Interview
From Hawai'i to Selma
Born into a family whose fight for Black equality and justice goes back more than 140 years. My Great-Granduncle, John Oliver, born a slave, became an attorney, was on the Grand Jury that indicted Jefferson Davis President of the Confederate States. May 1866.
The Murphy-Oliver Family, of which I am the oldest of the seventh generation, has owned Afro-American Newspapers, for 110 years (at one time the largest chain of Black owned newspapers in the world).
There has never been a time in my life when I have not been a part of a "cause". The newspaper was always championing the cause of "Civil Rights". Which has afforded me the opportunity to know most of the great Black, leaders and martyrs of our time.
I was one of the first 5 Black girls to Integrate Baltimore's All white female Western high school, September 1954.
For more than 30 years of living in Hawai`i and being a part of the Pacific- Asia Indigenous Community, I have come to know, admire & respect some of the great Human Rights leaders, not only in Hawai`i, but around the world. Having meet most of the Heads of State from around the Pacific & The United Nations. Being involved in the Indigenous community gives me a perspective into the world that "western culture" does not provide, it has also fostered a greater appreciation for my own culture and its roots.
I'm Past-President of The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coalition-Hawaii, a position I held for 6 years and one of the original people who fought to make King Day a holiday in Hawaii.
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