Charles R. Drew: Classroom Lesson

Lesson at a Glance

Grades: Grades 6–12
Time: One class period (20–40 minutes)
Standards: NCSS Themes 5 (Individuals, Groups, and Institutions) and 8 (Science, Technology, and Society); C3 D2.His.10, D2.His.16
Reading: Charles R. Drew (profile)

Big Idea

Scientific knowledge does not automatically defeat prejudice: Drew helped build modern blood banking and then publicly condemned a segregation policy that the science showed to be baseless.

Before Class

Students read the profile of Charles R. Drew, including the Key Dates and Sources.

Discussion Questions

Drew called the Red Cross policy of segregating Black donors’ blood scientifically baseless. Why would an institution keep a policy that science did not support?
The profile notes that popular stories about Drew’s resignation and his death are not supported by the record. Why do such stories spread, and why does it matter to correct them?
Drew spent the last decade of his life training surgeons at Howard. Why might he have considered teaching as important as research?
How did the Blood for Britain project turn laboratory research into large-scale practice?

Activity

Using the National Library of Medicine’s Charles R. Drew Papers on Profiles in Science, each group examines one document from Drew’s blood bank work or his years at Howard. Groups identify the document’s author, date, audience, and purpose, and connect it to a point in the profile. The class then tests the popular claims about Drew’s resignation and death against the profile and the documents, and discusses how historians decide what the record supports.

Primary Sources

Cite this page

MLA: “Classroom lesson: Charles R. Drew.” Black-History.com, 30 Sept. 2026, https://black-history.com/classroom/charles-drew/.
APA: Black-History.com Editors. (2026, September 30). Classroom lesson: Charles R. Drew. Black-History.com. https://black-history.com/classroom/charles-drew/
Chicago: Black-History.com Editors. “Classroom lesson: Charles R. Drew.” Black-History.com. September 30, 2026. https://black-history.com/classroom/charles-drew/.

Editorial Note

By the Black-History.com editors. Last reviewed 30 September 2026. To suggest a primary source or a correction, write to editors@black-history.com or use our corrections form.