AIHP Honors Leo Butts, First African-American Graduate of UW School of Pharmacy - American Institute of the History of Pharmacy

Leo Butts on the UW Football Team in 1918

Leo Vinton Butts, class of 1920, was the first known African American graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy and the first known African-American to appear in a game for the UW varsity football team.

The son of one of Madison’s earliest African-American residents, he served his country during World War One; he was a civil rights activist; he owned and operated a pharmacy; he represented his schools on the football field; and, in his UW Ph.G. thesis, he was one of the first researchers to attempt to record the history and the contemporary status of African-Americans in the profession of pharmacy.

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AIHP Thanks National Association Sponsors

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American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Donor ($5,000)

Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, Donor ($5,000)

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Contributor ($2,500)

American Pharmacists Association, Contributor ($2,500)

National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Contributor ($2,500)

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AIHP Events

AIHP Calendar of Events

Upcoming events hosted by AIHP

November 6, 2025, 3:00 pm (Central): AIHP Annual Business Meeting - Save the Date!
November 19, 2025, 11:00 am (Central): Pharmacy History Working Group: Lauren Thompson, Kennesaw State University.
December 17, 2025, 11:00 am (Central): Pharmacy History Working Group: Beyond medical pluralism: Interactions between physician-pharmacists and other craftspeople in the Graeco-Roman world with Laurence Totelin, Cardiff University.
January, 21, 2026, 11:00 am (Central): Pharmacy History Working Group: Spring Semester Welcome Back Event: A critical reading of Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, hosted by Kelly O'Donnell, Towson Unviersity.
February 18, 2026, 11:00 am (Central): Pharmacy History Working Group: Audrey Ke Zhao, UC Santa Cruz & CHSTM Research Fellow
March 18, 2026, 11:00 am (Central): Pharmacy History Working Group: Ryan A. Kashanipour, University of Arizona

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Calendar of Events

Upcoming events of interest to pharmacists and historians of pharmacy, pharmaceuticals, medicines, science, and related fields.

November 13-16, 2025: History of Science Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
November 16-18, 2025: APhA Joint Federal Pharmacy Seminar 2025 , Fort Lauderdale, FL.
December 7-11, 2025: ASHP Midyear, Las Vegas, NV.
July 18-21, 2026: AACP Pharmacy Education, Grapevine, TX.