Doctor and medical researcher Charles R. Drew was born on June 3, 1904, in Washington, DC.
Drew grew up in DC’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood and graduated from Dunbar High School in 1922. He was an accomplished athlete, earning an athletic scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts. After graduating in 1926, he worked as a professor of chemistry and biology for two years at Morgan College in Baltimore. He also served as their first Athletic Director and football coach, saving up money to go to medical school.
Drew went on to attend McGill University in Montreal, where he was accepted into a prestigious scholastic honor society. He graduated second his class in 1933, receiving the Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degree. In 1940, he became the first African American to earn a Doctor of Science in Medicine degree, which he received from Columbia. Drew then became the first African American surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery. During this time, he also began a lengthy career in research, teaching, and became a chief surgeon.
In late 1940, Drew was selected to set up Blood for Britain, an experimental program for blood storage and preservation. Drew was tasked with collecting, testing, and transporting large amounts of blood plasma to be sent to the United Kingdom, which was then engulfed in World War II. The goal of the program was to help British soldiers by sending American blood to the United Kingdom.
Drew created bloodmobiles, which were refrigerated trucks that carried stored blood, allowing the blood to be transported farther. Under Drew’s leadership, the program ran for five months, collecting over 5,500 vials of blood plasma from about 15,000 people.
In 1941, Drew helped to establish the American Red Cross Blood Bank to provide blood for American soldiers. However, he grew increasingly upset with the military’s request to segregate the blood of African Americans. While they at first wouldn’t accept African American blood, they later said it could only be used for African American soldiers. Drew was furious over the racist policy and resigned after a few months. It wasn’t until 1950 that the Red Cross would end this policy.
Drew went on to receive the 1943 Spingarn Medal from the NAACP for “the highest and noblest achievement… during the preceding year or years” for his work on blood plasma collection and distribution. Drew spent the final years of his life serving as chief surgeon at Freedmen’s Hospital and as a professor at Howard University.
From 1939 to 1950, Drew attended the annual free clinic at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. Driving home one morning in 1950, he was tired from operating all night and lost control of his vehicle. The car crashed and his foot was pinned under the brake pedal. By the time emergency personnel arrived he had gone into shock, and he died shortly after on April 1, 1950.
In the years since his death, many schools and health facilities have been named in Drew’s honor. There’s also a bridge in Washington, DC, and a US Navy cargo ship named after him.
| FREE printable This Day in History album pages Download a PDF of today’s article. Get a binder or other supplies to create your This Day in History album. |
Discover what else happened on This Day in History.
Do you know what European city was liberated on June 4, 1944? Check back tomorrow for the full story.
It’s good to be reminded of the accomplishments of people who are no longer with us and why there is a stamp to commemorate those important achievements to the world, and he obviously loved his fellow man, black and white! Thanks again for these efforts to inform us.
I remember an episode of M*A*S*H where a Soldier needed a Blood Transfusion but wanted to make sure he didn’t get any :Colored Blood”. I remember Hawkeye saying the Dr. Drew perfected a way of getting plasma
from blood and later had a accident in a Southern State and died from his injuries because hospitals in the area wouldn’t treat a Black person. In this article you state that he was trapped and died of shock at the scene, Which is true? Did M*A*S*H spin it for effect?
Yes, MASH spun the story. Per Wikipedia article, Dr. Drew died from the injuries received in the accident while at the local hospital. According to one of the other doctors in the car at the time of the crash his injuries were so severe that no treatment would have been effective, and a blood transfusion might have been the wrong procedure to follow.
I vividly remember that M*A*S*H episode, and, while it was a very good series SHAME ON THEM for not being honest with the actual history. One more thing about the Jim Crow laws, which were the absolute worst laws ever perpetrated (although, I’m sure, there are other laws that are “competitive” with Jim Crow laws), these were government regulations with forbade individuals, white or black or what have you, from dealing freely with other individuals who happened to be of a different race.