Mozella Esther Lewis
American pharmacist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Mozella Esther Lewis | |
|---|---|
Mozella Esther Lewis, from the 1919 yearbook of the Howard University Academy | |
| Born | about 1901 Chattanooga, Tennessee, US |
| Died | April 16, 1945 Los Angeles, California, US |
| Other names | Moselle Ester Lewis, Mozelle E. Lewis |
| Occupations | Pharmacist, businesswoman |
| Years active | 1925–1945 |
Early life
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
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
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]
