Aubré de Lambert Maynard explained

Aubré de Lambert Maynard (November 17, 1901 – March 20, 1999) was an American physician and surgeon who is most notable for operating on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to save his life after a 1958 assassination attempt.[1] [2] Maynard was an authority on chest and abdominal wounds.

Personal life

Maynard was born in Georgetown, Guyana and migrated to the United States in 1906.[1] He initially attended City College of New York in 1922 and later enrolled in New York University Medical School.[3] He was told that engineering had no prospects for blacks and chose medical school.[3] Maynard had difficulties finding employment in the medical field. After finishing first on the internship examination, he was hired as the first black intern at Harlem Hospital.[2] He lived in lower Manhattan.[4] In 1928, he married Ethel Maynard with whom he had one daughter. The couple divorced in 1930.[5] In 1978, he wrote the book Surgeons to the Poor: The Harlem Hospital Story.[1]

Medical career

He served as the Director of Surgery at Harlem Hospital. He also saved the life of W. Averell Harriman.[6]

Operation on Martin Luther King

Izola Curry stabbed the reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in the chest with a letter opener on September 20, 1958, at book-signing in a Harlem department store. NYPD police officers Al Howard and Phil Romano took King in the chair down to an ambulance that took King to Harlem Hospital, and its top team of trauma surgeons, Dr. John W. V. Cordice Jr., Dr. Emil Naclerio, Aubre C. Maynard,[7] and Farrow Allen[8] were called in to operate.[9] They made incisions and inserted a rib spreader, making King’s aorta visible. Chief of Surgery Aubre de Lambert Maynard then entered and attempted to pull out the letter opener, but cut his glove on the blade; a surgical clamp was finally used to pull out the blade.[10] Cordice mapped out a strategy and successfully saved Dr. King.[11] He was the subject of the book When Harlem Nearly Killed King: The 1958 Stabbing of Dr. Martin Luther King, by Hugh Pearson.[12]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Maynard, Aubre De Lambert (1901-1999) . kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150918164400/http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_maynard_aubre_de_lambert_1901_1999.1.html . 2015-09-18.
  2. News: Aubre De Lambert Maynard . San Francisco Chronicle. March 25, 1990 . June 19, 2022 . Died Saturday.
  3. News: Dr. Aubre de Lambert Maynard, 97, a Surgeon. The New York Times. 23 March 1999. Saxon. Wolfgang.
  4. Web site: Jet. 3 May 1999. Johnson Publishing Company.
  5. News: February 17, 2019 . Western Women: Ethel Maynard first black woman elected to Arizona Legislature . Arizona Daily Star . June 19, 2022.
  6. Web site: Dr. Aubre de Lambert Maynard,97, credited with . 24 March 1999 .
  7. Web site: Schwartz . Felicia . January 1, 2014 . Dr. John Cordice, who operated on MLK after stabbing, dies . .
  8. Web site: Jet. Johnson Publishing. Company. 2 October 1958. Johnson Publishing Company. Google Books.
  9. Web site: Cardozo HS coach Naclerio sets PSAL record with 723rd win. New York Daily News. 2 December 2015 .
  10. News: The Black and White Men Who Saved Martin Luther King's Life . Michael Daly . . January 20, 2014 . 2014-01-22 . Stabbed in the chest in 1958, one mistake or sneeze would have fatally severed his aorta if not for the deft work for two cops and two surgeons. . https://web.archive.org/web/20140123171919/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/19/the-black-and-white-men-who-saved-martin-luther-king-s-life.html . 2014-01-23 . live.
  11. Web site: Dr. W.V. Cordice Jr., 94, a Surgeon Who Helped Save Dr. King, Dies. 5 January 2014. The New York Times.
  12. Book: Pearson, Hugh. When Harlem Nearly Killed King: The 1958 Stabbing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. 4 January 2011. Seven Stories Press. 9781609803216. Google Books.