Ella P. Stewart

Stewart was born Ella Nora Phillips, in Stringtown, a small village near Berryville, in Clark County, Virginia, the oldest of the four children of Henry H. Philips and Eliza T. (Carr) Phillips. Her parents were sharecroppers. in order to marry Charles Myers, who was a classmate there. In the same year, Stewart passed the state examination becoming the first African American female pharmacist in the state of Pennsylvania and one of the first African American female pharmacists in the country. == Career ==

Stewart initially worked as an assistant pharmacist for the Mendelsson Drug Company, owned by two classmates from the University of Pittsburgh. the first Black-owned pharmacy in Toledo. ==Civic activities==

By the 1930s Stewart became a leading member of community groups in Toledo, including the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and the Enterprise Charity Club, a social-service organization run by African-American women. As leader of the NACWC, Stewart spoke out against segregation, discrimination, and racist stereotypes. In 1961 she became an inaugural member of the Toledo Board of Community Relations, which worked to improve race relations in the city, and to ensure enforcement of civil-rights legislation. Stewart's civic activities eventually took on an international dimension: in 1952 she was appointed as an American delegate to the International Conference of Women of the World, held in Athens, Greece. She subsequently spent time during the 1950s touring as a goodwill ambassador for the United States; in 1954 one such U.S. State Department tour took her to several nations in Southeast Asia, including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In 1963 she was appointed to the United States commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and in her role, she travelled around the world as a US goodwill ambassador. Stewart spent the rest of her life in Toledo, remaining active as a volunteer and philanthropist. ==Personal==

Ella Stewart's husband, William Stewart, died in 1976 at the age of 83. She moved into a retirement home a few years later, in 1980. == Legacy ==

Ella Nora Phillips Stewart is known not only for becoming one of the first African American female pharmacists but also for her struggles against discrimination and her impact in the community. The Ella P. Stewart Scrapbooks are housed at Bowling Green State University. Selected awards and honors • 1961: A new school in Toledo was named in her honor, the Ella P. Stewart Elementary School (later: Ella P. Stewart Academy for Girls). In subsequent years Stewart volunteered there regularly. • 1969: Named to the roster of Distinguished Alumni of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy • 1974: Honorary doctorate, University of Toledo • 1978: Inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame • 1999: Inaugural inductee, posthumously, Toledo Civic Hall of Fame • 2023: Conference room at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy named in her honor. == References ==