A Chat with Vivien Thomas: She Was the 1St to Interview Mr.Thomas on His Extraordinary Technical Discoveries Used in Dr Alfred Blalock ‘s ‘Blue Baby Operation”

By Jessie B. Gladden

“ Experiece the interview with Mr Thomas himself as though you were there the history making development of the Blue Baby Operation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532085864

Jessie B. Gladden

Jessie Benjamin Gladden was born on December 11, 1930 in New York City. Her mother was a domestic and later a business owner and her father was a laborer. In 1948, Gladden earned her high school diploma from North Hampton County Training School in North Carolina. In 1953, she earned her bachelor’s of science degree in social science and English from North Carolina Agriculture and Technology. Gladden began her teaching career in 1956 at Charles Hamilton Houston elementary school in Baltimore From 1970 until 1971, Gladden traded in her chalk and eraser for a camera and studio audience when she taught for the show Newslab that aired on Maryland Public Television. In 1973, she earned her master’s degree in American history from Morgan State University. Gladden’s master’s thesis highlighted the medical accomplishments of Morgan State University medical scientist, Vivien Thomas. Thomas, with only a high school education, developed many surgical techniques and instruments used in treating and identifying diseases. Gladden’s thesis was titled, Vivien Thomas: Black Non-Doctor. From 1977 until 1992, she worked as a supervisor, Division of Social Studies curriculum, for Baltimore City Schools. She retired from the Baltimore City School system in 1992. The following year, she took a position as a teacher supervisor at Johns Hopkins University until her retirement in 2001.

Book preview

A CHAT WITH

VIVIEN THOMAS

She was the 1st to interview Mr.Thomas on his

extraordinary technical discoveries used in Dr

Alfred Blalock ‘s ‘blue baby operation"

Jessie B. Gladden

37042.png

A CHAT WITH VIVIEN THOMAS

SHE WAS THE 1ST TO INTERVIEW MR.THOMAS ON HIS

EXTRAORDINARY TECHNICAL DISCOVERIES USED IN

DR ALFRED BLALOCK ‘S ‘BLUE BABY OPERATION"

Copyright © 2020 Jessie B. Gladden.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-8585-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8586-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020901207

iUniverse rev. date: 02/10/2020

ABSTRACT

Title of Thesis: Vivien Thomas: Black Non-Doctor

Jessie Gladden, Master of Arts, 1973

Thesis Directed by: Dr. Roland McConnell

There are many Black Americans who have played a little-known but courageous role in medical history. Their names, perhaps, have never appeared in history books. Among these little-known scientist is Mr. Vivien Thomas, Black non-doctor.

This thesis attempts to identify and describe some of the achievements of Mr. Thomas, a high school graduate to medicine. It will describe his accomplishments in research and surgical techniques at Vanderbilt University and at the Johns Hopkins School of medicine.

In four chapters, beginning with his early life, this investigation traces the career of Mr. Thomas to the present. The first chapter describes the early life of Vivien Thomas and the Vanderbilt years. The school chapter presents an account of his career at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; the third describes the professional the public recognition accorded Mr. Thomas. A highlight of his career was hanging of his portrait in the Alfred Blalock Clinical Science Building at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The only other portrait hanging there is that of Dr. Blalock.

In conclusion, this investigation presented some of the results of the work of a scientist whose contributions to surgical research techniques significantly influenced the treatment of hypertension, shock, and finally the Blue Baby operation. Mr. Thomas, an unknown scientist, contributed uniquely to the field of medicine, and in doing marked a milestone in medical history.

This book is dedicated in the loving memory

of our Mother, Marc and Lisa Gladden.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The writer is indebted to several people for helping me in ordering my writing about Mr. Thomas.

I am grateful to my husband for his inspiration; to Dr. Roland McConnell, my advisor and chairman of the History Department, Morgan State College for his suggestions and to Miss Oteina Lee for the typing of this manuscript.

The writer is grateful, also, to the doctors who worked with Mr. Thomas for the generosity in responding to my inquiries about his work: Dr. George Zuidema, Professor and Director of Surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; to Dr. Mark M. Ravitch, Surgeon-in-Chief and Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of medicine; to Dr. Rowena Spencer, Specialist in Surgical Disease of Infants and Children, Pediatric Surgery, New Orleans, Louisiana; to Dr. Jerome H. Kay, Los Angeles, California and to Dr. Denton A. Cooley, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas.

In addition, assistance was received from the Public Relations Office at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The writer is grateful, also, to the professors at Morgan State College who read this manuscript, and offered valuable suggestions: to Dr. Suzanna Green, Professor of History and Dr. Roy Hunter, Jr., Chairman of the Biology Department.

For critically reading the manuscript, and making valuable suggestions, I am indebted to Mr. Vivien Thomas.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter I     The Early Years and Vanderbilt

Part I- The Early Years of Mr. Thomas

Part II The Vanderbilt Encounter

Chapter II     The Hopkins Years of Vivien Thomas

Part I- The Genesis

Part II- Published Works With Doctors

Part III-Unpublished Works

Chapter III   Professional and Public Recognition

Chapter IV   Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Most of the prominent scientists in history about whom this writer