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Blood Bank Bigotry

Debunked: Dr. C. Drew, a plasma researcher; bleeds to death when hospital turns him (a black man) away.

The story is that Charles Drew, instrumental in blood transfusions, was refused a transfusion (and other care) by the hospital after his car accident, because he was black. The story was prevalent from shortly after his death in 1950 until at least the 1980s. However, Drew's biographer, who interviewed the other passengers in Drew's car accident, says they all received good care at the hospital, and that Drew's injuries were so severe a blood transfusion wouldn't have saved him anyway. References: Charles Richard Drew: the man and the myth. By Charles E. Wynes. (University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1988); One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles R. Drew, by Spencie Love (UNC Press, 1996)

Similar stories were told of Blues great Bessie Smith after her death in 1937, and of prizefighter Jack Johnson in 1946, though of course without the ironic twist.

References:

• http://tafkac.org/death/charles.drew/charles_drew.html