Illustration of Vivien Thomas with heart lines in the background
Illustration by Alvin Epps
Narrative Nonfiction,

Heart Saver

Vivien Thomas never went to college. Yet his pioneering research would make him one of the great heroes of medicine.

By Lauren Tarshis
From the February 2024 Issue

Learning Objective: to identify key ideas and details in a narrative nonfiction article

Complexity Factors
  • Purpose
    The text relates the true story of how Vivien Thomas, who never attended medical school, became a pioneer in heart surgery and saved countless lives. It also provides information about racial segregation in U.S. history.
  • Structure
    The text weaves together narrative and informational passages. The text is mainly chronological but begins with a brief flash-forward to the story’s pivotal moment. Some key information appears in text boxes and image captions.
  • Vocabulary
    Contains higher-level vocabulary such as artery, brash, delicate, dramatic, economic, menial, reluctance, rigorous
  • Knowledge Demands
    The article refers to an honorary doctorate without explanation.
Lexiles: 990L, 800L
Featured Skill: Key Ideas and Details,
Other Key Skills: mood, author’s craft, text evidence, figurative language, compare and contrast
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.7, W.2, SL.1, SL.2
  • Grade 6
    RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.3, RI.6.4, RI.6.5, RI.6.7, W.6.2, SL.6.1, SL.6.2
  • Grade 7
    RI.7.1, RI.7.2, RI.7.3, RI.7.4, RI.7.5, RI.7.7, W.7.2, SL.7.1, SL.7.2
  • Grade 8
    RI.8.1, RI.8.2, RI.8.3, RI.8.4, RI.8.5, RI.8.7, W.8.2, SL.8.1, SL.8.2
TEKS Standards
  • Grades 6, 7, 8
    1c, 1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 6h, 6i, 6j (grade 8 only) 8d, 8f, 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d, 9e, 9f, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e, 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, 12d, 12e, 12f, 12g, 12i, 12j

Presentation View
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Reading Level

  • 990L
  • 800L
Download and Print
Reading Level (800L)
Spanish-Language Version
AS YOU READ

Think about why Vivien Thomas’s work was important.

One-year-old Eileen Saxon was dying. Tiny and weak, she weighed just 9 pounds. Her lips and fingernails were purple, her skin blue. Eileen had been born with a heart condition that starved her body of oxygen.

It was clear that she had little time left.

Eileen’s condition was not unique. During the early 1940s, thousands of so-called blue babies were born each year. Most lived no more than a few years. Doctors had no way to help them. 

That was about to change.

On November 29, 1944, Eileen was wheeled into an operating room at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Doctors and other medical workers watched from a glassed-in gallery above, eager to witness the first-ever attempt at saving a blue baby’s life by performing heart surgery. A highly experienced team of doctors, nurses, and other medical staff hovered over Eileen. 

One-year-old Eileen Saxon was dying. Tiny and weak, she weighed just 9 pounds. Her lips and fingernails were purple. Her skin was blue. Eileen had been born with a heart condition. It starved her body of oxygen.

She had little time left.

Eileen’s condition was not unique. During the early 1940s, thousands of so-called blue babies were born each year. Most lived no more than a few years. Doctors had no way to help them. 

That was about to change.

On November 29, 1944, Eileen was wheeled into an operating room at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Doctors and medical workers watched from a gallery above. They were eager to see the first-ever attempt at saving a blue baby’s life with heart surgery. A very experienced team of doctors, nurses, and other medical staff hovered over Eileen.

When it came to the success of the operation, however, the most important person there was neither a doctor nor a nurse. The lone Black person in the room, he was a soft-spoken man who stood on a step stool looking over the chief surgeon’s shoulder. This man, Vivien Thomas, had never been to medical school or even college, but each time the surgeon was ready to make a cut or place a stitch inside Eileen’s tiny chest, he would listen for Thomas’s instructions. 

Today Thomas is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century medicine. In 1944, however, few medical schools in the U.S. would have accepted him as a student. 

In the 1940s, discrimination against Black people was legal throughout the United States. Racist laws and customs kept Black people segregated from White people. Black people were forced to attend separate and inferior public schools. They were regularly turned away from hospitals and barred from sitting in the front of buses. They were forbidden from swimming in public pools and setting foot in public libraries. 

There were some Black doctors, but they were not allowed to work in most hospitals, including Johns Hopkins. Yet in the operating room on that November day, it was Vivien Thomas, a Black man, whose knowledge would make the difference between life and death for baby Eileen.

However, the person most important to the success of the operation was neither a doctor nor a nurse. He was the lone Black person in the room. His name was Vivien Thomas. He stood on a step stool looking over the chief surgeon’s shoulder. Thomas had never been to medical school or even college. But the surgeon listened for Thomas’s instructions for each cut or stitch.

Today Thomas is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century medicine. In 1944, however, few medical schools in the U.S. would have accepted him as a student. 

