John Drew's Blood For Britain Project
arly years[edit]
Drew was born in 1904 into an African-American middle-class family in Washington, D.C. His father, Richard, was a carpet layer[3] and his mother, Nora Burrell, was a teacher.[citation needed] Drew and his siblings grew up in DC's Foggy Bottom neighborhood[4] and he graduated from Dunbar High School in 1922.[5] Drew won an athletics scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts,[6] where he graduated in 1926.[7] An outstanding athlete at Amherst,[8] Drew also joined Omega Psi Phi fraternity.[9] He attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, receiving his M.D. in 1933 as well as a Master of Surgery degree,[7] and ranked 2nd in his class of 127 students.[7] A few years later, Drew did graduate work at Columbia University, where he earned his Doctor of Medical Science …show more content…
degree, becoming the first African American to do so.[7]
Academic career[edit]
In 1941, Drew's distinction in his profession was recognized when he became the first black surgeon selected to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery.[10] Drew had a lengthy research and teaching career and became a chief surgeon.
Blood Plasma for Great Britain Project[edit]
In late 1940, before the US entered World War II and just after earning his doctorate, Drew was recruited by John Scudder to help set up and administer an early prototype program for blood storage and preservation.
He was to collect, test, and transport large quantities of blood plasma for distribution in Great Britain.[11] Drew went to New York to direct the United States' Blood for Britain project. The Blood for Britain project was a project to aid British soldiers and civilians by giving US blood to Great Britain.
Drew created a central location for the blood collection process where donors could go to give blood. He made sure all blood plasma was tested before it was shipped out. He ensured that only skilled personnel handled blood plasma to avoid the possibility of contamination. The Blood for Britain program operated successfully for five months, with total collections of almost 15,000 people donating blood, and with over 5,500 vials of blood plasma.[11] As a result, the Blood Transfusion Betterment Association applauded Drew for his work. Out of his work came the American Red Cross Blood Bank.
Death[edit]
Illustration of Drew by Charles Alson in the collection of the National Archives
From 1939, Drew attended the annual free clinic at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. For the 1950 Tuskegee clinic, Drew and three other black physicians decided to drive rather than fly. Drew was driving around 8 a.m. on April 1. Still fatigued from spending the night before in the operating theater, Drew lost control of the vehicle. After careening into a field, the car somersaulted three times. The three other physicians suffered minor injuries. Drew was trapped with serious wounds; his foot had become wedged beneath the brake pedal. When reached by emergency technicians, Drew was in shock and barely alive due to severe leg injuries. Drew was taken to Alamance General Hospital in Burlington, North Carolina. He was pronounced dead a half hour after he first received medical attention. Drew's funeral was held on April 5, 1950, at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington,DC.
Controversy[edit]
For many years, a false rumor has persisted that Charles Drew died because white doctors refused to give him a blood transfusion. This urban legend invokes the irony of a doctor who researched and improved the storage of blood and transfusion dying because the very methods he improved were withheld from him because of his race. This rumor is also repeated on the hit TV series M*A*S*H when "Hawkeye" Pierce lectures a racist soldier who has been wounded and requests that he not receive the blood of a black person.[12]2
Personal life[edit]
In 1939, Drew married Minnie Lenore Robbins, a professor of home economics at Spelman College whom he had met earlier that year.[13] They had three daughters and a son.[4] His daughter Charlene Drew Jarvis was the president of Southeastern University from 1996 until 2009.[14][15]
Drew was born in 1904 into an African-American middle-class family in Washington, D.C. His father, Richard, was a carpet layer[3] and his mother, Nora Burrell, was a teacher.[citation needed] Drew and his siblings grew up in DC's Foggy Bottom neighborhood[4] and he graduated from Dunbar High School in 1922.[5] Drew won an athletics scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts,[6] where he graduated in 1926.[7] An outstanding athlete at Amherst,[8] Drew also joined Omega Psi Phi fraternity.[9] He attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, receiving his M.D. in 1933 as well as a Master of Surgery degree,[7] and ranked 2nd in his class of 127 students.[7] A few years later, Drew did graduate work at Columbia University, where he earned his Doctor of Medical Science …show more content…
degree, becoming the first African American to do so.[7]
Academic career[edit]
In 1941, Drew's distinction in his profession was recognized when he became the first black surgeon selected to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery.[10] Drew had a lengthy research and teaching career and became a chief surgeon.
Blood Plasma for Great Britain Project[edit]
In late 1940, before the US entered World War II and just after earning his doctorate, Drew was recruited by John Scudder to help set up and administer an early prototype program for blood storage and preservation.
He was to collect, test, and transport large quantities of blood plasma for distribution in Great Britain.[11] Drew went to New York to direct the United States' Blood for Britain project. The Blood for Britain project was a project to aid British soldiers and civilians by giving US blood to Great Britain.
Drew created a central location for the blood collection process where donors could go to give blood. He made sure all blood plasma was tested before it was shipped out. He ensured that only skilled personnel handled blood plasma to avoid the possibility of contamination. The Blood for Britain program operated successfully for five months, with total collections of almost 15,000 people donating blood, and with over 5,500 vials of blood plasma.[11] As a result, the Blood Transfusion Betterment Association applauded Drew for his work. Out of his work came the American Red Cross Blood Bank.
Death[edit]
Illustration of Drew by Charles Alson in the collection of the National Archives
From 1939, Drew attended the annual free clinic at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. For the 1950 Tuskegee clinic, Drew and three other black physicians decided to drive rather than fly. Drew was driving around 8 a.m. on April 1. Still fatigued from spending the night before in the operating theater, Drew lost control of the vehicle. After careening into a field, the car somersaulted three times. The three other physicians suffered minor injuries. Drew was trapped with serious wounds; his foot had become wedged beneath the brake pedal. When reached by emergency technicians, Drew was in shock and barely alive due to severe leg injuries. Drew was taken to Alamance General Hospital in Burlington, North Carolina. He was pronounced dead a half hour after he first received medical attention. Drew's funeral was held on April 5, 1950, at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington,DC.
Controversy[edit]
For many years, a false rumor has persisted that Charles Drew died because white doctors refused to give him a blood transfusion. This urban legend invokes the irony of a doctor who researched and improved the storage of blood and transfusion dying because the very methods he improved were withheld from him because of his race. This rumor is also repeated on the hit TV series M*A*S*H when "Hawkeye" Pierce lectures a racist soldier who has been wounded and requests that he not receive the blood of a black person.[12]2
Personal life[edit]
In 1939, Drew married Minnie Lenore Robbins, a professor of home economics at Spelman College whom he had met earlier that year.[13] They had three daughters and a son.[4] His daughter Charlene Drew Jarvis was the president of Southeastern University from 1996 until 2009.[14][15]