The Woman Who Found the Cure for the Untreatable
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What is the story behind Alice Ball's overlooked legacy?
Imagine spending months planting a garden. You choose the soil carefully. You water it each morning. You stay up late designing the perfect landscape, measuring the light, learning what grows best in the shade. But just when the first flower blooms, someone else picks them, signs their name at the bottom of the bouquet, and opens their own flower shop. Things aren't always what they seem. Sometimes beautiful stories come with dark and dishonest twists, and often the stories we're told and believe are not the whole picture. But eventually, the truth does find its way to the surface. Even when it's buried or overlooked, it has a way of resurfacing, rising through the cracks. The work, the stories, the legacy, they can't stay hidden forever. In the end, truth will always prevail.
This is Watcher Cook. Hello everyone, I'm Cassie. And I'm Danielle. Welcome back to Watch Her Cook, a podcast dedicated to sharing the incredible lives of women who have taken their power back throughout history.
I loved your introduction because you're such a garden girl.
I'm trying to be. I'm really, I'm getting into my garden era. It's funny that you say that because right before we hopped on this recording... Al and I were both, my partner, Al and I were both on Pinterest looking at how to design gardens to make them really pretty this year. And he was going over all these plants. He's like, I'm going to build you a big awning and all the wood, nice fencing around it to make it fun. And he was finding these branch sculptures to put around and little birdhouses to throw around the garden. So I'm in my garden era for sure.
Quite the improvement from last year when you're like, I'm just throwing wildflower seed everywhere and hoping for the best.
Hey, we'll see. Some of them are supposed to pop up the second year. So we'll see how I did this year, I guess. Well, we aren't talking about gardens today. But we are talking about an incredible woman named Alice Ball. She is absolutely incredible. And you may have never heard of her because her story was kept secret for quite some time. Alice Augusta Ball was a trailblazing scientist whose work profoundly reshaped medical treatments for leprosy in the early 20th century. With an unwavering drive and relentless curiosity, she discovered a method that transformed an age-old remedy into something far more effective, offering relief to those who had long suffered without hope. Today, her legacy continues to inspire those who seek innovation in the face of adversity.
Alice was born on July 24, 1892, in Seattle, Washington, to Laura Ball and James Presley Ball, a lawyer, photographer, and editor for The Colored Citizen, a newspaper aimed at serving African American citizens in the U.S. Her grandfather, James Ball Sr., was a renowned photographer and one of the first Black Americans to use daguerreotype, the groundbreaking photographic technique that captured images on silver or copper plates. While her family was deeply involved in supporting African American rights and culture, it is alleged that Alice was listed as white on her birth certificate.
To understand why, it's important to consider the political and social climate of the time. The 1880s and 1890s were a deeply challenging time for Black Americans, shaped by racial segregation and economic hardship. The period from 1865 to 1877 was known as Reconstruction, a time when the federal government attempted to rebuild the South and integrate formerly enslaved people into society after the Civil War. During Reconstruction, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were put into place. This abolished slavery, granted equal protection by law for Black Americans, and granted Black men the right to vote. In addition, organizations like the Freedmen's Bureau, a U.S. government agency, helped provide education and economic support to Black communities. However, white Southerners resisted these changes.
The Reconstruction came to an end with the Compromise of 1877, a political deal that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election. In exchange for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president, federal troops were withdrawn from the South.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the story behind Alice Ball's overlooked legacy?
0:01–4:36
2
Who was Alice Ball and what were her early life and family background?
4:36–6:56
3
What was the political and social climate for Black Americans during Alice Ball's time?
6:56–11:01
4
How did Alice Ball's family navigate racial identity challenges?
11:01–14:44
5
What were Alice Ball’s academic achievements and scientific contributions?
14:44–16:39
6
What is kava and how did Alice Ball contribute to its scientific understanding?
16:39–20:26
7
How did Alice Ball's work gain recognition in the medical field?
20:26–22:21
8
What is leprosy and how did Alice Ball's discovery impact its treatment?
22:21–36:56