In the 1940s, discrimination against Black people was legal throughout the United States. Racist laws kept Black people segregated from White people. Black people had to attend separate and inferior public schools. They were turned away from hospitals and barred from sitting in the front of buses. They were forbidden from swimming in public pools and setting foot in public libraries. 

There were some Black doctors. But they were not allowed to work in most hospitals, including Johns Hopkins. Yet on that November day, it was Vivien Thomas, a Black man, whose knowledge would make the difference between life and death for baby Eileen.

The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution

Fixing a Broken Heart

In a healthy person, blood travels through the heart to the lungs, where it receives oxygen. Then the blood travels back through the heart and out into the rest of the body. In a blue baby, blood circulates through the body without enough of it first passing from the heart to the lungs for an oxygen fill-up. Alfred Blalock, Vivien Thomas, and Helen Taussig pioneered a surgery to fix this by creating a direct connection between a blue baby’s heart and lungs. 

Shattered Plans

Shattered Plans

Shutterstock.com

Thomas grew up in a vibrant Black community in Nashville, Tennessee, a segregated city. He attended a school for Black students that was known for its rigorous standards. Thomas graduated with top grades and planned to attend college and then medical school. Starting at age 13, he worked afternoons and weekends as a carpenter, saving money for his education. 

But not long after his high school graduation in 1930, Thomas’s plans were shattered by the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a period of economic disaster that lasted for a decade. Millions of Americans lost their jobs. Banks failed, and as a result, many people, Thomas included, lost their life savings. 

With no carpentry work to be found, Thomas was desperate for a job. His search led him to the office of a brash and brilliant young doctor named Alfred Blalock at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. 

Blalock came from a wealthy and prominent White Southern family. At just 32, he was already the head of Vanderbilt’s department of surgery. He needed help in his laboratory, where he was studying a condition called shock, which caused many patients to die during surgery. 

Thomas was impressed by Blalock’s work—but the job paid less than two-thirds of what he had earned as a carpenter. Still, jobs were scarce, and Thomas wanted to start college as soon as possible. He figured he wouldn’t be working for Blalock for long. 

Little did he know. 

Thomas grew up in a Black community in Nashville, Tennessee, a segregated city. He attended a school for Black students. It was known for its rigorous standards. He planned to attend college and then medical school. Starting at age 13, he worked part-time as a carpenter, saving money for his education. 

Thomas graduated from high school with top grades in 1930. But his college plans were shattered by the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a period of economic disaster that lasted for a decade. Millions of Americans lost their jobs. Banks failed. As a result, many people lost their life savings. Thomas was one of them.

There was no carpentry work. Thomas was desperate for a job. His search led him to a brash and brilliant young doctor named Alfred Blalock at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. 

Blalock came from a wealthy White Southern family. At just 32, he was already the head of Vanderbilt’s department of surgery. He was studying a condition called shock, which caused many patients to die during surgery. 

Thomas was impressed by Blalock’s work. But the job paid less than two-thirds of what he had earned as a carpenter. Still, jobs were scarce. And Thomas wanted to start college as soon as possible. He figured he wouldn’t be working for Blalock for long. 

Little did he know.

Alvin Epps

Dreaming Big

Vivien Thomas’s father was a master carpenter who taught his son to carefully measure, cut, and piece together lumber to construct and repair homes. Thomas dreamed of becoming a doctor, and by 13, he was already working alongside his father and saving his earnings to pay for his education.

True Partners

True Partners

Blalock quickly realized Thomas was extraordinarily gifted. He began teaching Thomas about conducting experiments, and Thomas dedicated himself to learning all he could. He worked 16-hour days and often went home with a stack of medical books, which he studied late into the night. 

Within a few years, he was designing experiments to test his and Blalock’s theories. Amid the bright lights and test tubes of the lab, the doctor and the researcher were true partners. Yet as a Black man, Thomas faced discrimination at Vanderbilt. 

After six years in his position, he was still making only a menial wage. What’s more, he discovered that in Vanderbilt’s official records, his job title was janitor. White men with similar jobs were paid more and were called research technicians. 

Thomas approached Blalock, told him what he had learned, and said that he should be classified as a research technician and paid like one too. Blalock promised to look into it. And though Thomas never found out if his title changed, his salary soon increased. 

Blalock quickly realized Thomas was extraordinarily gifted. He began teaching Thomas about conducting experiments. Thomas learned all he could. He worked 16-hour days. He often went home with medical books. He studied them late into the night.

Within a few years, he was designing experiments to test his and Blalock’s theories. In the lab, the doctor and the researcher were true partners. Yet as a Black man, Thomas faced discrimination at Vanderbilt.

After six years in his position, he was still making only a menial wage. He discovered that in Vanderbilt’s records, his job title was janitor. White men with similar jobs were paid more. They were called research technicians.

