There, Beckwith made friends with many locals including members of the wealthy Alexander family who later sponsored her folklore work, and she developed an early interest in Hawaiian folk dancing.

[3] Her formal education in anthropology did not begin till the 1900s, as her interests in Hawaiian folk customs and literature felt out of place in the English academic curriculum.

[2] In 1906, Beckwith obtained a Master of Arts degree in anthropology after studying under Franz Boas at Columbia University and completing a thesis on Hopi and Kwatiutl traditional dances.

[5] The book is noted for presenting Black culture as a rational system[2] and was the subject of an extended review in the Journal of American Folklore by Melville J. Herskovits,[8] to which Beckwith responded.

[9] Although not an uncritical review, Herskovits – an anthropologist who specialised on Africa – praised Beckwith for her detailed descriptions of customs, so much so that "he felt able to identify some as not merely African in origin but specifically, say, as Yoruba or Ashanti".

[2] Beckwith also studied her own community while at Vassar, working to collect folk songs from the descendants of Dutch settlers in the Hudson Valley as well as the beliefs and traditions of modern college women.

[2] Beckwith died on January 28, 1959, in Berkeley and is buried on Maui in Makawao Cemetery, which is also the final resting place of her parents, brother, sister, and childhood friend Annie Alexander.