FAMILY WORKS: The Pryce Family A Legacy Spanning Three Generations

by Kerri Cooke

As we celebrate Black History Month, it is essential to remember the Pryce family and their contributions to the Lake Area since the early 1900s. Joyce Sonnier of the Calcasieu Parish SWLA Genealogical & Historic Library presented her research on the family and the indelible mark they’ve made on the fabric of SWLA in a recent lecture. The Pryce family, over three generations, ran one of the first Black-owned pharmacies in Louisiana from 1908 until 2011, preceded only by one located in New Orleans.

Dr. George Samuel Pryce was the founding father of Pryce Pharmacy. Originally from Jamaica, he received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. in 1888. Eventually moving to Lake Charles, George opened Pryce Pharmacy in 1908 on the corner of Enterprise Blvd. and Lawrence St. (renamed Pryce St. in 2010). Sonnier says the pharmacy was a major institution because “Black families were not able to receive quality medical services during this time. A place like Pryce’s Pharmacy was groundbreaking, especially in the Deep South.” The pharmacy would not only distribute medications, but also provide surgeries when necessary due to the lack of care for Black residents as a result of segregation. George was also very active in the community, providing support and raising funds for the Second Ward Colored School and operating as a trustee for the Warren ME Church. While he moved his family to Los Angeles in 1918, setting up a pharmacy in that larger metropolitan city, Pryce Pharmacy in Lake Charles continued under George’s son, Dr. Ulric Woodman Pryce.

Dr. Ulric Pryce graduated with a pharmacology degree from Howard University in 1917 and returned to Lake Charles to run Pryce Pharmacy. Ulric continued to offer the personal and professional care that the family pharmacy was known for. An American Press story, “Pharmacy Ably Serves Colored People,” ran in 1942 praising the establishment and staff on their knowledge, products and experience. Ulric was also very active in the local and national Black medical community. He was a founder of the National Pharmaceutical Association, serving as its first president; was highly involved with the building of Prince Hall Grand Lodge Louisiana; and was the first Black man the Louisiana State Pharmaceutical Association granted full membership to in 1969. After his death, Ulric’s fraternity, the Zeta Psi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., honored him by naming their scholarship dedicated to an outstanding student as the Dr. Ulric Pryce Memorial Scholarship in 1973. The scholarship is still given out all these years later.

The final member of the Pryce family to operate Pryce Pharmacy was Dr. Frank Young Pryce, the second child of Ulric. Frank graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a pharmacy degree. While he began working professionally at Pryce’s Pharmacy in 1956, he didn’t take over the management of the store until 1960. (Frank had grown up in the pharmacy and worked as a delivery boy, janitor and served ice cream and sodas to patrons as a child.) Frank is recorded as saying, “I remember one day, when I came to work, I saw my license on the wall. My dad had just put it up. That’s when I knew I was running things.” Frank joined the Board of Commissioners for the Lake Charles Harbor District, the first Black person to be give this honor. He was also instrumental in ensuring the YMCA, later the Foreman Reynaud Community Center, remained open to service the community. As a prime example of how the Pryce family selflessly served its patrons, Yvonne Malveaux remembers an instance in which a medication her husband needed cost $500. Frank encouraged her to order the prescription anyway and when it was available, he told Malveaux someone had paid for it.

Pryce Pharmacy closed in 2017 after 109 years in business, but the impact the family had on SWLA is still felt today.

Pictured above: The Pryce family, over three generations. L-R: Dr. George Samuel Pryce,
Dr. Ulric Woodman Pryce and Dr. Frank Young Pryce