Thomas told Blalock what he had learned. He said his title should be research technician and he should be paid like one. Blalock promised to look into it. Thomas never found out if his title changed. But his salary soon increased.

Alvin Epps

Forming a Partnership 

The first time they met, Alfred Blalock told Thomas he was looking for “someone I can teach to do anything I can do, and maybe do things I can’t do.” Thomas, then 19, was up to the challenge. Within just a few weeks, he was conducting experiments and performing complex surgeries on animals.

Moving to Maryland

Moving to Maryland

In 1940, after Blalock and Thomas had been working together for a decade, they at last discovered one of the causes of shock and designed an effective treatment. Their discovery was celebrated around the world. Soon, Blalock was invited to become chief of surgery at one of the nation’s best hospitals, Johns Hopkins. He accepted the position on one condition: that Thomas could come work with him. 

Thomas was married by then and had two young children. With some reluctance, he and his family moved to Maryland. While the change offered him opportunities, it also offered many challenges. 

In Maryland, Thomas faced even worse discrimination than he’d left behind. He had a hard time finding a place to live; many landlords there rented only to White people. Johns Hopkins was even more segregated than Vanderbilt. It had separate cafeterias for Black people and White people. And Black patients were made to use a separate entrance in the back. 

Thomas was unwilling to let hateful policies like these distract him from his critical work with Blalock, however.

In 1940, Blalock and Thomas had been working together for a decade. They discovered one of the causes of shock. They designed a treatment. Their discovery was celebrated around the world. Soon, Blalock became chief of surgery at one of the nation’s best hospitals, Johns Hopkins. He accepted the position on one condition: that Thomas could come work with him. 

Thomas was married by then. He had two young children. With some reluctance, he and his family moved to Maryland. The change offered him opportunities. But it also offered many challenges. 

In Maryland, Thomas faced even worse discrimination. He had a hard time finding a place to live. Many landlords there rented only to White people. Johns Hopkins was even more segregated than Vanderbilt. It had separate cafeterias for Black people and White people. And Black patients had to use a separate entrance in the back. 

However, Thomas was unwilling to let hateful policies distract him from his work with Blalock. 

Alvin Epps

Building a Life in Baltimore

In 1941, Thomas, his wife, Clara, and their two daughters moved to Baltimore, where Thomas had accepted a position alongside Blalock. Thomas was now employed by Johns Hopkins, one of the finest hospitals in the nation, yet he struggled to find housing in the segregated city. The hospital itself was segregated too—and Thomas was the only Black researcher employed there.

Alvin Epps

Making Medical History

Following the first successful surgery to repair a blue baby’s heart, other families with blue babies began flooding into Johns Hopkins from across the country. Blalock often performed the operation multiple times a day. And each time, Thomas helped guide him through the procedure.

A Call to Action

A Call to Action

The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution

Recognizing a Hero

Thomas received an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1976. From then on he was known as “Dr. Thomas.”

At Johns Hopkins, Thomas and Blalock met someone who would change the course of their work—and their lives. Helen Taussig was a pediatric cardiologist, a doctor who specializes in treating children’s and infants’ hearts. The first female pediatric cardiologist in the U.S., Taussig had saved many lives. But she could do nothing for blue babies, whose condition prevented sufficient blood from traveling between their heart and lungs. This starved their bodies of oxygen. 

In 1943, Taussig asked Blalock and Thomas to develop a procedure that would create a new pathway for blood to travel between the heart and lungs. It was a massive challenge. At the time, heart surgery was considered the “Mount Everest” of medicine—few doctors had even attempted it. 

Over many months, while Blalock was busy with other responsibilities, Thomas learned to create blue baby syndrome in animals so he could then work on treating it. He even designed new medical instruments when he could find none delicate enough for his work. 

In late 1944, Blalock received an urgent call from Taussig. A baby was lying in an oxygen tent in the hospital’s infant ward. Her name was Eileen Saxon, and she was dying.

By then, Thomas and Blalock had developed the procedure Taussig had asked for. They’d found a way to attach one artery to another, giving the blood a new pathway to the lungs. 

But they had never tried it on a human. Eileen would be the first.

Thomas expected to watch the surgery from the gallery, but Blalock wanted Thomas next to him. Thomas had performed the operation dozens of times on animals. Blalock had done it just once—as Thomas’s assistant. 

Throughout the operation, Blalock asked for Thomas’s help. If the surgeon placed a stitch in the wrong direction, Thomas would simply say, “The other direction, Dr. Blalock.” 

At last, the surgery was nearly complete. Had it worked? 

At Johns Hopkins, Thomas and Blalock met someone who would change the course of their work—and their lives. Helen Taussig was a pediatric cardiologist. That’s a doctor who treats children’s and infants’ hearts. Taussig was the first female pediatric cardiologist in the U.S. She had saved many lives. But she could do nothing for blue babies. Their condition prevented sufficient blood from traveling between their heart and lungs. This starved their bodies of oxygen. 

