1940's Medicine and Health | Drew, Dr. Charles R. 1904-1950

BLOOD RESEARCHER WHOSE WORK SAVED LIVES
IN WORLD WAR II

Blood-Transfusion Specialist.

The story of the career of the African American surgeon Charles R. Drew illustrates the tragic loss of human potential in a society afflicted with racism. While his pioneering work in blood research was responsible for saving countless lives during World War II, he was unheralded in his day and died unnoticed.

A Medical Pioneer.

Charles Drew was born 3 June 1904 in his grandmother's house in Washington, D.C. His father was a carpet layer, the only African American in the Carpet and Tile Layers Union. His mother, a graduate of Howard University's Miner Normal School in Washington, was a homemaker. His parents encouraged their five children to aim high and to take their studies seriously. Drew grew up in a comfortable home filled with books and classical music in the ethnically mixed neighborhood known as Foggy Bottom....