Vivien Thomas Becomes Famous …and, Finally, Hopkins Recognizes Him as An Asset

In the late 1980s, a lengthy story on Vivien Thomas ran in two regional magazines. Then, in 2003, PBS devoted an episode on Thomas’s life in its documentary series the American Experience, which they called “Partners of the Heart.” The following year an HBO movie called Something the Lord Made focused on his relationship with Alfred Blalock. Both shows sanitized his story and downplayed the discrimination suffered by Thomas from Blalock and from Vanderbilt and Hopkins universities. The media attention convinced Hopkins and others that Vivien Thomas should no longer be hidden. Recently, Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $150 million to Johns Hopkins for a Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative. This photo shows the Hopkins website for the scholarship program named in honor of Vivien Thomas.