Tracking Down the First Recorded Sickle Cell Patient in Western Medicine

In 1910, the first article describing a case of sickle cell anemia appeared in Archives of Internal Medicine. In 1987, a historian of African American medical history, Todd Savitt, took advantage of an opportunity to research the circumstances behind the publication of that first article and identify the people (patient and physicians) involved. Savitt recounts his “adventures” in tracing the story to its origins in the West Indies.