Ever a Shadow, Never the Sun

February in America is Black History Month. In the annals of pharmacy history, there is precious little concerning Black pharmacists. Leo Butts of Wisconsin wrote the first scholarly work compiling the contributions of Black pharmacists in 1920. He chose the topic for his Degree of Graduate in Pharmacy thesis and was encouraged to pursue this work by his mentor, Nellie Wakeman, the first woman instructor at the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy (1). Still today, we see minorities supporting minorities to reach their full potential. Throughout his writing process, however, Butts expressed his disappointment that there was “scarcely a reference to the Negro in pharmacy” in the greatest pharmacy history library in the US (2).
 
In his thesis, Butts acknowledges a truth that characterizes the Black experience: “it is absolutely necessary for the colored druggists to give not only as good but better services than his white competitors, if he is to be even moderately successful (2).” His work predates the National Pharmaceutical Association by 27 years (3). The only national option for the 1400 Black pharmacists at the time was to join the physicians and dentists in the National Medical Association (2,3).  Only in the American South were state organizations available, and their main focus was improving sanitation in Black neighborhoods.
 
In only 16 pages, Butts recounts the most complete history of Black pharmacists to date.
 
Five years later, another student pharmacist writes on the subject. Mozella E. Lewis, likewise, bemoans the lack of Black recognition, and seeks to fill the gaps: “Mention has not been made…because our people have been timid and no other people have thought enough of us to give us serious thought (4).” Even so, Lewis’s words are tainted with the Eurocentric disdain of her African roots as, after extolling the progress of Greeks and Hebrews, she complimentarily concedes that her ancestor, “in his savage way, was a great pharmacist.”
 
Her thesis contains lists of names, cities, and achievements of Black pharmacists beginning with James T. Wormeley, the first graduate of the Pharmaceutical College of Howard University. He graduated in 1870 from the program started three years prior. Following the list of Howard graduates, Lewis lists Black graduates from White institutions, approximately 100 in total, along with their successes. She closes with this:
 
These statistics give us an idea of what the Negro has done in pharmacy, and should encourage the young Negroes interested in this work to improve the many branches of this science in which the Negro has become famous and further develop those phases in which he seemingly has not yet entered to any great extent, so that the Negro will be an outstanding light in the development of pharmaceutical science (4).
  
Written by: Christian Brown
 
Bibliography

1.  Bond G. Leo Butts, UW Pharmacy Pioneer . UW Madison School of Pharmacy Historical Alumni Information. https://pharmacy.wisc.edu/alumni-friends/events-awards-programs/historical-information/leo-butts-uw-pharmacy-pioneer/. Accessed January 13, 2021.
2.  Butts LV. The Negro in Pharmacy. 1920.
3.  NPhA - Home. https://nationalpharmaceuticalassociation.org/. Accessed January 14, 2021.
4. Lewis ME. History of the Negro Pharmacist. Am Drug. 1925.
​