The first human organ transplant, a kidney, took place in 1954. By the 1960s, the human heart transplant was on the medical horizon. On December 3, 1967, a large team led by cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard, who had trained in Richmond, VA under Drs. David Hume and Richard Lower, performed the world’s first human-to-human (allogeneic) heart transplant in Capetown, South Africa. On May 25, 1968, an MCV team led by cardiac surgeon Dr. Richard Lower performed the first human-to-human heart transplant in the South. This was the sixteenth heart transplant in the world. The heart of African American Bruce Tucker, who had worked for an egg-packing plant and had recently suffered a severe head injury, deemed by physicians of the time to be an unrecoverable injury, was transplanted into Joseph Klett, a white businessman. Neither Bruce Tucker nor his family consented to the transplant. To learn more about Mr. Tucker's case as well as efforts to honor his legacy, please explore the resources below.