Doctor Charles R. Drew, Inventor of the Blood Bank

Blogger: Amber Lemus

By Associated Photographic Services, Inc
- National Library of Medicine

Continuing our series on lesser-known inventors, today we learn about Dr. Charles R. Drew, the American surgeon who pioneered the techniques for blood storage, which is why he is known as the "Father of the Blood Bank."


Charles Drew was born June 3, 1904 in Washington D.C. He was the son of a carpet layer and a teacher, the oldest of four children. They grew up in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood and from a young age, Drew began working as a newspaper delivery boy.

Charles was able to attend Dunbar High School, which was an advantage for him because the school was known for its equality and opportunities for all students, regardless of the racial issues of the time. Although he still experienced hostility from opposing teams, and was passed over for the position of Captain of the team, even though he was the best player. After high school, Drew won an athletics scholarship, but a biology professor ignited his interest in medical science. Further education would be expensive, so Charles became a biology and chemistry professor to earn money to pursue his next goal, medical school. He also served as an athletics coach.

Charles's High School Yearbook Entry
Public Domain

When he was ready to pursue his medical career, circumstances led Charles to McGill's medical school in Montreal, Canada. He excelled in his class, winning multiple honors and scholarships. It was here that he met Dr. John Beattie, a doctor at Montreal Hospital who was studying the correlations between shock therapy and blood transfusions. Charles interned with Doctor Beattie while earning his surgical residency at the hospital.

Still, Charles career path was fraught with difficulty and racial discrimination. He intended to further his research on blood transfusions at Mayo Clinic, but was barred from going so because their practices didn't allow black scholars. So instead, he went to Columbia University, where he won a fellowship to train with eminent surgeon, Allen Whipple. However, he was still assigned to a non-traditional path which deprived him of some of the assets afforded to his white peers, such as direct access to patients. He was, however, able to continue his study of blood storage and transfusions. He eventually managed to prove himself and his intellect, and his superiors began to respect his brilliance.


In 1940, Charles wrote a doctoral thesis on "Banked Blood: A Study on Blood Preservation". It was through this research that Charles discovered that blood could be preserved two months longer by de-liquefying it. This paper earned him the honor of becoming the first African American to earn the Doctor of Science in Medicines degree at Columbia University.

Illustration of Charles Drew from the National Archives
Public Domain

This quote from the American Chemical Society article explains how important this breakthrough was.

"Dr. Charles Richard Drew broke barriers in a racially divided America to become one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. His pioneering research and systematic developments in the use and preservation of blood plasma during World War II not only saved thousands of lives, but innovated the nation’s blood banking process and standardized procedures for long-term blood preservation and storage techniques adapted by the American Red Cross." ~ACS biography of Charles R. Drew

In February of 1941, Charles was appointed as Director of the first American Red Cross blood bank. He also invented mobile blood donation centers, which greatly increased prospective blood donation. However, this appointment was short lived. The two greatest buyers of the blood were the US Navy and US Army, who refused African-American blood. They later decided to accept it, but only if it was stored separately from blood from white donors. Charles objected to this exclusion, stating that it had absolutely no scientific foundation. He resigned his post in 1942 in protest.

“While one must grant at once that extraordinary talent, great intellectual strength and unusual opportunity are necessary to break out of this prison of the Negro problem, we believe that the Negro in the field of physical sciences has not only opened a small passageway to the outside world, but is carving a road in many untrod areas, along which later generations will find it more easy to travel. The breaching of these walls and the laying of this road has not been, and is not easy.” — Charles Drew

Charles stated that his greatest mission in life, and what he considered to be his greatest accomplishment, was training young African-American surgeons who would meet the most rigorous standards in any surgical field, and in turn place them in strategic positions throughout the country where they could nurture the tradition of excellence.


Charles career was full of honors both in academics and research. He was granted the Springard Medal by the NAACP for his work on British-American projects in 1944. He also received honorary doctorate degrees in the sciences from Virginia State College in 1945, followed by Amherst in 1947. However he died without being accepted as a member of the American Medical Association, since African-American physicians were still excluded.

Doctor Charles Drew was still campaigning against such exclusions when he tragically died in 1950 after sustaining fatal injuries in a car accident. He was only 46 years old, but he left a life-saving legacy behind.

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".

She lives near the Ozarks in her "casita" with her prince charming. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!

