Ella Nora Phillips Stewart (March 6, 1893 – November 27, 1987) was one of the first African-American female pharmacists in the United States. Stewart wished to attend the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Pharmacy but was met with discrimination when she was told admissions were closed. She persisted however, and although segregated from other students, she graduated with high marks passing her state exam in 1916, to become the first licensed African-American female pharmacist in Pennsylvania and one of the earliest practicing African-American female pharmacists in the country.
She was the first African-American women to earn a Pharmacy degree, a distinction in the United States and the first of her race and gender to do so in Pennsylvania.
A successful businesswoman, Stewart eventually settled in Toledo, Ohio, where she operated a pharmacy in the heart of that city’s African-American neighborhood along with her husband. In the 1950s Stewart gained many appointments that took her to Asia as a goodwill ambassador for the American government. In her retirement she received numerous awards but said that the naming of a Toledo elementary school after her was the recognition that she valued the most.
Awards: University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Distinguished Alumni Award, 1969; Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, 1978; honoree, Ella P. Stewart Day, Toledo, OH, February 28, 1984; Toledo Civic Hall of Fame Inaugural inductee, 1999.
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