BlackPast.Org: Hawaii and Betsey Stockton

BlackPast.org is a10,000 page reference center dedicated to providing information to the general public on African American history in the United States and on the history of the more than one billion people of African ancestry around the world. It is online and available to everyone all of the time.

One of its features story is about the woman pictured here, Betsey Stockton, who is known to us in Hawaii:

"Betsey Stockton was born into slavery in Princeton, New Jersey in 1798.  She belonged to Robert Stockton, a local attorney.  Presented to Stockton’s daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. Ashbel Green, then President of Princeton College, as a gift, Betsy Stockton was now in a household that encouraged her ambitious and intelligent attitude.  She was given books and was allowed to attend evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary.  

"When Stockton expressed her interest in becoming a Christian missionary she was granted her freedom and accepted into membership by the American Board of Commissions for Foreign Missionaries.  On November 20, 1822, Stockton and 20 other missionaries set sail from New Haven, Connecticut for the Hawaiian Islands.  Upon her arrival Stockton became the first known African American woman in Hawaii."

Looking for a portable, substantive online bridge to the past on African American history? We strongly urge you to check out BlackPast.org/