![]() ![]() Despite his training, the community - including some of the local physicians - thought Palmer was too young. According to Palmer, many people in the African American community had not seen a Black pharmacist and certainly not one as young as Palmer. In Lexington, Palmer’s patience and commitment to professionalism were key. His business plan was centered on being the lone Black pharmacist for Lexington’s African American community, and it worked - but not right away. Prior to arriving, he knew the city had nine Black doctors and four Black dentists, but no Black pharmacists at the time. Palmer came to Lexington upon graduation in 1951 and opened his pharmacy at the corner of 5th and Race Streets in Lexington’s thriving Black neighborhood of the East End. In addition to his work as a reporter for the university paper, The Xavier Herald, Palmer was instrumental in establishing a student branch of the American Pharmaceutical Association and served as the student group’s inaugural president. While at Xavier, Palmer was an active member of the student body. Palmer finished his training in the College of Pharmacy at Xavier University in Louisiana in 1951. He then spent a year at Howard University in the Graduate School of Chemistry, completing courses in the pre-medicine curriculum. Palmer attended Bluefield State College, a local historically Black college, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics. Army for three years during World War II (1943-46). After secondary school, Palmer worked as an inspector’s helper for Norfolk & Western Railroad until the age of 21, when he entered the U.S. 11, 1919, in Bluefield, West Virginia, as the oldest child of James and Lola Allen Palmer. Palmer never set out to become the most prominent Black man in Lexington, but as the city’s lone Black pharmacist in the 1950s, he emerged as a central figure in Lexington’s African American community until his death in 1982. The pharmacy would never reopen, but Zirl Palmer’s legacy as a community leader and civil rights activist was already firmly established. Campbell, a former Ku Klux Klan grand dragon, carried out a bombing against Zirl Palmer’s Lexington pharmacy in the West End Plaza, trapping Palmer, his wife, and daughter inside. The 1968 shootout was a 10-minute gun battle on the streets of Berea, Kentucky, following a rally of the anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-Black National States Rights Party that resulted in the death of two, wounded at least 5 more, and resulted in charges against 14 men. The interview is part of University Kentucky Libraries’ Louie B. Big man of the Klan in Lexington was killed there, so supposedly the Klan said, ‘We’re going to kill the biggest Black guy in Lexington,” said Zirl A. “Well, the only thing I can say, Labor Day, prior to the bombing, there was a shootout in Berea. Palmer became Lexington's lone Black pharmacist in the 1950s and emerged as a central figure in Lexington’s African American community until his death in 1982. The following profile on Palmer first appeared in Pharmacy Chronicles: History of Pharmacy SIG Newsletter. (June 16, 2023) - Former University of Kentucky Board of Trustee member Zirl A.
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