Alice Ball is a name that was almost erased from history. At just 23 years old, Alice revolutionized the treatment for leprosy—a feared and misunderstood disease that carried a dark history in Hawaii. In this episode, we will explore Alice’s groundbreaking work, her struggle for recognition, and the decades-long fight to reclaim her legacy. Follow us on Instagram @watchhercookpodcast Sources: A Woman Who Changed the World Race Relations During the 1890s Overlooked No More: Alice Ball, a Chemist Who Created a Treatment For Leprosy The Chemist Whose Work Was Stolen From Her UWSOP: Alumni Legend Alice Ball The History of Hansen's Disease In Hawaii Alice Ball: The US Chemist Who Developed the Ball Method A Wholesome Horror: The Stigmas of Leprosy in the 20th Century Kava History on the Islands What is Jim Crow The Compromise of 1877 Why Don’t More of Us Know Her Name? Alice A. Ball is Hidden in History Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
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.
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