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Robert Carter lll (1847-1908),
the first licensed African-American pharmacist in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts began his career in New Bedford.
A few years before his birth in New Bedford his ancestors had migrated to the city to escape the southern oppression.
An anecdote:
As a youth Carter was shoveling snow after school for a local pharmacist and found a wallet with a lot of money in it.
He turned it over to the pharmacist.
The pharmacist rewarded him by taking him under his wing as an apprentice.
By the time Carter was 20 years old he had mastered the trade
In 1871 he is listed as working for William P. S. Cadwell a druggist and chemist with a shop at 49 Purchase St.
In 1875 he and his wife, a "hairworker" are living at 66 Purchase st.
In 1887 he is listed as a druggist at 141 Purchase St. and living at 237 Kempton St.
In 1892 he is listed as a druggist at a shop on the corner of Kempton St and Cedar St. and he is living at 722 Kempton.
He was certified as a registered pharmacist on January 5, 1896 and came to own and managed 5 pharmacies in New Bedford and Boston.
In New Bedford directories for 1897, 1898 and 1904 he is not listed in New Bedford and my have gone to Boston by then. This is conjecture. His career lasted 37 years.
For more on the subject read the book "Pills, Potions, Powders and Poisons: A Pioneering African-American in Pharmacy" written by the African-American author, historian and educator Robert C.Hayden Jr.
The author's great aunt, a retired school teacher had told him stories about Robert Carter and when she died in 1971 he undertook the task of dealing with some of her things and found a note book that had belonged to Robert Carter lll containing notes and formulas for such as "Carter's Toothache Powder" among other things of note. |
