African American Women Firsts-3

African American Women in Pharmacy Firsts

1924

Julia Pearl Hughes

first African American female pharmacist to run for political office in the state of New York and the U.S. She ran as a Republican for New York State Assembly 19th District.

1925

Mozella Esther Lewis

was first African American female to be selected as the recipient of the Lehn & Fink Medal for publishing the first comprehensive study about black pharmacists.

1925

Sarah M. Jeffers

first known African American female to graduate from the University of California (Berkeley) College of Pharmacy.

1927

Muriel I. Dorsey

first known African American female to graduate from the City College of Detroit College of Pharmacy (later became Wayne State University).

1928

Olive D. Crosthwait

one of the first African-American female pharmacist insurance entrepreneurs. She was the co-founder of the Jackson Mutual Life Insurance Company and the Chicago Insurance Association.

1928

Anna M. Logan Beckwith

among the first African American female pharmacists drug store owners in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1929

Gwendolyn Wilson Fowler

first African American woman to receive the Ph.C. degree from Des Moines College of Pharmacy (today Drake University).

1930

Harriet Beecher Stowe Marble

first African American female pharmacist in Lexington, Kentucky. She was also among the first African American female pharmacists to be licensed in four states, namely, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and Oklahoma.

1930

Marie A. Brown

among the first African American women to attend the University of Iowa, College of Pharmacy. She was the second in the school’s history to be awarded a pharmacy degree, only to Lorena Suggs.

1934

Mozella Lewis and Helen Lee Hairston,

were the first known African American female pharmacists to come to together to form a successful partnership as drugstore owners in California. The two open the L&W Drug Store at 1530 Griffith Avenue in Los Angeles, California.