Image of Carlotta Stewart, circa1900. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons and BlackPast.org. Moorland-Spingarn Research Center,Howard University, Washington, D.C. Original image source: “Carlotta Stewart Lai, a Black Teacherin the Territory of Hawai'i” by Albert S. Broussard.

By Karla Mendez

Writer Karla Méndez examines the life of Carlotta Stewart Lai, the first Black American woman to become a principal in Hawaii, and how significant her accomplishments were at a time when Black Americans were excluded from formal education.

Shackling Their Minds

Education has long been a source of power and a way to attain upward mobility. Black Americans were kept from educational pursuits for far too long in the United States. During enslavement, anti-literacy laws in Southern states made it illegal for enslaved individuals or free people of color to learn to read or write. These laws were in place from 1740 to 1834 and were a way to ensure that Black Americans remained in the societal position they had been forced into. As the Oakland Literacy Coalition wrote:

“Knowledge acquired by a slave was like a death knell to a slave owner. In order to destroy any semblance of humanity, plantation owners kept enslaved black people in the dark. It was a way to “shackle their minds.”

While anti-literacy laws were in place for almost a hundred years, this did not mean that Black Americans did learn to read or write, as they began to see how crucial education was in their fight for freedom and equality. Those that had enslavers or their children that took pity on them would have lessons, opening them up to the world around them. During Reconstruction, Black Americans saw the opportunity to begin to enact legislation that would provide education to both Black and White individuals by building schools. From this desire came the establishment of The Freedman’s Bureau, which was set up to aid formerly enslaved individuals. Freedmen understood that to improve their lives, freedom was just the first step. They also needed to earn an education. The bureau succeeded in educating 200,000 students, with 40% of Black American children attending school. While the bureau provided the accommodations Black American communities needed to build and run schools. Despite White southerners’ continuous attempts to put an end to the educating of Black Americans, by the early years of Reconstruction, many could read and write and, in turn, teach others in their families and communities.

1907 photo of (from left to right) McCants Stewart (1877 - 1919), first African American lawyer in Oregon, along with his daughter Mary Katherine Stewart, sister Carlotta Stewart Lai (standing), wife Mayme Delia Weir (seated), and sister-in-law Harriett Anna Weir. Oregon Historical Society. Public Domain.

Literacy As Freedom

For Black Americans, education was a way to improve their lives now that they were free. But building and operating schools became difficult because there was a lack of qualified teachers and often a lack of funding for salaries. Although White Southerners, civilians and politicians alike, devoted time and resources to put a stop to Black Americans’ educational efforts, they continued to persevere and, over time, established schools that educated many. They established schools such as the National Training School for Women and Girls, which was piloted by Nannie Helen Burroughs, and the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, founded by Mary McLeod Bethune.

While these were standard practices on the mainland, Black Americans had a far different experience in Hawaii. By 1833, when Black Americans on the mainland were still enduring anti-literacy laws and dehumanization, those who had relocated to Hawaii were creating communities and organizations. While the island was not a racial paradise as it had a small Black American population, it allowed Black Americans to live more dignified lives, establish businesses, and pursue education and a career. This was in contrast with the history of colonization on the island and the displacement of Indigenous Hawaiians, a displacement that continues today. American entrepreneurs have for hundreds of years descended upon Hawaii and begun businesses that have exploited the land and the people.

In 1893, American businessmen and sugar magnates overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani and the Hawaiian Kingdom with the help of the American military. Prior to the overthrow of the Hawaiian government, White businessmen forced King David Kalakaua to sign a new constitution, relinquishing some of his power over the island. Other injustices such as the Bayonet Constitution, stripped voting rights from the Asian and Indigenous Hawaiian communities on the island, while giving foreigners such as White Americans and Europeans that right.

It should be noted that while Black Americans had the privilege to lead a far more dignified life in Hawaii than the one afforded to them on the mainland, Native Americans suffered and continue to suffer inequalities and inequities at the hands of wealthy White Americans and Europeans. The treatment Black Americans escaped was similar to what Native Hawaiians, including Queen Liliʻuokalani, braved. In coming to Hawaii, individuals from the mainland brought White supremacist ideals and behavior such as printing images of the Queen with racially exaggerated features.

While Native Hawaiians experienced racism, colonization, and societal and political exclusion, Black Americans saw Hawaii as a place to escape their own subjugation. Among the groups of Black Americans that relocated to Hawaii was Carlotta Stewart Lai, the first Black American school principal in Hawaii.

Carlotta Stewart Lai and The Politics of Educational Cultivation

Carlotta Stewart Lai was born in Brooklyn on September 16th, 1881, to Thomas McCants Stewart and Charlotte L. Harris Stewart, into a family of highly educated activists and changemakers. Her father was a clergyman, lawyer, and civil rights leader. He became one of the first Black students to enroll at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, breaking barriers as his daughter did. Her mother graduated from Wilberforce University University, securing a college degree during a period when women of any race were able to receive a college degree.

Her maternal aunt was Verina Morton Jones, a Black physician, suffragist, and club woman who was the first Black American woman to pass Mississippi’s medical board examination and the first woman to practice medicine in the state. She was also heavily involved with the Brooklyn chapter of the NAACP. Jones was part of a small group that helped the merger between the Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions of Negroes, the Committee on Urban Conditions among Negroes, and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women, which resulted in the National Urban League. Stewart Lai’s two brothers also achieved great success in their professional lives, becoming lawyers, and following in their father’s footsteps.

