Carlotta Stewart Lai

Carlotta Stewart Lai
Lai around age 19
Born(1881-09-16)September 16, 1881
Brooklyn, New York
DiedJuly 6, 1952(1952-07-06) (aged 70)
Honolulu, Hawaii
NationalityAmerican
EducationOahu College (Punahou School)
Occupation(s)Teacher, school principal
SpouseYun Tim Lai
Parent(s)Thomas McCants Stewart, Charlotte L. Harris Stewart
RelativesMcCant Stewart, Gilchrist Stewart (siblings)

Carlotta Stewart Lai (September 16, 1881 – July 6, 1952) was an educator and administrator in the Hawaiian public schools for four decades. She was the first African American school principal in Honolulu. Lai, an African American from New York, worked as a teacher and educational leader at a time when these occupations were largely closed to African Americans on the U. S. mainland, and she achieved professional success at a time when African Americans represented only 0.2 percent of the population of Hawaii.