Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt
Du Bois was an American writer who worked hard for the civil rights of the black people. He founded the Niagara movement.
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Charles Richard Drew was the first person to give the idea of blood bank.
Drew, Charles Richard
Drew, Charles Richard (1904-1950), was a black American surgeon. In 1941, he was the first to propose that blood banks should be set up. Blood banks contain stocks of blood kept ready for transfusion - the replacement of blood lost in serious injuries.
Drew's important idea has saved thousands of lives. It developed from a blood collection service that Drew organized for the British government early in World War II. Then, the American Red Cross still kept white people's blood separate from black people. After Drew became president of the American Red Cross Blood Bank, this practice ceased.
Drew was born in Washington D.C. After graduating from Amherst College, he studied medicine at McGill University in Toronto, Canada. In the 1930's, he became a professor at Howard University Medical School in Washington and head of the surgery department there. He died in an automobile crash.
