# Charles Drew

*Charles Drew built the modern blood-plasma banking system: he standardized separation, storage, and large-scale collection, but he did not invent blood itself or every later part of the blood-bank apparatus.*

> Black's Encyclopedia — the sourced record of Black American life.
> Portal: Science & Invention · Status: In review · Revised: July 14, 2026 · Revisions: 1
> Canonical: https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/charles-drew

## Questions this record answers

- Did Charles Drew invent the blood bank?
- What did Charles Drew actually invent?
- Why did Charles Drew resign from the Red Cross?
- Did Charles Drew oppose blood segregation because it had no scientific basis?

## Summary

Charles Drew built the modern blood-plasma banking system by developing methods for separating, preserving, and organizing blood plasma for large-scale use. He later resigned from the Red Cross after protesting its segregation of blood by race, a policy with no scientific basis.

## The archive's standing

Charles Drew stands among the decisive medical innovators of the twentieth century. He did not merely participate in blood banking; he helped make it workable at scale, and the life-saving system that followed bears his imprint. His authority also came from refusing a racist system that tried to separate science from truth.

## What Drew built

Drew’s central achievement was in blood plasma preservation and blood-bank organization. Sources describe him as pioneering methods that allowed plasma to be stored longer, separated from whole blood, and used in organized transfusion systems, including large-scale blood banking during World War II.

## What he did not invent

The precise claim matters: Drew did not invent blood, transfusion, or every component of the modern blood bank. His achievement was to make blood-plasma storage and distribution practical, safe, and scalable in modern medicine.

## Red Cross segregation

Drew resigned from his Red Cross post in protest against the organization’s policy of segregating blood by race. The policy had no scientific basis, and Drew identified it as such.

## His wider significance

Drew’s work changed wartime and peacetime medicine alike by turning plasma preservation into a system. That is invention in the strongest sense: not a single device, but a method that reorganized care, logistics, and survival.

## Sources

1. David A. Schwartz, "Charles R. Drew (1904-1950): A Pioneer of Blood Banking," PMC, 2024.
2. American Chemical Society, "Charles Richard Drew," African Americans in Science, American Chemical Society.
3. National Archives, "Dr. Charles Drew: A Pioneer in Blood Transfusions," Pieces of History blog, 2023.
4. National Inventors Hall of Fame, "Charles Richard Drew," inductee profile, 2015.
5. Cynthia A. Blevins, "Charles Richard Drew and the Origins of Blood Banking," in medical history scholarship; exact publication details should be verified before final use.

## Related records

- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/blood-bank
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/blood-plasma
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/american-red-cross
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/howard-university
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/world-war-ii-medicine

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Cite as: Black's Encyclopedia, "Charles Drew," revised July 14, 2026. https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/charles-drew

Text under the Black's Record License: cite the record, keep attribution attached, cite the revision date.