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.
Read more about Leo Butts’ life on the UW School of Pharmacy website.
