Tuesday, September 3, 2024

A00059 - Grateful Thank Yous to Frederick Drew Gregory (Class of 1962) and Junius White Williams (Class of 1965)

 


In response to my request for additional information concerning Thurman Luce Dodson, Amherst College Class of 1926, I received two emails which proved to be a pleasant surprise.  The first email came from Frederick Drew Gregory, Amherst College Class of 1962, Fred clearly recalled Thurman Luce Dodson as his Washington, D. C. neighbor and also recalled spending many childhood moments at Mr. Dodson's rather spacious home. He expressed some surprise, however, by the revelation that Thurman Luce Dodson went to Amherst College and particular surprise that Thurman Luce Dodson was an Amherst College Classmate of his Uncle Charlie ... the man we know as Charles Richard Drew.

The second email came from Junius White Williams, Amherst College Class of 1965.  Junius who received his own honorary degree from Amherst College in 2024, remembered Thurman Luce Dodson as the President of the National Bar Association in 1947.  Junius would know because he served as the President of the National Bar Association himself in 1978-79 and came to know Thurman Luce Dodson not only as a fellow National Bar Association President but also as a friend. However, like Fred, Junius also was unaware that Thurman Luce Dodson had attended Amherst College.

I want to thank Fred and Junius for providing these important and vital insights into Thurman Luce Dodson.  My memory of him has been greatly enhanced and enriched by their generous contributions of time and memories.  By the way, for those who have a copy of Harold Wade's Black Men of Amherst, you will not find Frederick Drew Gregory listed in the Appendix I that theoretically lists the  Black Men who attended Amherst from 1826 to 1975.  This may be because, according to my records, Frederick Drew Gregory did not complete his college education at Amherst College.  According to my information Fred decided to transfer to another institution which required him to stay there for a full four years.  According to my information, Frederick Drew Gregory transferred to the United States Air Force Academy in 1960 and he graduated from said institution in 1964.  This was a monumental decision because it enabled Frederick Drew Gregory to become one of the first Black astronauts and, later on, to become a key NASA administrator.  There is more to Frederick Drew Gregory's connection to Amherst College, but for now I refer you to the Wikipedia article set forth below and encourage all to reflect on the "cosmic" connection that we all share.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Class of 1975   



----- Forwarded Message -----
From: skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com>
To: 
Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2024 at 12:56:48 AM PDT
Subject: Thurman Luce Dodson (Amherst College Class of 1926), Dunbar High School Graduate and Washington, D. C. Attorney



A slight correction to email set forth below, Charles Richard Drew was not the "next" name on my Memorial List.  The true next name on my Memorial List is Thurman Luce Dodson, another Dunbar High School graduate and an Amherst College classmate of Charles Drew in the Class of 1926.  Dodson comes before Drew because the list is alphabetical within the class listings.

As for Thurman Luce Dodson, I know that he graduated from Amherst College in 1926 where he received the Hyde and Hardy Prizes. He then graduated from Howard University Law School in 1929.  He appears to have been a self-employed attorney in the Washington, D.C. area for his entire 71-year professional career from January 1930 to September 2001 -- an extraordinary length of time.  Aside from his legal longevity, which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself, I was not able to find any other source of information except for a 1975 case involving Mr. Dodson which does not reflect favorably on him.
In time, I hope that additional information can be discovered concerning Thurman Luce Dodson.  If so, it will be added to his profile ... and to my memories of him.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Class of 1975  

 

 
 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com>
To: 
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 11:39:48 PM PDT
Subject: Charles Richard Drew (Amherst College Class of 1926), Dunbar High School Graduate and "Father of the Blood Bank"


The next name on my Memorial List is the name of the most famous and arguably the most important Amherst College Black Alumni.  The name is Charles Richard Drew, a member of the Amherst College Class of 1926, and the acknowledged "Father of the Blood Bank".  I encourage all to read about Charles Drew in his Wikipedia page 


or in the following American Chemical Society profile

Charles Richard Drew - American Chemical Society (acs.org)


You can also read about Charles Drew in the Blackpast article set forth in full below.

Because of the work done by Dr. Drew, millions of lives have been saved by the utilization of the blood bank for blood transfusions. Millions of lives saved, including my own.  So, in my book, Charles Richard Drew is greatest Amherst College Black Alumni of all time.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Class of 1975



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Charles Drew (1904-1950)

Posted onMarch 12, 2024by contributed by: Euell A. Dixon
Charles Drew (Wikipedia)
Portrait of Charles Drew
Photo from the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (CC0)

Charles Richard Drew was a medical researcher, surgeon, and the first African American to be appointed as a medical examiner for the American Board of Surgery. His research and work led to the development of processing and storing plasma in blood banks.

Drew was born on June 3, 1904, in Washington, DC. His mother, Nora Rosella Burrell Drew, was the daughter of a European sea captain, and was trained as a schoolteacher. His father, Richard Drew, was a light skinned African American carpet-layer, as well as the secretary and only non-white member of the Carpet, Linoleum, and Soft-Tile Layers Union in the District of Columbia.

Raised in an upper-middle class neighborhood, Drew first attended Stevens Elementary, then Dunbar High School. Drew was an excellent student and athlete, exceeding in four sports, which earned him the James E. Walker Medal, and an athletic scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts once he graduated from Dunbar in 1922. He continued to excel in athletics, but the death of his sister and an injury in his senior year changed his focus towards medicine.

Drew earned his AB from Amherst in 1926 and worked as the instructor of biology and chemistry as well as the athletic director at Morgan College (now Morgan State University), before attending McGill University in Montreal, Canada. During his internship at Montreal General Hospital, Drew conducted research that led to correlations between blood transfusions and shock therapy. He was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, a medical honor society when he received his Master of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine degree in 1933.

After returning to Washington, DC, Drew worked as a pathology instructor at Howard University, before beginning a long career at the Freedman’s Hospital (now Howard University Hospital) as a surgery instructor and surgeon. Drew was awarded a Rockefeller fellowship at Columbia University before working on his doctoral thesis, “Banked Blood: A Study on Blood Preservation,” at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

While at a conference, Drew met Minnie Lenore Robbins, and the two married in 1939. The couple had three daughters and a son. When he completed his studies at Columbia in 1940, Drew became the first African American in the United States to earn a Doctor of Science in Medicine degree. He was then recruited to set up and administer protocols for blood collection, storage, and preservation when the US entered World War II. He moved to New York City to serve as the medical director for the United States Blood to Britain Project, which provided aid to UK soldiers and citizens.

In 1941, Drew became the Director of the first American Red Cross blood bank. In that role he developed bloodmobiles for mobile donations. He resigned in 1942 when African American blood continued to be segregated despite his own scientific research that proved every person had the same type of blood plasma and thus transfusions could be administered to anyone regardless of the blood type or race of the donor. Drew returned to work at both Howard University and the Freedmen’s Hospital. While there he was awarded the Spingarn medal by the NAACP in 1944, and two honorary doctorate degrees.

On April 1, 1950, Drew and three of his resident physicians began traveling from Washington, DC. to Tuskegee Institute to attend a conference. Drew was driving in North Carolina and fell asleep at the wheel. The car ran off the road and he suffered serious injuries when he was thrown from the vehicle, and it rolled over him. Drew and the other inured passenger, John Ford, were taken to Alamance General Hospital, a “whites only” hospital despite their race. Drew died from his injuries at the hospital while Ford recovered. The Drew family later wrote letters to the attending physicians thanking them for their attempt to save the surgeon’s life. Charles Drew was only 45 when he died in North Carolina.





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