Born: June 23, 1904, Washington, DC

Education: Amherst College, B.A., 1926; McGill University, M.D., C.M., 1933; Columbia University, D. Sc., 1940

Died: April 1, 1950, Burlington, NC

During an internship in New York City's Presbyterian Hospital and doctoral studies at Columbia University, Drew made original discoveries on blood plasma, including that it could be preserved and used for transfusions. He coined his “blood bank” concept in 1940.

During World War II he created the first bank in the Blood for Britain Program and the second for the American Red Cross. Maintaining segregation, however, the War Department declared that “it is not advisable to collect and mix Caucasian and Negro blood” (www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/dr-charles-drew-was-lifesaver-through-his-blood-plasma-discoveries). Drew objected and resigned or was fired. “The blood of individual human beings may differ by blood groupings, but there is absolutely no scientific basis to indicate any differences according to race” (Love, 1997, p. 321), he protested. The Jim Crow policy lasted until 1949.

Segregation surrounded Drew's death. His car crashed on the highway from Durham to Greensboro, North Carolina. An ambulance took him to white-only Alamance County Hospital. Two emergency room doctors were treating Drew when he died on the operating table. But a rumor spread that the hospital refused to treat him because of his race and it persisted, especially among southern blacks. Exclusion and death involving segregated hospitals, after all, reflected their lived experiences.