The Washington Evening Star, April 1, 1950, Pages A1&A3.
Dr. Charles R. Drew
Of Freedmen's Killed
When Car Overturns
3 Other Doctors Riding
With Chief Surgeon Are
Injured in North Carolina
Dr. Charles R. Drew, chief surgeon at Freedmen's Hospital, was killed and three other doctors on the hospital's staff were injured when their car overturned today near Greensboro. N. C.
Dr. John R. Ford, resident in surgery, received a fractured arm and cuts. Dr. Samuel Bullock of the department of surgery and Dr. Walter S. Johnson, resident in orthojaedics, were slightly injured but did not require hospital attention.
The four phsycians were en-route to Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala,, for a medical meeting. They left Washington early this morning. When they were about
DR. CHARLES R. DREW.
2 miles north of Haw River, a little town near Greensboro, the accident occurred. The time was 8 a.m. Dr. Drew was rushed to a Greensboro hospital and died shortly thereafter.
Dr. Ford said Dr. Drew apparently dozed at the wheel and the car overturned when he tried to straighten it out on a road shoulder.
Dr. Drew also was a professor of surgery at Howard University and did outstanding blood plasma work during the last war. He served for a time as medical director of Freedmen's Hospital.
A native of Washington, the 45-year-old doctor attended McGill University in Montreal. Canada. and Columbia University. He won a Rockefeller Fellowship in surgery. He had served at Howard University since 1935, with exception of 1938-41 when he went to New York to aid in the blood plasma project.
Six years ago yesterday it was announced that Dr. Drew had been awarded the Spingarn Medal for 1943 “for the highest and noblest achievement by an American Negro.” He received the award for his work while director of the Blood Transfusion Association of New York City, which supplied blood plasma to the British during the days of the blitz.
Dr. Drew lived at 328 College street N.W. He was married, and has three children.
Dr. Charles R. Drew of Freedmen's Killed When Car Overturns, The Washington Evening Star, April 1, 1950, Pages A1&A3. (PDF)