In 1943, Taussig asked Blalock and Thomas to develop a procedure for creating a new pathway for blood to travel between the heart and lungs. It was a huge challenge. At the time, heart surgery was considered the “Mount Everest” of medicine. Few doctors attempted it. 

While Blalock was busy with other responsibilities, Thomas learned to create blue baby syndrome in animals. He then worked on treating them. He also designed new medical instruments that were delicate enough for his work. 

In late 1944, Blalock received an urgent call from Taussig. A baby was in an oxygen tent at the hospital. Her name was Eileen Saxon. She was dying.

By then, Thomas and Blalock had developed the procedure Taussig had asked for. They’d found a way to attach one artery to another, giving the blood a new pathway to the lungs. 

But they had never tried it on a human. Eileen would be the first.

Thomas and Blalock stood practically shoulder to shoulder, their attention fixed on their tiny patient. 

The final clamp was removed. Eileen’s blood began flowing along its new route from her heart to her lungs. In an instant, her sickly blue skin turned a healthy pink. 

“You’ve never seen anything so dramatic,” Thomas would later recall. “It was almost a miracle.” 

Soon, babies were being rushed to Johns Hopkins from across the U.S. Blalock became famous. Thomas continued his work in the background. 

Blalock died in 1964, but Thomas remained at Johns Hopkins until his retirement in 1979. By then he was a legend at the hospital and a highly respected professor at its medical school. In 1976, Johns Hopkins had finally recognized his contributions, awarding him an honorary doctoral degree 32 years after the first blue baby surgery. 

Thomas never became rich or famous, but he blazed a trail for Black Americans in medicine, including his nephew, who entered Johns Hopkins medical school in 1983. Thomas trained two generations of surgeons, and today his portrait hangs across from Blalock’s in the medical school.

Thomas died in 1985, but his legacy lives on, beat after beat, in the hearts of the many people he helped save.

Thomas expected to watch the surgery from the gallery, but Blalock wanted Thomas next to him. Thomas had performed the operation dozens of times on animals. Blalock had done it just once—as Thomas’s assistant. 

Throughout the operation, Blalock asked for Thomas’s help. If the surgeon placed a stitch in the wrong direction, Thomas would say, “The other direction, Dr. Blalock.” 

At last, the surgery was nearly complete. Had it worked? 

The final clamp was removed. Eileen’s blood began flowing along its new route from her heart to her lungs. In an instant, her sickly blue skin turned a healthy pink. 

“You’ve never seen anything so dramatic,” Thomas later said. “It was almost a miracle.” 

Soon, babies were being rushed to Johns Hopkins from across the U.S. Blalock became famous. Thomas continued his work in the background. 

Blalock died in 1964. But Thomas remained at Johns Hopkins until his retirement in 1979. By then he was a legend at the hospital and a highly respected professor at its medical school. In 1976, Johns Hopkins finally recognized his contributions. It awarded him an honorary doctoral degree. 

Thomas never became rich or famous. But he blazed a trail for Black Americans in medicine, including his nephew, who entered Johns Hopkins medical school in 1983. Thomas trained two generations of surgeons. Today his portrait hangs across from Blalock’s in the medical school.

Thomas died in 1985. But his legacy lives on, beat after beat, in the hearts of the many people he helped save.

Alvin Epps

Supporting the Next Generation

It wasn’t until nearly two decades after the first blue baby operation that Johns Hopkins accepted its first Black medical students. As the hospital desegregated, Thomas took on the role of mentoring the Black students and doctors who began passing through its doors.

Copyright ©2023 Lauren Tarshis

Copyright ©2023 Lauren Tarshis

Icon of a lightbulb

Writing Prompt

Your legacy is how you are remembered and the contributions you make during your life. What is Vivien Thomas’s legacy?


Writing Prompt

Your legacy is how you are remembered and the contributions you make during your life. What is Vivien Thomas’s legacy? 


This article was originally published in the February 2024 issue.

This article was originally published in the February 2024 issue.

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Audio ()
Activities (10)
Preparing to Read
Reading and Discussing
Skill-Building Activities
The Core Skills Workout
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
video (1)
Audio ()
Activities (10)
Preparing to Read
Reading and Discussing
Skill-Building Activities
The Core Skills Workout
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

Download the Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Prepare to Read

2. Read and Discuss

3. Write About It 

4. Support for Multilingual Learners

Essential Questions: What is a trailblazer? How does prejudice affect society? How do people overcome challenges?

Essential Questions: What is a trailblazer? How does prejudice affect society? How do people overcome challenges?

1. PREPARE TO READ (20 MINUTES)

Do Now: Journal (5 minutes)

  • Project the following sentence stems on your whiteboard for students to respond to in their journals, on a piece of paper, or in their own digital document: 

Being educated means _______________________________________________.

