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You are here: Home / Writing / Doris Duke: First White Woman Surfer In Hawaii

Doris Duke: First White Woman Surfer In Hawaii

November 11th, 2014 by Sallie Bingham in Writing 10 Comments

From the series: Doris Duke

Find out more about my book, The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke, now available in paperback.

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[As Peter points out in the comments below, I learned several months after this post was originally written that the photo is of Duke Kahanamoku and Viola Hartmann, tandem surfing in California, circa 1922. Not Doris Duke as originally stated.]

Viola Hartmann and Duke Kahanamoku Surfing in Hawaii

Viola Hartmann and Duke Kahanamoku

Why did Doris Duke learn to surf in Hawaii in the 1930’s when upper-class white women were anxious about exposing their bodies in the new, abbreviated bathing suits?

Doris’ ease with her tallness—she measured 6’1” in her twenties when she claimed Hawaii for her own—meant that she was used to taking up space; she was also an accomplished dancer who knew the secret of balance: slightly bent knees. Her comfort with her own body shows in her girlhood photos where she often sits on a low step, patting her dog, knees spread wide, which even today seems to be forbidden to many girls and women, at least those who occasionally wear skirts.

She knew her effect on people, especially men, how she could bewitch and bewilder them, with her sphinx smile and slit eyes, her off-hand, askance look, as though the person in front of her was only appearing in her peripheral vision. She had seen her effect fascinate and terrify about equally her first husband, whom she would eventually divorce, her mother, her classmates at her girls’ school in New York, and the servants in her parent’s Manhattan mansion, one of whom remembered her bounding all over the house, kicking up her legs, probably the first and the last time that austere habitat had witnessed such high jinks.

Nothing could prevent Doris from seizing that moment in the surf at Hawaii when she reared high in the air, arms thrown back and chin lifted, exulting in her power to do what she wanted.

Long before Title Nine released money and made laws that opened sports to women in schools and colleges, Doris Duke made physical movement her own. To stand on Sam Kahanamoku’s shoulders was to claim her place in the world as a figurehead, a beacon, a woman with “too much money,” as one demeaning book is titled, too much power, too much imagination.

She would suffer, of course, because of who she was—scandals, rumors, more attention than, later on, she wanted. But nothing could prevent her from seizing that moment in the surf at Hawaii when she reared high in the air, arms thrown back and chin lifted, exulting in her power to do what she wanted.

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In Writing Doris Duke Hawaii Sam Kahanamoku

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. Patrick Moore on Facebook says

    November 11th, 2014 at 9:04 am

    Amazing! When will new DD bio be coming out?

    Reply
    • Sallie Bingham says

      November 14th, 2014 at 2:37 pm

      Patrick, the pub date has not been set. The manuscript is due June 15, 2015.

      Reply
  2. Ruth Greenstein says

    November 11th, 2014 at 10:56 am

    Editing a novel about an elite female surfer set in the near-future, when surfing is an Olympic sport; thrilled to learn that Doris Duke led the way. So eager to read this bio, Sallie!

    Reply
  3. Thomas Lipscomb on Facebook says

    November 12th, 2014 at 10:58 am

    particularly when the board was 8 feet long and weighed 60 lbs

    Reply
  4. Patrick Moore on Facebook says

    November 20th, 2014 at 11:21 am

    Thanks Sallie & keep us posted!

    Reply
  5. Daniel O'Driscoll on Facebook says

    November 29th, 2014 at 10:04 am

    I like this photo Sallie! Grew up surfing in So. Cal.

    Reply
  6. Peter WARR says

    March 11th, 2016 at 2:08 am

    Whoops….

    The photograph above is of Duke Kahanamoku and Viola Hartmann (later Cady), tandem surfing at Laguna Beach, California, in 1922.

    Champion diver and swimmer Viola Hartmann knew Duke Kahanamoku when he lived in Los Angeles, CA.

    Please see: http://www.latimes.com/la-me-krahn2jun02_gz3p0nke-photo.html

    Doris Duke was NOT the first White Woman Surfer in Hawaii!

    There are Post-Doctoral peer reviewed published research papers evidencing this assertion – including a photograph of a White Women surfer at Waikiki, Honolulu surfing in the 1910’s – which was some 20 years before Doris Duke arrived at Waikiki and was taught to surf there by the Kahanamoku Brothers.

    Reply
    • Sallie Bingham says

      March 11th, 2016 at 1:49 pm

      Peter – you are correct about the photo being of Viola Hartmann, not Doris Duke. Elizabeth at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library did some research for me back in May, 2015 on this topic and shared the results, along with this link: surfingheritage.org. At the time, we neglected to update the post with this information. Thank you for pointing this out, you clearly know your surfing history!

      Reply
      • Peter WARR says

        March 13th, 2016 at 9:03 pm

        No worries.

        I am informed Doris Duke’s baby daughter Arden, was born prematurely and sadly died soon after birth.

        I have read Pony Duke’s biography on Doris Duke which alleges this baby girl who was born in 1940 in Hawaii – had brown skin and was fathered by Duke Kahanamoku.

        However, I was informed in January 2015 by Duke Kahanamoku’s official biographer (Ms Sandra KImberely Hall) – that the father of Doris Duke’s baby girl born in 1940 was in fact Sam Kahanamoku – one of Duke’s younger Brothers and NOT Duke K.

        For information, Sam Kahanamoku has fathered another daughter out of wedlock named Sonia V. Lien – who has just passed away. Her book “From Alone to Aloha” authored by K David Kragen inter alia deals with her discovery of her Paternity.

        I would be interested to learn of any evidence based research which you may have or know of – which informs who in fact – was the father of Doris Duke’s daughter Arden??

        Reply
  7. Caroline Gonsalves says

    February 25th, 2025 at 7:25 pm

    A.K.A. Caroline Gonsalves
    Raised In Sacramento By Jack And Bander Louise Harris Gonsalves

    Reply

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