James P. Ball Sr.

Both her parents were powerful: Her father, James P. Ball, was a lawyer and editor of a black newspaper while her mother, Laura Ball, was a photographer.
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James P. Ball Sr., her grandfather, was an abolitionist and a highly regarded photographer whose work was focused on prominent black leaders.It appears Ball was destined to follow in her family's influential footsteps.

After attending elementary school in Hawaii, Ball and her family moved back to the mainland where she attended high school in Seattle.

She attended the UW after high school and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmaceutical chemistry.Her only mark on the campus from that time is a mention in the 1914 UW yearbook, The Tyee.

After graduating from the UW, Ball returned to Oahu where she attended the College of Hawaii (later the University of Hawaii) as its first graduate student.She was not only the first black student to receive a master's degree from the institute, but she was also the first black woman to graduate with that distinction.