Charles Drew, Physician & Researcher: Educational Posters, Books, Links for Learning
for the arts and social studies classrooms and home schoolers.

Charles Drew was a medical researcher in the field of blood transfusions. His techniques of separating and storing blood components, such as blood plasma, were applied to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. Dr. Drew also protested the racial segregation of donated blood since blood can be safely transfused from one person to another regardless of ethnicity, if the blood types are compatible.

Charles Drew was also a noted athlete, earning All American honors as a half back at Amherst College in 1925.

“There must always be the continuing struggle to make the increasing knowledge of the world bear fruit in increased understanding and the production of human happiness.”
Charles Drew
b. 6-3-1904; Washington, DC
d. 4-1-1950

• BOOKS about Charles Drew

Charles Drew (Black Americans of Achievement series) by Robyn Mahone-Lonesome
- Ages 9 -12

Dr. Charles Drew, Medical Pioneer (Journey to Freedom series) by Susan Whitehurst
- Ages 9 - 12

One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles R. Drew by Spencie Love - traces both the life of the famous black surgeon and blood plasma pioneer Dr. Charles Drew and the well-known legend about his death. On April 1, 1950, Drew died after an auto accident in rural North Carolina. Within hours, rumors spread that the man who had helped created the first American Red Cross blood bank had bled to death because a whites-only hospital refused to treat him. Though Drew was in fact treated in the emergency room of a small, segregated hospital, Spencie Love shows that in a generic sense, the legend of his death is true: throughout the era of segregation, African Americans were refused medical help because of their race. By preserving their own stories, she says, they have proven the enduring value of oral history.

Dr. Charles Drew: Blood Bank Innovator by Anne E. Schraff

Charles Richard Drew: Physician, Surgeon
Charles Drew Bio- African American Almanac
Charles Drew Bio ThinkQuest Site
History of the American Red Cross Blood Program