Education takes place in _____________________________________________.

Preview Vocabulary (15 minutes)

  • Project the Google Slides version of Vocabulary: Definitions and Practice on your whiteboard. Review the definitions and complete the activity as a class. Highlighted words: artery, brash, delicate, dramatic, economic, menial, reluctance, rigorous. Audio pronunciations of the words and a read-aloud of the definitions are embedded on the slides. Optionally, print the PDF version or share the slideshow link directly to your LMS and have students preview the words and complete the activity independently before class.

Do Now: Journal (5 minutes)

  • Project the following sentence stems on your whiteboard for students to respond to in their journals, on a piece of paper, or in their own digital document: 

Being educated means ______________________________________________.

Education takes place in _____________________________________________.

Preview Vocabulary (15 minutes)

  • Project the Google Slides version of Vocabulary: Definitions and Practice on your whiteboard. Review the definitions and complete the activity as a class. Highlighted words: artery, brash, delicate, dramatic, economic, menial, reluctance, rigorous. Audio pronunciations of the words and a read-aloud of the definitions are embedded on the slides. Optionally, print the PDF version or share the slideshow link directly to your LMS and have students preview the words and complete the activity independently before class.

2. READ AND DISCUSS (45 MINUTES)

  • Invite a volunteer to read the As You Read box on page 5 or at the top of the digital story page.
  • Read the article once as a class. (Differentiation: Share the lower-Lexile version or the Spanish version of the article.) Optionally, have students listen to the article being read aloud while they follow along. The audio read-aloud is located in the Resources tab in Teacher View and at the top of the story page in Student View.
  • Divide students into groups to read the article again and respond to the following Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking questions, also located in the Resources tab.

Close-Reading Questions (30 minutes)

  1. The article begins with a dramatic description of a very sick baby. Why might Lauren Tarshis have started her story this way? (mood, author’s craft) Tarshis likely started her story this way to draw the reader in. The heartrending description of the baby shows the seriousness of blue baby syndrome and makes the reader want to keep reading to find out what happens.
  2. What challenges did Vivien Thomas face while trying to achieve his goals of attending college and medical school? How did he overcome these challenges? (text evidence) Thomas’s plans were first shattered by the Great Depression. He lost the education savings he’d been working for since age 13, and there was no more carpentry work to be found. Taking a major pay cut, Thomas accepted a job in Alfred Blalock’s lab at Vanderbilt University and worked hard to learn everything he could. Tarshis writes that he often went home with stacks of textbooks that he pored over late into the night. Thomas proved himself to Blalock, who soon came to consider Thomas a partner in his research. However, because Thomas was Black, he faced discrimination. After six years at Vanderbilt, he was still being paid a menial wage. What’s more, Vanderbilt listed him as a janitor in its official records. Thomas stood up for himself and spoke to Blalock; his salary soon increased. When Thomas moved to Maryland so that he could continue working with Blalock, he experienced even worse discrimination. He had trouble finding a landlord who would rent to him and his family, and his new employer, Johns Hopkins, was segregated. But Thomas refused to let the unfair and hateful way he was treated distract him from his work with Blalock.
  3. Tarshis writes that in the 1940s, heart surgery was seen as the “Mount Everest” of medicine. Explain the metaphor she is using. What does it help the reader understand about Thomas, Alfred Blalock, and Helen Taussig? (figurative language) Mount Everest is an incredibly difficult and dangerous mountain to climb—anyone who successfully scales Everest joins a small and elite group of the world’s best climbers. By comparing heart surgery and Everest, Tarshis helps readers understand that Thomas, Blalock, and Taussig were undertaking something incredibly difficult and full of risk, and that they were among the best in their field.
  4. How was Thomas’s life in the lab different from his life outside of it? How was it the same? (compare and contrast) Out in the world, Thomas was treated unfairly and with great prejudice because he was Black. Throughout the U.S. at that time, Black people were forbidden to swim in most public pools, sit in the front of buses, or even go into most libraries. Inside the lab, Thomas was Blalock’s partner and a respected member of the team. Yet because he was Black, Thomas was not able to earn a medical degree from the very institution where he helped develop the procedure to treat blue babies. He did not receive the same level of recognition from the world that Blalock did, and he did not receive fair pay for his work.
  5. At the end of the article, Tarshis writes that a portrait of Thomas now hangs across from Blalock’s in the medical school at Johns Hopkins. Why might she have included this detail? (author’s craft) This detail shows that after years of being overlooked, Thomas has finally been recognized for his contributions. Placing his portrait across from Blalock’s presents the two men as equals.
  • As a class, discuss the following questions.

Critical-Thinking Questions (5 minutes)

  1. An unsung hero is someone who has achieved greatness but is not recognized or celebrated for their achievements. How was Thomas an unsung hero? Thomas was a hero because he helped pioneer a lifesaving heart surgery and went on to train other heart surgeons who saved many more lives. He also opened the door for other Black people to enter medicine, including his own nephew. Thomas was “unsung” because he was not recognized for his accomplishments for many decades. Unlike Blalock, Thomas never became rich or famous.

