Thread by @innodim

1️⃣Black History moment: Dr. Charles Drew, A Black doc, invented the blood banking system we use today which has saved millions of lives & directed the nation’s first blood bank, mobile blood bank units, Red Cross’s pilot blood program excluded Black donors until 1942, 79yrs ago.

2️⃣So their are living Black folks today who remember a time they were not allowed to donate blood because their blood was considered inferior. When Black folks were allowed to donate in 1942, our blood was segregated from white blood. Till 1950.

3️⃣And it is told that Dr. Drew himself was not able to benefit from own innovation, dying from injuries sustained in a car accident and refused care for white hospitals due to segregation.

4️⃣ The story of how blood got desegregated reminds us that,

“The black American … puts pressure upon the nation to live up to its ideals.” - Ralph Ellison, circa 1965

“The marginal and excluded have done the most to make democracy work in America.” - Robert DG Kelley

5️⃣An important part of celebrating Black History and working towards justice, equity, & liberation is to not only uncover and illuminate truth, but to also resist history revisionism and erasure. George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) emphasizes this when he wrote:

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

*Fin*

theconversation.com/desegregating-…

***excuse my spelling & grammatical errors - sausage fingers 🤣🤣🤣***

**There**

**His own innovation**
**...refused care FROM white hospitals due to segregation - of hospitals & healthcare systems

(Dr. Drew died in 1950, the same year blood banking was desegregated. Medicare forced desegregation of hospitals in 1965)