Black Pharmacists Play Important Role in Justice, Health Equity

Disclaimer: the views of this video are those of John Clark and not the institution

Black pharmacists have played a central, yet often overlooked, role in the history of civil rights and the ongoing fight for health equity in the United States. John E. Clark, PharmD, MS, FASHP, FFSHP, an associate professor at Taneja College of Pharmacy at the University of South Florida, highlights how Black pharmacists were not peripheral figures but part of the essential infrastructure of the civil rights movement.

Clark traces this legacy back to the end of the Civil War in 1865, when formerly enslaved people were freed with no access to income, education, or healthcare. In the decades that followed, Black death rates nearly doubled compared with white populations, largely due to poor health and lack of medical access. He connects those historic inequities to today’s persistent health disparities, arguing that structural differences in the health care system created long ago continue to shape outcomes for Black communities.

He also discusses the need to recognize and teach the stories of influential Black pharmacist leaders such as Aaron Henry, whose political and social impact is rarely discussed. By better understanding the connection between civil rights and health outcomes, pharmacists today—especially young Black pharmacists—can draw on historical strategies to address modern health inequities. Clark calls for greater awareness of this rich but underreported history so that pharmacists can more fully embrace their role in advancing social justice, civil rights, and improved health outcomes for marginalized communities.

“Sometimes there's maybe a little less recognition related to the belief between civil rights and health outcomes,” Clark said. “If we were to look carefully at that and realize that we may need to maybe understand that a little bit better or have it become part of our normal thought process when we're dealing with our patients, it may help to have a way to improve our understanding of the importance of a pharmacist’s role in this whole process.”