Jump to content

Mozella Esther Lewis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mozella Esther Lewis
A young black woman wearing a white top, from a 1919 yearbook.
Mozella Esther Lewis, from the 1919 yearbook of the Howard University Academy
Bornabout 1901
Chattanooga, Tennessee, US
DiedApril 16, 1945
Los Angeles, California, US
Other namesMoselle Ester Lewis, Mozelle E. Lewis
Occupation(s)Pharmacist, businesswoman
Years active1925–1945

Mozella Esther Lewis (born about 1901 – died April 16, 1945) was an American pharmacist and businesswoman. She wrote an early history of African-American achievements in the pharmacy profession, and ran a drug store with another Black woman pharmacist in Los Angeles for over a decade.

Early life

[edit]

Mozella Esther Lewis was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the daughter of Alexander Lewis and Eugenia Dangerfield Lewis. Her father worked as a waiter on the railroad. After her parents' divorce, she was raised in the home of her paternal grandmother, Savannah Lewis.[1] She attended Chattanooga schools until she enrolled at Howard University's preparatory school, from which she graduated in 1919.[2][3]

Lewis completed studies in the Howard University School of Pharmacy in 1925. Her thesis, "History of the Negro in Pharmacy", explored the history of African-American achievements in the pharmacy profession, including a biographical listing of 176 African-American pharmacists. Her thesis was awarded a medal by the Howard faculty,[4] and republished in The American Druggist professional publication.[1][5]

Career

[edit]

After graduating from Howard University, Lewis was a pharmacist at the Tuskegee Institute Hospital, and in Washington, D.C. and North Carolina. She moved to Los California in 1933. In 1934,[6] with another Black woman pharmacist, Helen Lee Williams Hairston,[7] she opened the L & W Drug Store in Los Angeles.[8][9] She was active in community organizations,[10] including the YWCA, the NAACP, and the Southern California Medical, Dental, and Pharamaceutical Association.[1] She and Williams were both officers in the medical sorority Rho Psi Phi.[11]

Personal life

[edit]

Mozella Esther Lewis died in 1945, in her forties, in Los Angeles, California.[1] Her grave is in Evergreen Cemetery, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 2016, her thesis was republished in the journal Pharmacy in History.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Gregory Bond (2016). "Recovering and Expanding Mozella Esther Lewis's Pioneering History of African-American Pharmacy Students, 1870–1925". Pharmacy in History. 58 (1–2): 3–23. doi:10.26506/pharmhist.58.1-2.0003. JSTOR 10.26506/pharmhist.58.1-2.0003.
  2. ^ "Howard High Graduation". Chattanooga Daily Times. 1917-06-01. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-02-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Howard University, "The Academy Final: 1919" (1919): 22.
  4. ^ "Love is Urged as Life Guide for Graduates at Howard U." Evening Star. 1925-06-06. p. 26. Retrieved 2020-02-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Lewis, Mozella Esther. “The History of the Negro in Pharmacy,” American Druggist (August 1925): 17–21.
  6. ^ "Local Women Open Pharmacy Next Saturday". California Eagle. 1934-12-21. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-05-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Negro who's who in California. San Francisco Public Library. 1948. p. 33 – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ^ "L&W Pharmacy (advertisement)". California Eagle. 1941-06-05. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-05-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Extending the Season's Greetings (advertisement)". California Eagle. 1944-12-21. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-05-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Rho Club". California Eagle. 1934-08-03. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-05-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Rho Psi Phi". California Eagle. 1935-11-22. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-05-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Lewis, Mozella E. (2016). "History of the Negro in Pharmacy". Pharmacy in History. 58 (1–2): 24–35. doi:10.26506/pharmhist.58.1-2.0024. ISSN 0031-7047. JSTOR 10.26506/pharmhist.58.1-2.0024.
[edit]