comscore Column: Unearthing hidden Hawaii Africana history reveals bountiful legacy in isles | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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Editorial | Insight | Island Voices

Column: Unearthing hidden Hawaii Africana history reveals bountiful legacy in isles

  • STAR-ADVERTISER / 2002
                                Helene Hale was the first African American mayor in Hawaii and first Black woman to be elected to the Hawaii Legislature. To revitalize the County of Hawaii’s economy, Hale helped to establish the Merrie Monarch Festival.

    STAR-ADVERTISER / 2002

    Helene Hale was the first African American mayor in Hawaii and first Black woman to be elected to the Hawaii Legislature. To revitalize the County of Hawaii’s economy, Hale helped to establish the Merrie Monarch Festival.

  • COURTESY PHOTO
                                Alice A. Ball, a chemist who was the first woman to earn a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, discovered the first treatment for leprosy.

    COURTESY PHOTO

    Alice A. Ball, a chemist who was the first woman to earn a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, discovered the first treatment for leprosy.

  • CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Former president Barack Obama speaks at the Hawaii Imin International Conference Center at the East-West Center on Jan. 6, 2019.

    CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

    Former president Barack Obama speaks at the Hawaii Imin International Conference Center at the East-West Center on Jan. 6, 2019.

  • STAR-ADVERTISER / 1981
                                Gov. George Ariyoshi congratulates Donnis Thompson after she was sworn in as the new state superintendent of education in 1981. Thompson, the University of Hawaii’s first women’s athletics director, established the Rainbow Wahine athletics program.

    STAR-ADVERTISER / 1981

    Gov. George Ariyoshi congratulates Donnis Thompson after she was sworn in as the new state superintendent of education in 1981. Thompson, the University of Hawaii’s first women’s athletics director, established the Rainbow Wahine athletics program.

Today, we want to share the ways in which people of Africana heritage have helped shape the culture and character of Hawaii for centuries. To recount the history of Black people in the Islands is to recount the history of Hawaii itself. Read more

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