In recognition of Black History Month, we’re highlighting a movement during the Great Depression to improve working conditions for pharmacists – and the participation in that movement by one Black alum, Bertrand Leonard Roberts '28.
Though he attended the College almost a century ago, Roberts’ efforts made an impact on an ACPHS faculty member’s work much more recently. A quote Roberts gave to the Black-owned, Harlem-based New York Amsterdam News in 1936 was referenced in a 2018 article on the Pharmacists Union of Greater New York by ACPHS History Instructor Daniel J. Smith.
Smith did not know, however, that the quoted gentleman was an alum until last month, when a question posed to ACPHS librarian Kate Wantuch led her to research Roberts. His image in the 1928 Alembic Pharmakon (above) had intrigued her; Roberts is the only Black person in that issue of the College yearbook, and among only a few to appear in previous issues.
Here's what Wantuch discovered: Roberts immigrated to New York City from Trinidad in 1920, at age 19. By 1925, he was a married laborer who had taken in boarders, according to the New York City Census of that year. He attended Albany College of Pharmacy from 1926-1928, earning his degree from the two-year program. He later returned to New York City and helped organize pharmacists in Harlem, which led to his quote in the newspaper.
We asked Smith to share some of his research on the labor movement that Roberts took part in.
Tell us a little about the movement to create the Pharmacists Union of Greater New York. What were the issues fueling it?
Dan Smith: The growth of cut-rate and chain drugstores and the economic collapse of the Great Depression stimulated the development of trade unions among pharmacists and drug clerks.
The specific issues that led to the formation of the Pharmacists Union of Greater New York were long working hours, low pay and rising unemployment. Many pharmacies required employees to work very long hours at low wages. Indeed, Section 1357 of the State Education Law, which regulated pharmacy practice, stated that pharmacists and drugstore clerks could work up to 70 hours per week. Another concern was that some pharmacies employed non-licensed persons to dispense medications, in violation of state law, which exacerbated the unemployment problem for pharmacists in the city.
How were these issues different (or not) for Black pharmacists at the time?
Black pharmacists faced many of the same problems and challenges common to all pharmacists in New York. One additional problem was racial discrimination. Many pharmacies in New York City would simply not hire Black pharmacists, regardless of their experience or qualifications. Pharmacies would often employ Blacks as porters but would not employ them as pharmacists. Porters would stock and deliver goods and clean the stores.
In 1936, there were over 150 drugstores in Harlem, N.Y. At the time, most of the population of Harlem was Black. Despite this, only seven Black pharmacists were employed in Harlem, while 40 Black pharmacists were unemployed.
Interestingly, the president of the Harlem Pharmacists Association, which represented drugstore owners, was a Black man named Oscar Williams.
You had a paper published in 2018 by that covered this issue. You referenced a quote from Bertrand L. Roberts ’28 that had appeared in the New York Amsterdam News in 1936. What was Mr. Roberts highlighting for the paper?
Mr. Roberts was raising awareness of widespread employment discrimination against Black pharmacists in New York. The Urban League, the NAACP and other organizations had been protesting racial discrimination in employment in New York, but little attention had been paid to the struggles of Black pharmacists specifically.
Knowing what you do about the period, and what Mr. Roberts advocated for, is there anything you can extrapolate about his work? What kind of obstacles might he have faced as an immigrant advocate for Black pharmacists?
While I have little information about Mr. Roberts, I do note that he graduated from Albany College of Pharmacy in 1928. He would have been just beginning his career as a pharmacist when the Great Depression began in October 1929.
Labor activists in the 1930s often faced accusations that they were “outside agitators” and communists. As an immigrant, Mr. Roberts may have been particularly vulnerable to accusations of being an outsider or disloyal to the nation. Many of the leaders of the Pharmacists Union of Greater New York were members of the Communist Party. I do not know what Mr. Roberts’ citizenship status was; however, if he was not a citizen, he may have had fears of being arrested and deported for supporting the labor movement.
Did pharmacists’ organizing ultimately improve their employment situation? If so, to what extent did Black pharmacists share in those gains?
PUGNY’s organizational effort in Harlem in 1936-1937 was very successful. In response to the organizing campaign, over 150 drugstores in Harlem agreed to sign union contracts. The contracts raised the wages of pharmacists and reduced their working hours.
Additionally, the contracts stipulated that any drugstore in Harlem that hired a new drug clerk must employ at least one Black drug clerk.
Black pharmacists later remained loyal to PUGNY. In 1948, the New York Retail Druggists Association instituted a lockout to destroy PUGNY. Despite this, Black pharmacists and drugstore owners supported PUGNY. In fact, the only 12 drugstores in Harlem to resist the lockout were the 12 drugstores owned by Black pharmacists.