  2. Think about the kind of prejudice and racism that Thomas faced during his lifetime. How does this kind of discrimination affect society? Answers will vary. Students may say that segregation prevented many Black people from getting an education. Thomas, for example, was barred from entering public libraries and attending most medical schools, including Johns Hopkins. Such discrimination is immoral and it discourages people from realizing their potential.

  3. Tarshis writes that Thomas and Blalock created blue baby syndrome in animals so that they could figure out how to treat it. What’s your opinion: Is animal testing for scientific research and medical advancement justified? Explain. Answers will vary.
    4.  

  • Have students revisit their Do Now responses and edit if necessary. Discuss: How did reading about Thomas confirm, challenge, or change your responses?

Watch a Video (10 minutes)

  • Show students our Meet the Illustrator video, in which Alvin Epps talks about creating the illustrations for “Heart Saver” and his job as an illustrator and graphic novelist in general.

  • Invite a volunteer to read the As You Read box on page 5 or at the top of the digital story page.
  • Read the article once as a class. (Differentiation: Share the lower-Lexile version or the Spanish version of the article.) Optionally, have students listen to the article being read aloud while they follow along. The audio read-aloud is located in the Resources tab in Teacher View and at the top of the story page in Student View.
  • Divide students into groups to read the article again and respond to the following Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking questions, also located in the Resources tab.

Close-Reading Questions (30 minutes)

  1. The article begins with a dramatic description of a very sick baby. Why might Lauren Tarshis have started her story this way? (mood, author’s craft) Tarshis likely started her story this way to draw the reader in. The heartrending description of the baby shows the seriousness of blue baby syndrome and makes the reader want to keep reading to find out what happens.
  2. What challenges did Vivien Thomas face while trying to achieve his goals of attending college and medical school? How did he overcome these challenges? (text evidence) Thomas’s plans were first shattered by the Great Depression. He lost the education savings he’d been working for since age 13, and there was no more carpentry work to be found. Taking a major pay cut, Thomas accepted a job in Alfred Blalock’s lab at Vanderbilt University and worked hard to learn everything he could. Tarshis writes that he often went home with stacks of textbooks that he pored over late into the night. Thomas proved himself to Blalock, who soon came to consider Thomas a partner in his research. However, because Thomas was Black, he faced discrimination. After six years at Vanderbilt, he was still being paid a menial wage. What’s more, Vanderbilt listed him as a janitor in its official records. Thomas stood up for himself and spoke to Blalock; his salary soon increased. When Thomas moved to Maryland so that he could continue working with Blalock, he experienced even worse discrimination. He had trouble finding a landlord who would rent to him and his family, and his new employer, Johns Hopkins, was segregated. But Thomas refused to let the unfair and hateful way he was treated distract him from his work with Blalock.
  3. Tarshis writes that in the 1940s, heart surgery was seen as the “Mount Everest” of medicine. Explain the metaphor she is using. What does it help the reader understand about Thomas, Alfred Blalock, and Helen Taussig? (figurative language) Mount Everest is an incredibly difficult and dangerous mountain to climb—anyone who successfully scales Everest joins a small and elite group of the world’s best climbers. By comparing heart surgery and Everest, Tarshis helps readers understand that Thomas, Blalock, and Taussig were undertaking something incredibly difficult and full of risk, and that they were among the best in their field.
  4. How was Thomas’s life in the lab different from his life outside of it? How was it the same? (compare and contrast) Out in the world, Thomas was treated unfairly and with great prejudice because he was Black. Throughout the U.S. at that time, Black people were forbidden to swim in most public pools, sit in the front of buses, or even go into most libraries. Inside the lab, Thomas was Blalock’s partner and a respected member of the team. Yet because he was Black, Thomas was not able to earn a medical degree from the very institution where he helped develop the procedure to treat blue babies. He did not receive the same level of recognition from the world that Blalock did, and he did not receive fair pay for his work.
  5. At the end of the article, Tarshis writes that a portrait of Thomas now hangs across from Blalock’s in the medical school at Johns Hopkins. Why might she have included this detail? (author’s craft) This detail shows that after years of being overlooked, Thomas has finally been recognized for his contributions. Placing his portrait across from Blalock’s presents the two men as equals.
  • As a class, discuss the following questions.
Critical-Thinking Questions (5 minutes)

  1. An unsung hero is someone who has achieved greatness but is not recognized or celebrated for their achievements. How was Thomas an unsung hero? Thomas was a hero because he helped pioneer a lifesaving heart surgery and went on to train other heart surgeons who saved many more lives. He also opened the door for other Black people to enter medicine, including his own nephew. Thomas was “unsung” because he was not recognized for his accomplishments for many decades. Unlike Blalock, Thomas never became rich or famous.

