Celebrating Alice Ball’s Black excellence | Ka Leo

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty and students gathered on Feb. 28 to celebrate Alice Augusta Ball Day. 

Alice Augusta Ball marks a pivotal moment in history, as she was the first woman and African American to graduate from UHM, and the first Black woman faculty member at the University. Ball was also a chemist, who uncovered the first treatment for Hansen’s Disease, or leprosy, coined “Ball’s Method.” She discovered how to utilize chaulmoogra tree oil to safely inject treatment to leprosy patients.

Sister Circle at Mānoa and the Graduate Professional Access Program hosted the second annual Alice A. Ball Remembrance Walk. The walk started at QLCSS. Its first stop was at Hamilton Library, where her portrait and Regents’ Medal of Distinction are displayed. Participants looped back on McCarthy Mall to visit Martin Luther King Jr.’s plaque by the Art Building, and ended at the chaulmoogra tree near Bachman Hall – the very same tree that Ball used. 

“It’s astonishing that someone so young, not yet 25 years old,” Ka ‘Ohana Kalaupapa Director Valerie Monson said, “could have made such a remarkable discovery.”

Luffy Threats, vice president of the Black Student Association (BSA) at UHM, was grateful for the experience, as he feels that Ball is an important role model for Black and female-identifying students on campus. 

“Actually, [it affects] everyone, because of how amazing her accomplishments are,” Threats said. “She just exudes Black excellence, which is just something I would like to promote as much as possible, especially being a part of the Black Student Association here on campus.”

In addition to prominent figures like Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and President David Lassner, several university programs, such as the Alice Ball Residential Life Program in Student Housing and the Alice Ball Scholarship, were present.

Lassner made a promising announcement, sharing that plans to build an Alice Ball statue on campus are in motion. 

The relationship between UHM and remembering Ball’s legacy has not always been so positive.

Ball passed at the young age of 24 years old in 1916. Previous UHM President Arthur Dean had had continued Ball’s work on leprosy and published it solely under his name, calling the findings “Dean’s Method” and almost effectively erased her from history. It was thanks to Dr. Harry T. Hollman, who was aware of Ball’s role, that a paper published in 1922 properly attributed the research to her.

Discussions have been roaming between UHM students about changing the name of the on-campus building Dean Hall — after President Dean — to Ball Hall to rectify the dishonor done to her.

“We’re trying to get away from renaming him and giving him that kind of praise and that kind of support,” Threats said, “and [instead] giving it to the rightful owner.”

In February 2023, BSA President Breena Thompson started an online petition to ask the University to rename the building after Ball. As of March 4, the petition has collected 247 signatures.

“I have been hearing chatter of it,” Provost’s Office Director of Branding and Marketing Jennel Sesoko said. “I think that has definitely been a conversation on campus of how we can move forward, make those adjustments.”