She moved back to Pittsburgh where, although having adequate training and experience, she was unable to pursue her desired goal of teaching and spent some time working at her aunt's salon as a beautician.

Aware of her passion for children and books, Charles Wilbur Florence, her future husband, encouraged her to pursue a career in librarianship.

School officials were concerned with how white students might react to having a black peer and the likelihood that Powell Florence would find work upon completion of the program was slim.

No library in the Pittsburgh area had ever hired a black person with the amount of formal training Powell Florence would have after graduation.

After deliberation, school officials decided to admit Powell Florence in 1922 based on her previous academic achievement at Oberlin College.

[4] Powell Florence thought the combination of her experience working with children at the YWCA and her degree in English literature would be more than adequate qualifications for her to become a teacher.

He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and spent two years at Harvard in a quest for a doctorate, however he did not complete the requirements.

Powell Florence noted in her 1968 alumni reunion class questionnaire that, "“My husband and I, being negroes, are especially interested in Civil Rights and better race relations.

[4] Powell Florence’s contributions to librarianship were acknowledged decades after she became the first black woman in the United States to earn a degree in library science.

[1] She was honored by the University of Pittsburgh in 1981 with a Special Award for Outstanding Professional Service[4] and again posthumously in 2004 with a plaque in the lobby of the Information Sciences Building.

[7] Additionally the American Library Association recognized her endeavors by honoring Powell Florence in their list “100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th century,” where she was ranked number 34.