Honoring Black History Month in Hawai‘i
The following is a compilation of the pieces that have been published in the Coconut Wireless newsletter throughout February 2025 to celebrate Black History Month:
February is Black History Month, yet President Trump has issued an executive order banning Black History Month events in federal agencies. Derek Terry, a pastor in the United Church of Christ and Program Director for the Open and Affirming Coalition, recently shared this thought:
"Do you honor Black history, or do you erase it? Do you celebrate our contributions, or do you suppress the truth? The hypocrisy is loud, but the racism is even louder. Some want to pretend that race is no longer an issue—as if 246 years of slavery, nearly 100 years of Jim Crow, and 50 years of mass incarceration, housing discrimination, and the war on drugs suddenly vanished overnight. Now, the powers that be are telling us to 'move on'—to stop talking about race, to stop teaching our history, to stop acting like oppression is still happening.
"But here's the truth: Racism was, is, and will continue to be a problem until we FIX IT.
"Black history isn't just about the past—it's about the present and the future. It's about our resilience, our brilliance, and our undeniable impact on every inch of this country. And we will not be erased."
Did you know that a number of people throughout Black history have had a significant hand in shaping Hawaiian history? For example, did you know:
A Black sailor, referred to as Keaka'ele'ele, arrived in Hawai'i in 1796 and became a royal advisor and builder.
Anthony Allen, known as Alani to Hawaiians, helped to establish the first Western-style resort in Waikiki around that same time.
Betsy Stockton, a Black woman, went to Lāhaina in 1823 and served as a missionary there. She founded Maui's first school for the "common people," which later became known as Lāhainaluna High School.
The first two bandmasters of the Royal Hawaiian Band were both Black musicians.
Read about these and other extraordinary people in Hawaiian history in "The Intersection of Hawaiian and Black Histories" by Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp (2023) and an article by the National Park Service, "A Place of Freedom: Black History in 19th Century Hawai'i."
Did you know that the work of Alice Ball, a pharmaceutical chemist, helped in the ancient fight against leprosy? In 1915, after moving to Hawaiְ'i, Ball became the first woman and the first African American to graduate with a master's degree (in Chemistry) from the College of Hawai'i (now known as the University of Hawai'i). At the young age of 23, Ball became the first African American and woman chemistry instructor at the University of Hawai'i. She would go on to develop the first working treatment for patients suffering from Hansen's disease, or leprosy.
Read more about her and other notable scientists HERE.
Did you know that Thomas McCants Stewart helped draft the Organic Act of the Territory of Hawai'i after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and was instrumental in the fight of Native Hawaiians to regain their Kuleana lands? Stewart was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1853 and was a teacher, clergyperson, lawyer and civil rights leader. He came to Hawai'i in 1898 and died in 1923 in the Virgin Islands.
Read more about him and other notable people in Black history HERE.
Did you know that a number of people throughout Black history have had a significant hand in shaping Hawaiian history? For example, did you know that Anthony Allen, known to his Hawaiian friends as Alani, was a successful businessman who helped to establish the first Western-style resort in Waikīkī? Allen was born into slavery in 1774 in New York, left for a life at sea at age 24, and later settled in Hawai‘i after purchasing his freedom. He became an advisor and steward to Kamehameha the Great and was given six acres of land in Waikīkī. He married a Hawaiian woman and together they had three children. Among his many accomplishments, he “started the first bowling alley in Hawai‘i, built the first carriage road up Mānoa Valley, built a school, and ran the first hospital for American seamen in Honolulu.” (condensed from “A Place of Freedom: Black History in 19th Century Hawai‘i.”)
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