  2. Think about the kind of prejudice and racism that Thomas faced during his lifetime. How does this kind of discrimination affect society? Answers will vary. Students may say that segregation prevented many Black people from getting an education. Thomas, for example, was barred from entering public libraries and attending most medical schools, including Johns Hopkins. Such discrimination is immoral and it discourages people from realizing their potential.

  3. Tarshis writes that Thomas and Blalock created blue baby syndrome in animals so that they could figure out how to treat it. What’s your opinion: Is animal testing for scientific research and medical advancement justified? Explain. Answers will vary.
  • Have students revisit their Do Now responses and edit if necessary. Discuss: How did reading about Thomas confirm, challenge, or change your responses?

Watch a Video (10 minutes)

  • Show students our Meet the Illustrator video, in which Alvin Epps talks about creating the illustrations for “Heart Saver” and his job as an illustrator and graphic novelist in general.

3. WRITE ABOUT IT: KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS (45 MINUTES)

  • Have students complete the Featured Skill Activity: Key Ideas and Details. This activity prepares them to respond to the writing prompt on page 9 in the printed magazine and at the bottom of the digital story page:

Your legacy is how you are remembered and the contributions you make during your life. What is Vivien Thomas’s legacy?

  • Alternatively, have students choose a task from the Choice Board, a menu of possible culminating tasks. (Our Choice Board options include the writing prompt from the magazine, differentiated versions of the writing prompt, and additional creative ways for students to demonstrate their understanding of a story or article.)

  • Have students complete the Featured Skill Activity: Key Ideas and Details. This activity prepares them to respond to the writing prompt on page 9 in the printed magazine and at the bottom of the digital story page:

Your legacy is how you are remembered and the contributions you make during your life. What is Vivien Thomas’s legacy?

  • Alternatively, have students choose a task from the Choice Board, a menu of possible culminating tasks. (Our Choice Board options include the writing prompt from the magazine, differentiated versions of the writing prompt, and additional creative ways for students to demonstrate their understanding of a story or article.)

4. SUPPORT FOR MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS

These questions are designed to help students respond to the text at a level that’s right for them.

Yes/No Questions

Ask students to demonstrate comprehension with a very simple answer.

  1. Did Vivien Thomas have a medical degree? No, he didn’t.
  2. Would most medical schools admit Thomas in 1944? No, they wouldn’t.
  3. Did Alfred Blalock treat Thomas as his equal and partner? Yes, he did.
  4. Were Blalock and Thomas able to save Eileen Saxon’s life? Yes, they were. 
  5. Did Thomas become rich and famous? No, he didn’t.

Either/Or Questions

Encourage students to use language from the question in their answer.

  1. Did Vivien Thomas work as a carpenter or a janitor before joining Alfred Blalock? Vivien Thomas worked as a carpenter before joining Alfred Blalock.
  2. In the early 1940s, were there just a few blue babies or thousands of blue babies? There were thousands of blue babies. 
  3. Was moving to Maryland easy or challenging for Thomas? Moving to Maryland was challenging for Thomas.
  4. After the surgery, did Eileen Saxon’s skin turn from blue to pink slowly or quickly? Eileen’s skin turned pink quickly.
  5. Was the surgery on Eileen a failure or a success? The surgery on Eileen was a success.

Short-Answer Questions

Challenge students to produce simple answers on their own.

  1. How did Vivien Thomas develop the procedure Helen Taussig asked for? Thomas created blue baby syndrome in animals so he could figure out how to treat it. He also created better instruments to use.

  2. How did parents of blue babies react to Eileen Saxon’s surgery? Following Eileen’s surgery, families from all over the United States rushed their blue babies to Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment.

Language-Acquisition Springboard: Preview figurative language

Before reading the article, tell students that figurative language is a way of using words and expressions in acreative, nonliteral way. Nonliteral means not using a word’s usual meaning—the way it would be defined in adictionary. Have students consider the following sentences. (The bolded phrases appear in “Heart Saver.”)

    • Winning the Superbowl is the Mount Everest of football. 

    Ask: What is Mount Everest? Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

    Project: an image or video of Mount Everest or people summiting Mount Everest

    Ask: If a task or achievement is described as the “Mount Everest” of something, do you think it is easy or difficult?

    Explain: This phrase compares something to Mount Everest, one of the tallest and most challenging mountains in the world to climb. If you say a task is the “Mount Everest” of some category, you mean it is the most challenging task within that category.

    • The concert gates opened and fans flooded into the stadium.

    Ask: What is a flood? A flood is a large flow of water that spreads over land that is normally dry.

    Project: an image or video of a flood

    Ask: If people are flooding into an area, do you think there is a small number of people or a large number of people? Are they moving quickly or slowly?

    Explain: This phrase suggests a large number of people or things moving quickly and filling a space.

