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Dr. Ben Carson's modest beginnings are certainly what make his career success amazing and almost unfathomable. Born and raised in inner-city Detroit, Dr. Carson credits his mother Sonya's influence with much of his success. She performed domestic work to keep her family financially afloat. With only a third grade education herself, Sonya Carson prayed diligently for wisdom to help Ben and his older brother Curtis success in school. Vigorous studying and a thirst for knowledge enabled young Dr. Carson to graduate from high school with honors and gain admission to Yale University where he pursued a degree in Psychology. He then went onto medical school at the University of Michigan, where his interest shifted from psychiatry to neurosurgery.
It was then that Dr. Carson realized his ability to visualize the brain in three dimensions, excellent hand-eye coordination, and extensive neurological background were qualities fitting for a career as a neurosurgeon. After medical school, Dr. Carson became a neurosurgery resident at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
In 1987, Carson made medical history by being the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins (the Binder twins) who had been joined at the back of the head (craniopagus twins). The 70-member surgical team, led by Carson, worked for 22 hours. At the end, the twins were successfully separated and can now survive independently.
Carson recalls:
I looked at that situation. I said, ‘Why is it that this is such a disaster?’ and it was because they would always exsanguinate. They would bleed to death, and I said, ‘There's got to be a way around that. These are modern times.’ This was back in 1987. I was talking to a friend of mine, who was a cardiothoracic surgeon, who was the chief of the division, and I said, ‘You guys operate on the heart in babies, how do you keep them from exsanguinating’ and he says, ‘Well, we put them in hypothermic arrest.’ I said, ‘Is there any reason that – if we were doing a set of Siamese twins that were joined at the head – that we couldn't put them into hypothermic arrest, at the appropriate time, when we're likely to lose a lot of blood?’ and he said, ‘No way .’ I said, ‘Wow, this is great.’ Then I said, ‘Why am I putting my time into this? I'm not going to see any Siamese twins.’ So I kind of forgot about it, and lo and behold, two months later, along came these doctors from Germany, presenting this case of Siamese twins. And, I was asked for my opinion, and I then began to explain the techniques that should be used, and how we would incorporate hypothermic arrest, and everybody said ‘Wow! That sounds like it might work.’ And, my colleagues and I, a few of us went over to Germany. We looked at the twins. We actually put in scalp expanders, and five months later we brought them over and did the operation, and lo and behold, it worked.
At age 33, Dr. Carson became the youngest physician to ever head a major division at Johns Hopkins. He is currently the director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, a position he has held since 1984, and a professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery, and pediatric medicine.
This is a story that's local to me but one that I find fascinating - that the son of a slave could find himself in the Pacific Northwest and come to be known as the founder of the largest town in Lewis County, Washington:
Quote:
George and Mary Jane Washington found the town of Centerville (now Centralia) on January 8, 1875.
On January 8, 1875, George Washington (1817-1905) and his wife Mary Jane file the plat that establishes the town of Centerville, soon to be renamed Centralia, in Lewis County in Southwest Washington. George Washington, a pioneer from Virginia, is the son of an African American slave and a woman of English descent. For the next 30 years, he is a leading citizen, promoter, and benefactor of the town he founds.
Washington was born in Frederick County, Virginia, on August 15, 1817. When his father, a slave, was sold and taken from the area soon after George's birth, his mother left him with a white couple named Anna and James Cochran (or Cochrane), who raised him. While George was still a child, the Cochrans moved west to Ohio and then Missouri. As an adult, Washington tried his hand at several businesses in Missouri and Illinois, but was frustrated each time by discriminatory laws. By 1850 he decided to head farther west in the hope of finding more freedom. The Cochrans joined him, and on March 15, 1850, the family set out with a wagon train heading west. They settled first in Oregon City, but within a few years crossed the Columbia River into what would soon become Washington Territory.
Staking a Claim
In 1852, Washington began a claim where the Skookumchuck River joins the Chehalis River, becoming the fourth settler in the area where he would later found the town of Centralia. The spot had long been a home of the Chehalis Indians, and Washington recognized the river junction as a prime spot for a settlement. He cleared land, built a cabin, and began farming. Because Oregon Territory had passed a law barring settlement by African Americans, Washington had James and Anna Cochran file a claim under the Donation Land Claim Act for 640 acres in the area. When the claim was proved up by four years residence, and Washington Territory, which did not bar African American ownership, had come into existence, the Cochrans deeded the property to Washington.
When he was in his 50s, some years after Anna and James Cochran had died, Washington met and married Mary Jane Cooness (or Cornie), a widow of African American and Jewish descent. In 1872, the Northern Pacific Railroad, advancing north from the Columbia River to Puget Sound, crossed the Washingtons' land. They recognized that their land would be a central point on the railroad between Kalama, on the Columbia, and Tacoma, on the Sound, and decided to start a town on the site. Over the supper table, they laid out a town centered around a little store that their neighbor Isaac Wingard operated nearby.