Lester Wire and Garrett Morgan: Inventors of the Traffic Light System

Blogger: Amber Lemus

Traffic light in Sweden 1953. Photo by Olle Karlsson
Public Domain

Yet another common item that we rarely think about is the three signal traffic light. Fellow blogger Nancy J. Ferrier did a fantastic post on the general history of traffic lights a few years ago, (you can read that here.) but today I want to focus on two of the inventors specifically, Lester Wire and Garrett Morgan.

First, a little background. In the early days of the automobile, driving was a precarious activity. The streets were filled with horses, carriages, bicycles, pedestrians, and even streetcars in some cases, all competing for a spot on the road and the right of way. It soon became obvious that we needed some sort of regulation.

Before traffic lights were invented, police men would stand at the major intersections and direct traffic. As you can imagine, this was a dangerous job, and the traffic officers were always searching for ways to make their job safer and easier.
 

December 10, 1868 was the official birth of the first traffic signal, which was installed in London's Parliament Square. However it ended only two months later in a horrible tragedy. The signal was composed of two mobile signs attached to arms that were pivoted by using a lever. The traffic officer would operate it, and blow his whistle before changing the signal. At the top of the post was a gas-lit semaphore to make the signal visible in the dark. Only two months after it was installed, it exploded, killing the traffic officer who was operating it at the time. 

An early traffic light in New York with only two lights.
Photo credit: New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Twachtman, Phyllis

Lester Wire

 

Thus, it was a traffic officer, Lester Wire, who invented the first electric signal in 1912. Lester was a 24-year-old who had been named the head of the traffic squad in Salt Lake City, but he was intent on finding a better way for his squad to control the traffic without having to stand for long hours, subjected to all kinds of weather. As the story goes, he used Matthew 5:15 as his inspiration to create the first electric traffic signal. "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all."

 

His first prototype consisted of a small wooden box with a pitched roof that had red and green lights on all four sides of the box. He then put it on top of a 10 foot pole and wired into the trolley lines. Once installed, it would be manually operated by the traffic officer in a booth on the side of the road. Because of the birdhouse shape of the light, many people mocked its design and nicknamed it Wire's birdcage. Pedestrians would taunt drivers by yelling remarks like, "Are you waiting to see if the birdies will come out?" 

 

Wire later developed a more durable metal design, but he never patented any of his designs. Some believe that was because he was drafted into WWI and didn't have time to finish the process. Nevertheless, his designs were first installed in August of 1914 in Cleveland, OH on the corner of East 105th and Euclid Avenue.

These early models worked much better than the gas-lit ones, however, they had only two lights, red and green, and they were manually operated. This gave drivers no time to react when the light changed from "go" to "stop."

 

There's so much more that could be said about Lester, but we don't have room for all of it in this post. You can read his biography here.

Garrett Morgan

Garrett Morgan
Photo Public Domain

In 1923, a man by the name of Garrett Morgan was living in Cleveland. He was the first African American citizen in the city to own a car. One day, Garrett witnessed a horrible accident between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage. This accident spurred him to invent a traffic signal that would create a safer intersection for the various vehicles and pedestrians traveling together in the streets. 

 

Garrett designed a T-shaped automated system with a warning light (predecessor to our modern day yellow light) in between the red and green lights so that vehicles had time to clear the intersection before the next flow of traffic began romping into the intersection. Garrett was granted a patent in November of 1923. 

 

There are a few other inventors who had experimented with the third light before Garrett, but he was the one to combine the three light system with automation.

Garrett is a fascinating character who invented several other things, including a gas mask that saved many lives. He was also highly influential in the city of Cleveland. He founded a newspaper, the Cleveland Call, which became one of the most important Black American newspapers in the nation. I highly recommend reading his full biography here.

Once the traffic lights were switched to automatic timers, it saved cities unbelievable amounts of money, while also making the intersections safer. In 1922, the city of New York was able to reassign all but 500 of its 6,000 officers working on the traffic squad, which saved the city over twelve and a half million dollars, and instead freed the police officers up to fight crime and keep the peace in neighborhoods. That's a win that we owe in huge part to Garrett Morgan and other inventors like him.

Of course, with the rise of computers, traffic lights made huge improvements and are part of what make our traffic systems as good as they are now.

In the course of writing this blog post, I learned a lot about the traffic lights, how important the automation is. I now hold a greater appreciation for that yellow light too!

How about you? Have you ever considered the importance of that yellow light? Did you ever play "one, two, three, green!" as a kid in the car?

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".

She lives near the Ozarks in her "casita" with her prince charming. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!