Who Was Alice Ball?

Alice Ball the African-American woman was a renowned Chemist, erased from history after she created the first ever vaccine to treat Leprosy.

Alice was born in Seattle, Washington in the United States on the 24th of July 1892. Her dad, Presley Ball was a lawyer, news paper editor and photographer for a paper called The Colored Press and her mother, Laura Louise Ball (Nee: Howard) was a photographer as well. They met in Montana and later moved to Seattle where Alice was born. They were middle-class citizens of America and while not thought to be wealthy in todays money, they lived in significant comfort for the African American minority of the late 19th Century to 20th Century.

When Alice Ball was very young, she and her parents moved to Hawaii briefly between 1902 and 1904 where she attended the Central Grammar School in Honolulu. They moved back to Seattle in 1905 where Alice attended Seattle High School when she was fourteen years old in 1906 and graduated in 1910 when she was around eighteen. She was top of the class in most years, especially in scientific studies. As this was a time in America when racism was rampant, Alice and her family faced a lot of prejudice. Just to give you an example, while living in Honolulu, her dad was referred to as “the African in the Woodpile.” Really terrible if you think of it. Very nasty attitude towards black people back then and is still fairly bad today but not as rude or insensitive as that terminology referring to a well established gentleman… Alice probably faced similar slurs in school as there weren’t many black boys and girls school. Thankfully, this has changed today and America and Europe have a vast multi-cultural population. But there is still work to be done as racism is still prevalent in a lot of societies now.

In 1910, Alice attended her first Bachelor of Science degree in pharmaceutical science and then, in 1912, she achieved a second Bsc in the Science of Pharmacy. Alice then went on to get a Masters degree in Chemistry and was awarded a 1st class honors. Just to add another feat, in 1915, Alice Ball attended The College of Hawaii known today as University of Hawaii and became the not just the first woman but also the first African-America of Color to ever attain a Masters of any kind in American history. She graduated at the age of 23.

It was during her Chemistry master’s that she studied the chemical properties of a plant called the Kava plant. Later this research led to Ms Ball developed the first ever injectable vaccine to treat leprosy when she was just 23 years old. Prior to her discovery, the cure used at the time was ineffective most of the time. Millions of people died from leprosy around the world. It was an oil called chaulmoogra and many people didn’t like taking it for a variety of reasons including

• It didn’t taste nice
• It wasn’t easily absorbed when taken
• And when it was injected, it was too thick and caused painful welts in the site of the needle.

By using her knowledge of organic chemistry, Alice Ball was able to create a formula. Using the Kava plants oils she discovered she could isolate the oils and the acids in the oil. It was from this that she developed a watery substance the human body could absorb easily minus the negative side effects I listed above.

For another three decades, her vaccine was used and was largely successful as a cure. Her research led to over 70 people to be cured and permitted to leave a hospital in Hawaii in 1918. They were happily able to reconnect with their loved ones.

The posthumous honors was hers to claim, however, she died before she was able to publish her research papers. A man named Arthur L. Dean who was a chemist and would become the President of the University of Hawaii discovered her work and he stole her work. Her work became known as the Dean Method for a long time after this theft. It wasn’t until 1922 that her colleague, Dr. Harry T. Holloman wrote an article about her and credited Alice for her work and her legacy returned. Dr. Holloman specifically named it The Ball Method in honor of Alice Ball’s memory.

Her death occurred in 1916 on December 31st when she was just 24 years old. For a long time it was believed that she died after inhaling chlorine gas fumes at the University of Hawaii when an experiment went wrong when she was teaching a group of students. But in order to maintain the University’s status, they covered it up for years and spread the rumor that Ms Ball died from tuberculosis instead of what really happened. Due to her sudden death, it allowed Dean to continue researching and take all the credit for her findings.

Lost to history for over 80 years, in the late 1970s and 1990s,  historians and researchers rediscovered her full contributions to society. Today Alice Ball is a celebrated heroic figure in science and medicine. To add to this, in the year 2000,  Hawaiian governor allotted a day in her memory. This date was the 29th of February which later changed to Alice Ball Day on the 21st of February today. Her recognition continued in 2007 when she was awarded The Medal of Distinction by the University of Hawaii, the University’s highest honour. A bronze plaque was then placed at the bottom of the Chaulmoogra tree from which Alice had plucked the plants at the beginning of her work.

Most recently, in 2019, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine added her name to the frieze at the front of the main building beside the names of Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie. This in turn proves her legacy is paramount in medicinal history in the tropical region and spread around the World.