Platting the Town
On January 8, 1875, the Washingtons filed the plat for their town, which they called Centerville, at the Lewis County courthouse in nearby Chehalis. The initial plat consisted of four blocks platted into lots, which Washington offered for sale at $10 per lot to anyone who would settle in the town. Washington later filed additional plats, adding to the size of the town. The Washingtons gave land to their Baptist congregation for a church and cemetery, and helped build the church. They also set aside land for a public square, which became Centralia's City Park, now named George Washington Park.
The town grew steadily. But while settlers liked the location, and the favorable terms Washington offered, they did not care for the name Centerville, in part because the town was confused with one of the same name near Goldendale, Klickitat County. By 1883, the name was changed to Centralia, based on the suggestion of a settler from Centralia, Illinois. In 1886, Centralia was incorporated.
By 1889, when Washington Territory became a state, the population of Centralia was nearing 1,000. Those were boom times, and within little more than a year, the population had climbed to more than 3,000. By 1891, George Washington had sold 2000 lots.
A Civic Leader
Mary Jane Washington died in 1888. George Washington remained an active civic leader in the town he and his wife had founded. He was noted for his willingness to help fellow residents in many ways, including selling property for little money down, offering loans at no interest, and providing work when no other was available.
Washington's assistance became crucial when the panic of 1893 hit and Centralia, along with the rest of the country, went into an economic downspin for most of the decade. On his own initiative, Washington organized a private relief program for needy residents. He drove to Portland, Oregon, by wagon to bring back tons of staples like rice, flour, and sugar, which he distributed along with lard and bacon that he bought wholesale in Chehalis. Washington declined to foreclose on mortgages he held, and when other properties went up for auction, he bought them to save the town from absentee ownership or bankruptcy. Although population and property values declined, Centralia survived and by the end of the decade began to rebound, entering the twentieth century with a population of around 1,600.
Washington remained active and involved in business and civic affairs until shortly before his death on August 26, 1905, 11 days after his 88th birthday. The mayor proclaimed a day of mourning, asking that all businesses close during Washington's funeral, reputed to be the largest in Centralia's history. The funeral was held at the Baptist church Washington had supported, and the founder of Centralia was buried in the cemetery he had donated.
How is this thread political or controversial? I don't see how it is on topic for this forum.
Its controversial because, some feel that relagating the celebration and recognition of the history of Black Folk's contribution to America to a single month, is not a significant recognition.
While others believe, Black Americans should not separate their history from the larger tapestry of American History.
And no one brings up the greatest Black Man ever? The African Alexander the Great: Sundiata Keita. He founded mighty Mali, the first Empire in West Africa.
And after him rose Mansa Musa, the richest man on Earth at the time of his reign. He gave so much gold away on his Hajj to Mecca that the economy of Egypt suffered inflation.
And then there was the man who built the greatest Empire the African world ever saw: Songhai. Askia the great, who's empire stretched over a million square miles. It is said he commanded forty thousand cavalry and a hundred thousand infantry. He encouraged scholarship and pumped funds into the great University in Timbuktu.
People forget where Americans of African descent came from and think that all we are or ever will be is rap videos, ebonics and pig feet. Before we were free we were slaves...and before we were slaves, we were kings. We should remember what we are and be proud of our glorious past. We are not slaves or "thugs and hoes", we are the children of Askia, Mansa Musa, Sundiata, Shaka, and Taharqa. We are Africans.
Charles Drew was born on June 3, 1904 in Washington, D.C., the son of Richard and Nora Drew and eldest of five children. Charles was one of those rare individuals who seemed to excel at everything he did and on every level and would go on to become of pioneer in the field of medicine.
While a student at McGill, he had saved a man by giving him a blood transfusion and had studied under Dr. John Beattie, an instructor of anatomy who was intensely interested in blood transfusions. Now at Columbia, he wrote a dissertation on "Banked Blood" in which he described a technique he developed for the long-term preservation of blood plasma. Prior to his discovery, blood could not be stored for more than two days because of the rapid breakdown of red blood cells. Drew had discovered that by separating the plasma (the liquid part of blood) from the whole blood (in which the red blood cells exist) and then refrigerating them separately, they could be combined up to a week later for a blood transfusion. He also discovered that while everyone has a certain type of blood (A, B, AB, or O) and thus are prevented from receiving a full blood transfusion from someone with different blood, everyone has the same type of plasma. Thus, in certain cases where a whole blood transfusion is not necessary, it was sufficient to give a plasma transfusion which could be administered to anyone, regardless of their blood type. He convinced Columbia University to establish a blood bank and soon was asked to go to England to help set up that country's first blood bank. Drew became the first Black to receive a Doctor of Medical Science degree from Columbia and was now gaining a reputation worldwide.
How is this thread political or controversial? I don't see how it is on topic for this forum.
Because there is no shortage of people who hate the idea that a black person ever contributed anything meaningful to the country and that they have no history to speak of.
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Before we were free we were slaves...and before we were slaves, we were kings. We should remember what we are and be proud of our glorious past. We are not slaves or "thugs and hoes", we are the children of Askia, Mansa Musa, Sundiata, Shaka, and Taharqa. We are Africans.
