In 1916, Ella Phillips Stewart graduated from the University of Pittsburgh* School of Pharmacy. She was the first African American woman to graduate from the Pitt’s Pharmacy program.

Later, she became the first African American woman to pass the Pennsylvania State Board Pharmacology Exam.

In 1920, Ella married William Wyatt Stewart, who was also a pharmacist. The couple worked in a variety of drug stores before opening their own business in Toledo, Ohio. Stewart’s Pharmacy was established July 1922.

Ella and William lived above the pharmacy and often had well-known African Americans visit like Marian Anderson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Stewart’s Pharmacy remained open until 1945.

*The University of Pittsburgh is also known as “Pitt”.