Side A: Ella Nora Phillips Myers Stewart was one of the first practicing Black women pharmacists in the United States. After she married William Stewart in 1920, the couple settled in Youngstown, then moved to Toledo where they opened Stewart’s Pharmacy in 1922. Having broken professional barriers, Ella Stewart became a tireless civil rights champion. Advocating for Black women she was active in the Enterprise Charity Club and was a 1937 charter member of Beta Lambda and Toledo Alumnae chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She served on the National Association of Colored Women Clubs, the Women’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Department of Labor, and Pan-Pacific Southeast Asia Women’s Association. Toledo’s Ella P. Stewart Academy for Girls was named in her honor in 1961. She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1978.
Side B: Stewart’s Pharmacy was located at 566 Indiana Avenue on the corner of Indiana and City Park in Toledo. The first Black-owned pharmacy in the city, it was a model of Black entrepreneurship as Ella and William “Doc” Stewart ran the business and hired their team of clerks. Providing much-needed medical services to Toledo’s African American community, the store quickly became a social center where Ella Stewart promoted civil action to improve the neighborhood and lives of her customers. Quietly working to integrate theaters, hotels, and other local businesses, the Stewart’s opened their home when entertainers such as Marian Anderson and Paul Roberson were turned away by local businesses. Ella Stewart fought for economic justice, working with doctors to fulfill prescriptions for her poorer clients. The couple retired and sold the pharmacy building in 1945.
Sponsors: William G. Pomeroy Foundation, Toledo Alumnae Chapter, Delta Signma Theta Sorority, Inc., Ohio History Connection
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