This is a thoughtful and articulate examination of the power - and
reality - of myth as an engine of history. Journalist and historian
Love explores the life and legend of Charles Drew, an
African-American surgeon who made a significant contribution to the
development and distribution of blood plasma in the early 19405 and
later devoted himself to creating a team of black surgeons who
could serve their communities in racially divided America. In 1950,
the 45-year-old Drew was grievously injured in a car accident in
rural North Carolina and taken to a segregated hospital, where
white doctors worked feverishly but unsuccessfully to save his
life. Almost overnight, the legend grew up that Drew had died
because the hospital had turned him away on account of his race.
Despite efforts to dispel it by his family and others who knew the
truth, the myth became generally accepted as fact among black
Americans, often finding its way into print, including popular
biographies of Drew. Love shows that the legend had its basis in
the realities of African-American experience, which did, in fact,
encompass routine denial of medical care; she describes the case of
Maltheus Avery, who died a few months after Drew under
circumstances that matched those of the Drew legend. Love explains
that the confluence of Drew's identity as a black pioneer in blood
research with the reality, both literal and metaphorical, of blacks
"bleeding to death" as a result of white racism lent itself
perfectly to belief in the legend. Without denying the importance
of verifiable facts to historical analysis, she persuasively argues
that a group's shared memory, even if inaccurate, provides an
important guide to the truths of its experience. The book's one
flaw is, ironically, that it sometimes gets bogged down in the
facts of Drew's and Avery's lives. An illuminating study, not only
of black and American history, but of History itself. (Kirkus
Reviews)
One Blood 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: the man who
helped create the first American Red Cross blood bank had bled to
death because a whites-only hospital refused to treat him. Drew was
in fact treated in the emergency room of the small, segregated
Alamance General Hospital. Two white surgeons worked hard to save
him, but he died after about an hour. In her compelling chronicle
of Drew's life and death, Spencie Love shows that in a generic
sense, the Drew legend is true: throughout the segregated era,
African Americans were turned away at hospital doors, either
because the hospitals were whites-only or because the 'black beds'
were full. Love describes the fate of a young black World War II
veteran who died after being turned away from Duke Hospital
following an auto accident that occurred in the same year and the
same county as Drew's. African Americans are shown to have
figuratively 'bled to death' at white hands from the time they were
first brought to this country as slaves. By preserving their own
stories, Love says, they have proven the enduring value of oral
history. General Interest/Race Relations |For some years, The
Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast has stood as an essential
resource for all who treasure our coastal environment. In this
book, Dirk Frankenberg describes the southern coast's beaches,
inlets, and estuaries and instructs readers in the responsible
exploration and enjoyment of some of North Carolina's most precious
natural areas. From Ocracoke Inlet to the South Carolina border,
this field guide provides a close-up look at a complex ecosystem,
highlighting the processes that have shaped, and continue to shape,
North Carolina's southern coast.
General
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