    • Steve Jobs blazed a trail in the world of technology with the invention of the iPhone. 

    Ask: What is a trail? A trail is a marked path or route.

    Explain: Blazing a trail means putting marks on trees to show where the trail is.

    Project: an image of a tree with a blaze (trail marker) on it

    Ask: If someone “blazes a trail,” do you think they are the first person to do that thing or have many people done that thing before them?

    Explain: This phrase means to be the first one to do something and to show others how to do it.

    As you read, be sure to pause and discuss Tarshis’s use of the expressions:

    p. 8: “At the time, heart surgery was considered the ‘Mount Everest’ of medicine—few doctors had even attempted it.”

    p. 8 (in the caption “Making Medical History”): “Following the first successful surgery to repair a blue baby’s heart, other blue babies and their families began flooding into Johns Hopkins from across the country.”

    p. 10: “Thomas never became rich or famous, but he blazed a trail for Black Americans in medicine, including his nephew, who entered Johns Hopkins medical school in 1983.”

    These questions are designed to help students respond to the text at a level that’s right for them.

    Yes/No Questions

    Ask students to demonstrate comprehension with a very simple answer.

    1. Did Vivien Thomas have a medical degree? No, he didn’t.
    2. Would most medical schools admit Thomas in 1944? No, they wouldn’t.
    3. Did Alfred Blalock treat Thomas as his equal and partner? Yes, he did.
    4. Were Blalock and Thomas able to save Eileen Saxon’s life? Yes, they were. 
    5. Did Thomas become rich and famous? No, he didn’t.

    Either/Or Questions

    Encourage students to use language from the question in their answer.

    1. Did Vivien Thomas work as a carpenter or a janitor before joining Alfred Blalock? Vivien Thomas worked as a carpenter before joining Alfred Blalock.
    2. In the early 1940s, were there just a few blue babies or thousands of blue babies? There were thousands of blue babies. 
    3. Was moving to Maryland easy or challenging for Thomas? Moving to Maryland was challenging for Thomas.
    4. After the surgery, did Eileen Saxon’s skin turn from blue to pink slowly or quickly? Eileen’s skin turned pink quickly.
    5. Was the surgery on Eileen a failure or a success? The surgery on Eileen was a success.

    Short-Answer Questions

    Challenge students to produce simple answers on their own.

    • How did Vivien Thomas develop the procedure Helen Taussig asked for? Thomas created blue baby syndrome in animals so he could figure out how to treat it. He also created better instruments to use.

    • How did parents of blue babies react to Eileen Saxon’s surgery? Following Eileen’s surgery, families from all over the United States rushed their blue babies to Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment.

    Language-Acquisition Springboard: Preview figurative language.

    Before reading the article, tell students that figurative language is a way of using words and expressions in acreative, nonliteral way. Nonliteral means not using a word’s usual meaning—the way it would be defined in adictionary. Have students consider the following sentences. (The bolded phrases appear in “Heart Saver.”)

    • Winning the Superbowl is the Mount Everest of football.

    Ask: What is Mount Everest? Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

    Project: an image or video of Mount Everest or people summiting Mount Everest

    Ask: If a task or achievement is described as the “Mount Everest” of something, do you think it is easy or difficult?

    Explain: This phrase compares something to Mount Everest, one of the tallest and most challenging mountains in the world to climb. If you say a task is the “Mount Everest” of some category, you mean it is the most challenging task within that category.

    • The concert gates opened and fans flooded into the stadium.

    Ask: What is a flood? A flood is a large flow of water that spreads over land that is normally dry.

    Project: an image or video of a flood

    Ask: If people are flooding into an area, do you think there is a small number of people or a large number of people? Are they moving quickly or slowly?

    Explain: This phrase suggests a large number of people or things moving quickly and filling a space.

    • Steve Jobs blazed a trail in the world of technology with the invention of the iPhone. 

    Ask: What is a trail? A trail is a marked path or route. 

    Explain: Blazing a trail means putting marks on trees to show where the trail is.

    Project: an image of a tree with a blaze (trail marker) on it

    Ask: If someone “blazes a trail,” do you think they are the first person to do that thing or have many people done that thing before them?

    Explain: This phrase means to be the first one to do something and to show others how to do it.

    As you read, be sure to pause and discuss Tarshis’s use of the expressions:

    p. 8: “At the time, heart surgery was considered the ‘Mount Everest’ of medicine—few doctors had even attempted it.”

    p. 8 (in the caption “Making Medical History”): “Following the first successful surgery to repair a blue baby’s heart, other blue babies and their families began flooding into Johns Hopkins from across the country.”

    p. 10: “Thomas never became rich or famous, but he blazed a trail for Black Americans in medicine, including his nephew, who entered Johns Hopkins medical school in 1983.”

    CONNECTED READING

    Connected readings from the Scope archives:

    Connected readings from the Scope archives:

    Text-to-Speech