Vivien Thomas Unsung Hero

What is an unsung hero? Vivien Thomas would know because he is one. An unsung hero is a person who does something but doesn't get credit for it. Vivien Thomas was an African American man who developed a procedure to cure blue baby syndrome. Blue baby syndrome was very common in the 1940’s when Vivien developed the procedure. It caused the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs to stop and had taken the lives of many babies. Vivien Thomas was not alone in the making of the cure. The man who got the credit was Dr. Alfred Blalock, who was a white man, had helped him out too. Vivien Thomas lost all of his life saving due to the Great Depression, but in the end it would lead him to great accomplishments. As a young African American boy at age eleven, Vivien Thomas had to get a job as a carpenter while still attending school. He had to work extra in order to help his family and save up money for college. In 1930 Vivien Thomas graduated from high school with top grades at the head of his class. Then Great Depression hit and the stock markets crashed. The banks lost all of people’s money, including Vivien Thomas’. Thomas had lost all of his money and could not afford to go to college. This led him to find himself working for Dr. Blalock at Vanderbilt University. According to the article the job he got working for Blalock paid one third of what he earned as a carpenter. Vivien took the job because he wanted
Together Thomas and Blalock worked to accomplish great things and save overall millions of lives in his lifetime and in the generations to come. Without Thomas or Blalock many lives would have been lost. Thomas eventually got credit for what he did about three decades later. Thomas did not only save thousands of lives, but he also paved a way for other African Americans in the medical field, including his own nephew. Thomas was a great man who's lifetime dedication paid