Vivian Thomas.

[NNadir]

Bob Gee, 1969.

Alfred Blalock Clinical Sciences Building, Johns Hopkins University Medical School.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear NNadir...

This is an interesting portrait...

The gentleman looks ill at ease, as though he's wondering if he should really be sitting there.

The artist has captured his demeanor really well...

Thank you for sharing this portrait...

[NNadir]

2. Vivian Thomas was the heart surgeon who had no college degree and who

pioneered, with his boss, Alfred Blalock, open heart surgery to treat the congenital Tetralogy of Fallot, "blue baby" syndrome.

Although Thomas had no formal college education, many of the chief heart surgeons had been trained by him, and in 1969 these doctors commissioned this portrait and insisted it be placed next to Blalock's at Johns Hopkins.

Johns Hopkins was one the last major universities in the United States to desegregate, and for part of his tenure there, Vivian Thomas was paid a janitor's salary.

In 1976, after his retirement, Hopkins, by way of apology, awarded Thomas an honorary doctorate.

This story was told in the book "Something the Lord Made" and the HBO movie of the same name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_the_Lord_Made

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Thank you for those details...

It's a remarkable story.

[NNadir]

4. My pleasure Peg. You caught the essence of the painting before knowing the tale. n/t

[lunatica]

5. I saw the movie on HBO

A real genius who knew more than doctors who had been trained. A proud man in a nasty racist world who won in the end.