What year did Hawaii become a state?

Hawaii became the 50th state on Aug. 21, 1959. Hawaii had become a constitutional monarchy in 1840, but with the help of the U.S. Marines, a group of people living on the islands deposed the monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, in 1893.

In 1894, the Republic of Hawaii became a U.S. protectorate. Officially annexed in 1898 when the United States began to understand how important its location was to the United States in terms of military strategy, Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought the United States into World War II. The United States approved Hawaii as a state in March of 1959, and the people of Hawaii voted to accept statehood in June of that same year.