the paper - and, just a shot of statehood - and that was it!" the photo of kahapea holding a "statehood" special edition appeared in newspapers and publications worldwide, including the "new york times". the photograph made kahapea a symbol of hawaii's achievement of statehood.