Something the Lord Made The film "Something the Lord Made" directed by nominated and award winning director, Joseph Sargent tells the true story of Dr. Alfred Blalock (Alan Rickman), a cardiologist and Surgeon, and his young African American Surgical Technician Vivien Thomas (Mos Def), who cooperate as a team using medical research and experimentation to find a cure to cyanosis or in other words known as the blue baby syndrome. The impact on medicine that the two heart surgeon pioneers will have on John Hopkins Hospital will save the lives of many children and lead to the invention of many surgical procedures such as cardiac surgery and the coronary bypass that will forever change the face of medicine and take doctors to a new level of knowledge.
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Throughout the movie, Dr. Blalock is constantly frowned upon for having Thomas as his assistant. The 1930s was a time where several events were happening such as the great depression and the start of WWII and was also a time where discrimination of African Americans was constantly seen. Segregated schools, hospitals, and bathrooms were everywhere. At the time, African Americans were also known to have lower education, so the sight of black doctors was extremely rare. In the movie, Thomas is not allowed to enter John Hopkins Hospital due to his skin color and is forced to wait outside though Dr. Blalock was vouching for him. While working in the lab Thomas is once again harassed by a doctor for being in the lab and wearing a lab coat. He simply tells Thomas to grab him "a donut and some coffee" as if Thomas was nothing but servant. At first the hospital refused to credit Thomas for his help in curing the cyanosis disease. According to Virginia Heffermen of The New York Times, she claims the movie is "grinding racism.... Blalock's only interest is in rising to prominence as a surgeon, why imagine that anything but pure opportunism led him to exploit the intelligence and surgical talents of his teenage janitor?" (Heffermen,
Throughout the movie, Dr. Blalock is constantly frowned upon for having Thomas as his assistant. The 1930s was a time where several events were happening such as the great depression and the start of WWII and was also a time where discrimination of African Americans was constantly seen. Segregated schools, hospitals, and bathrooms were everywhere. At the time, African Americans were also known to have lower education, so the sight of black doctors was extremely rare. In the movie, Thomas is not allowed to enter John Hopkins Hospital due to his skin color and is forced to wait outside though Dr. Blalock was vouching for him. While working in the lab Thomas is once again harassed by a doctor for being in the lab and wearing a lab coat. He simply tells Thomas to grab him "a donut and some coffee" as if Thomas was nothing but servant. At first the hospital refused to credit Thomas for his help in curing the cyanosis disease. According to Virginia Heffermen of The New York Times, she claims the movie is "grinding racism.... Blalock's only interest is in rising to prominence as a surgeon, why imagine that anything but pure opportunism led him to exploit the intelligence and surgical talents of his teenage janitor?" (Heffermen,