While Stewart Lai attended public schools during her early educational years, when she moved to Hawaii in 1898 at 18 with her father and stepmother, she enrolled at the Punahou School, O’ahu College, then known as simply the Oahu College, a private, co-educational college preparatory institution. She graduated in 1902 and went on to complete the requirements needed for the Normal School certificate. Acquiring the certification opened up opportunities for Stewart Lai within academia, and she received a position teaching English at the Practice Department of the Punahou Normal School in July 1902.

Image of Principal Carlotta Stewart Lai and students at Hanamaulu School, Kauai. 1933. Photo Source: “Carlotta” by Peter T. Young from Image of Old Hawai’i.

Hawaii As A Path to Success

Stewart Lai remained a teacher at the school for many years, until she was promoted to principal of Ko’olau Elementary School in 1909 at 28-years-old. Her advancement within the educational system in Hawaii is a prime example of the options available to Black Americans, especially women, during this time in Hawaii compared to cities on the mainland like Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Administrative jobs, in particular, would not become available to Black Americans in western cities until the 1940s.

In 1933, Stewart Lai received another promotion, becoming the first Black American principal of Hanamaulu School. Not only was she the principal, but she was also in charge of the library and cafeteria. Her accomplishments on the island are remarkable given the small number of Black Americans on the island and the lack of political control and influence they held. While many Black American women like Stewart Lai during this time had teaching careers or obtained administrative positions, it was highly unusual for a Black woman of her age to run a multi-racial school.

Stewart Lai also broke racial barriers in her personal life when she married Yun Tim Lai, a local of Chinese descent, who was a sales manager at Garden Island Motors, in 1916. The marriage lasted for 19 years when Lai passed away unexpectedly in 1935 while visiting relatives in China. Following his death, Stewart Lai did not remarry, devoting the rest of her life to educating the youth of Hawaii.

Stewart Lai continued her work as an English teacher and principal until 1944 when she retired. Over the years, her health began to decline, and in July 1952, she entered the Moana Convalescent Home. Here, she passed away on July 6th, 1952. Stewart Lai learned early on that education should be a right for everyone, not a privilege for some. It guided her as she spent over 40 years as an educator. Had it not been for her decision to stay in Hawaii, many students would have been robbed of their opportunity to be taught by someone who truly cared and understood the importance of receiving an education.

Image of Carlotta Stewart Lai. Photo Source: “Carlotta” by Peter T. Young from Image of Old Hawai’i.

Education Today for Black Americans

Like the relationship that Black Americans could forge and have forged in the past with other marginalized groups, there is an opportunity for solidarity between Black and Native Hawaiians. Writing about why Black lives matter in the Hawaiian kingdom, Joy Enomoto states that in 1852 Hawaii outlawed slavery, proclaiming that any enslaved individual who arrived on the island would be freed. The reasoning for this was due to a racist experience Prince Alexander ‘Iolani Liholiho and Prince Lot Kapuāiwa had while traveling through the United States in which they were thought to be Black and were almost thrown off a train. This affirmed their belief in the abolition of all.

Unfortunately, between the reign of Liholiho and that of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the habitual racialization theories of the United States had begun to make their way to the island. When the Queen traveled to New York in 1901, she was turned away from several hotels because of her skin color. This experience and with Prince Kūhiō’s insistence that Queen Liliʻuokalani, and her siblings speak Hawaiian during a trip to Washington, D.C., and disclose that they are not Black illustrates how far American racial hierarchies had traveled. Moreover, this showed the desire of Queen Liliʻuokalani and her family to separate themselves from Black Americans and the racialized oppression they encountered.

During the 1970s, as the Black Power movement was growing in the United States, in Hawaii, the Hawaiian Renaissance joined the global protests for decolonization and civil rights. Given the similarity between Hawaiians and Black Americans and the racism they have had to endure throughout history due to colonialism and White supremacy, the idea of solidarity between the two is essential to the liberation of both. This connection is an example of why Stewart Lai and other Black Americans were able to make Hawaii their home in the early nineteenth century.

Until the 1960s, many educational institutions were segregated, with those for Black Americans, Latin Americans, and Native Americans receiving far less funding than those for White Americans. Since then, the educational gap between races has reduced, but disparities still exist. While education may be more readily available for Black Americans today, two-thirds of Black, Latinx, and Native American students still attend underfunded schools and are located in cities compared to suburbs.

Underfunded schools typically have less access to the resources available to schools in suburban settings, making it more difficult for students to obtain the education and guidance needed to pass mandatory tests and apply to college or university. This gives White students a head start in a historically hostile system towards those of other races. Educators like Stewart Lai, Mary McLeod Bethune, Septima Poinsette Clark, and Marva Collins have dedicated their careers to ensuring that all students can reach educational success, and it is work that continues to this day as educators advocate for equal educational opportunities.

About the author:

Karla Mendez (she/her) is the Lead Columnist of Black Feminist Histories and Movement for Black Women Radicals blog, Voices in Movement. She is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida, pursuing a major in Interdisciplinary Studies and a double minor in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies. She holds a certificate in Feminism and Social Justice from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and has just completed an internship with the United Nations Association. In addition to being a student, she is a freelance writer. Karla is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, she recognizes the importance of intersectionality in feminism, and as such, her research and writing focus on the intersection of race, gender, class, and politics.

With her writing and research, she wants to introduce people to historical figures who paved the way for change while bringing awareness to how discrimination and oppression can affect people differently. She will continue to explore her research as she begins graduate school next year to pursue a Master’s in Women’s Studies and American Studies. When she isn’t studying or reading for school, she enjoys reading for fun, watching old movies, and spending time with her family. You can follow her on Instagram.

Education Is A Right: A Study of Carlotta Stewart Lai, The First Black American Woman to Become a Principal in Hawaii