Black Pioneers in Blue Hawaii

By Yvonne Moore

Black Pioneers In Blue Hawaii is absolutely captivating and informative. A must read. Its about people of African ancestry who have lived in Hawaii dating back to the 1800s. Some of the pioneers are:



Anthony Allen, a former runaway slave who became rich and famous, Betsey Stockton, missionary and teacher, William Crockett, graduate of the University of Michigan in 1888 and became a judge in Maui during the early 1900s, Nolle Smith, cowboy , engineer, Alice Ball, first woman to graduate with a degree in chemistry from the University of Hawaii in 1925, Eddie Cole (Nat King Coles brother) entertainer and
actor, the plantation workers from Alabama who had an impromptu concert for the local strikers, doing the juba, turkey trots and the hoe downs . Trummy Young and others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465385956

Yvonne Moore

Yvonne Moore has spent a lifetime in the healing community. A nurse, family therapist and nurse educator, while Ms. Moore’s passion is teaching, contributing to the relational connections and the wellbeing of children is her touch stone. The birth of her first child grandchild, Sasha, inspired Yvonne to explore the medium of storytelling. To develop her writing craft, Yvonne has attained a diploma from the Institute of Children’s Literature. A student of life and learning, she is currently on hiatus from her PhD studies. When she’s not writing or teaching, she’s usually found with her own, especially her grandchildren, Sasha, Jasper, and Shiloh.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Yvonne Moore.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4653-8594-9

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-8595-6

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Contents

The Quest

Acknowledgments

Anthony D. Allen

Betsey Stockton

William Livingston

Edward Fletcher

William F. Crockett

Wailuku H. T. March 21, 1905

The Spirit Of Maui

Annie V. Crockett

Wendell F. Crockett

Alice A. Ball

Dr. William L. Maples

S. R. Maples

Plantation Workers

Charles A. Cottrill

Benjamin Franklin Rollins

Peter Hose

Nolle Smith Sr.

Eva B. Smith

Melissa Smith

Nolle Smith Jr.

Iwalani Smith Mottl

Leinani Smith

Seamen

Helene Hale

Hubert White

Patt Patterson

James Preddy

Herman D. Burrell

Eleanor Burrell

T. Mccants Stewart

Henry Walton

Ernest F. Washington

James Young

Eddie Cole

Barbara Crutchfield

Barack Obama

Charles Campbell

FAMOUS VISITORS

Marion Anderson

Paul Robeson

Harry Belafonte

Ethel Waters

Ralph Bunche

Sammy Davis Jr.

Mahalia Jackson

Ernest Hogan

Notes

image_1.jpg

Mission Houses Museum where Anthony used to visit the missionaries and where Betsey Stockton stayed when she was in Honolulu.

Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

—Galatians 6:9

A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.

—Proverbs 18:16

The Quest

My quest for information about black pioneers in Hawaii started in 2001 when I flipped on the television and saw a documentary about Waikiki. Then a brief mention about Anthony Allen, a former runaway slave who became a very famous businessman in Honolulu, caught my attention, and I wondered how many other intriguing black pioneers had ever lived on the Islands.

A few days later, I went to a bookstore where I had spotted a section about people of the different ethnic groups that have lived in Hawaii and their histories, but there were no books about people of African ancestry. That’s why I decided to write this book.

It should be a lot easier than writing fiction, I thought as I started my search at the Hawaii State Archives.

As the months went by, the search got harder, and I felt like I was climbing to the top of Diamond Head. Then one day at the Archives, an archivist handed me a book by Miles Jackson about blacks in Hawaii. Some of the names of the pioneers are from his book.

The quest was a bit difficult sometimes but very exciting!

Acknowledgments

Hawaii State Library, Hawaii and Pacific Department, Honolulu

Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society Library, Honolulu

Hawaiian Historical Society, Honolulu

Hawaii State Archives, Honolulu

Anthony D. Allen

Anthony D. Allen, a former runaway slave from Schenectady, New York, arrived in Hawaii on 1810 and later became a very famous businessman.

Anthony’s life began in German Flatts, New York, about 1775. His father was a sailor, and his mother was a slave. During his early years, he and his mother were owned by the Dougal family in Schenectady.¹

In his teens, the death of Mr. Dougal revealed fears that he had about the future changes in the household. Although they were referred to as servants in New York, they were not excluded from being sold, and Anthony feared that he would be sold if Mrs. Dougal was faced with financial difficulties. The possibility of getting sold and to never be able to see his mother again was devastating.

It’s not known how long it took him to solve the dilemma, but he did. He found a man in town who offered to buy him from Mrs. Dougal, and she accepted the offer, weeping as he departed.

Several years later, C. S. Stewart, a missionary, wrote about Anthony in his journal:²

When last in Schenectady, I was particularly requested to make inquiry respecting Anthony Allen, an African, residing on the island, once the servant of a gentleman of that city. He is quite a respectable man; and has a very neat establishment, consisting of a dozen houses built in the native manner, and covered with mud; one for sitting and sleeping, one for eating another for a storehouse, another for milk, a kitchen, blacksmith’s shop . . . He has been very kind to us in sending melons, bananas, several kids, and a regular daily supply of milk from his goats. His plantation is two miles from the Mission House on the plain, towards Waititi [Wakiki].

Rev. C. S. Stewart must have brought back a letter from Dr. Dougal, the son of his former owner, because Allen replied to his letter in 1822, reminding him about the old days when he used to pull him around in a hand sleigh and about his adventures after he left Schenectady.

Allen mentioned that he’d fled on foot on May 13, 1800. He passed through Troy, Pownal, and other places, working a day or two along the way. At Ely Cooley’s in Deerfield, he worked for six weeks, then headed for Hartford where he boarded a ship and worked his way to Boston to see his father. He couldn’t locate his father