Drew symposium explores racial barrier

Love

he life and work of African-American physician Charles Drew will provide a focus for exploring the stories and misconceptions that maintain racial barriers during a symposium on Friday, March 30, in Whipple Auditorium at the Medical Center.

"When Legend is Truth," sponsored by the Office of Minority Student Affairs, the Medical Center, and St. John Fisher College, will feature a keynote lecture by Spencie Love, author of One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles R. Drew.

Panel discussions include "Seeing Red: Charles Drew, the Red Cross, and the Blood Plasma Project," "Nothing But the Blood: 'Righting' Race and Religion in 2001," and "The One Drop Rule: The Intersection of Blood, Race, and Social Justice."

The symposium is open to the public with a $20 registration fee. The fee is $10 for University and St. John Fisher students.

Drew, a 45-year-old black surgeon who developed a way to store and preserve blood plasma for transfusions in some patients, died in 1950 after a car accident in North Carolina.

Because of the segregated state of medical care, an "urban legend" developed--based on historical realities of the way African-Americans were treated by some "whites-only" hospitals--that he, too, had been denied treatment.

In fact, three emergency room doctors had worked diligently to try to save Drew's life, but his injuries were too severe.

For reservations, call Cathy Collins at x5-2175.

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