The Tragic Story of Henrietta Lacks

Abstract

Henrietta’s death was not just a horror story, but it also marked a huge impact in medical research. John Hopkins University Hospital was where Henrietta went to get medical treatment for cervical cancer. During her visit scientists conducted a tissue screening on her cervix, but after her visit the doctors secretly kept part of her tissues for research purposes. The cells of Henrietta were used for multiple lab experiments, and the tissues were used for research purposes as well. Henrietta’s tragic story was not the only case of African Americans being wrongfully treated. Another tragic event was the Tuskegee syphilis study where they wrongfully withheld vital treatment from African American men for research purposes. Also, another event was the eugenic program. Doctors forcefully sterilized colored women so that they could no longer reproduce and risk bringing “feeble minded” children into the world.

Key words: HeLa, Carcinoma, Radium, feebleminded.

The Tragic Story of Henrietta Lacks

The world that we live in today runs off of an unjust system. The system does not treat everybody equally, there are certain races who benefit greatly whereas other races do not get the same pleasure. African Americans for example have struggled with unfair treatment ranging from the law to the examination room for centuries and are still fighting for equal rights today. Unknowledgeable African American women put unwavering trust in doctor’s to safely deliver their unborn baby, but the caregiver would unjustifiably tie the women’s tubes without their consent so that they could no longer reproduce. The program was called the eugenic program, and most of the victims that were a part of the program were all from racial minorities that the government deemed unfit or incapable of raising a child on their own, (Severson, 2011). There have been other instances in the past of scientist wrongfully withholding treatment to African American men for research purposes. The study was the Tuskegee syphilis study and the purpose were to observe the untreated effects of syphilis on the body. The victims in the study did not know that they were being infected with the virus, instead they thought that the scientist were testing them for bad blood (Warren, 2013). Those two examples were only a fraction of the wrongful treatments that African Americans were subjected to over the years. This essay will be covering the tremendous impact that Henrietta’s cells contributed to scientific discoveries, and the pain she had to endure while leading up to it.

Early life

Growing up a normal girl in the post bellum south, lacks was exposed to tremendous poverty, unavoidable discrimination, and horrific trauma. The experiences and unfair treatment that she was subjected too was very common of African Americans in that period. Loretta Pleasant was more than just a medical hero, she was a mother to five extraordinary kids. Loretta was born in 1920, August 1 in a large town called Roanoke located in Virginia. Loretta shared a house with eight of her older siblings and her parents Eliza and Johnny up until the year 1924. 1924 was a sad year for Loretta and her older siblings because their beloved mother Eliza died while giving birth to her tenth child, (The Immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter1). Loretta’s father Johnny grew worrisome and his patience grew even thinner to the point that he was unable to take care of his children. Johnny took all ten of his children to Clover, Virginia to live with family members. Although, ten children are a lot on one willing person, leading Johnny to divide all ten of his kids up between his family members. Loretta whom was merely four years old at the time ended up with her grandfather Tommy lacks, (The Immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 2). Tommy at the time was already raising one of his grandchildren that his granddaughter begrudgingly left behind seconds after delivering the baby boy. David is what he named the baby boy, but everyone in his family calls him “Day” for short. Loretta changed her name to the name that she is regularly called by which is “Henrietta”. Henrietta’s family has no understanding of how and when she changed her name, but legally she goes by a name that is different from what her birth certificate states, (The Immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 2). Henrietta spent most of her younger years working in her family’s farm harvesting tobacco with her cousins and soon to be husband David Lacks. Every morning around Four o’clock she would awaken and start her daily morning routines such as brushing her teeth and combing her hair etc. Then she would proceed to go to the barn and milk the cows, feed the hogs, horses, and chickens. Shortly after feeding the animals she would tend to her garden. The garden grew corn, greens, and peanuts. After tending to the gardens Henrietta would lastly finish off her day in the tobacco fields. Like most African American family’s education were hard to come by, and when black children did find a teacher wiling to teach them, they were often times harassed by angry parents and students of opposing ethnicities. Henrietta attended school in her adolescent times, and she always made sure to get there on time after she tended to her garden. Walking to school every morning was like a nightmare to Henrietta, because every morning she was harassed and cursed at. There were even rotten kids who would throw stones at her as she passed by them to her destination to the all (colored) school. The tiny school was divided up into two sections, one side for the colored children and the other side for the white children. The colored kids were only allowed to mingle amongst other kids that were the same race as them no exceptions. She was like any other adolescent child, she enjoyed similar games that the other kids would play as well. A handful of the games that she loved to participate in were ring-around-the-rosy, dancing, and hopscotch. She enjoyed playing them with her live-in cousins, and they played them almost every day in the tobacco field right before the sun would set. The torment every morning ceased to exist any farther because she followed in her family’s footsteps and decided to discontinue her education in the sixth grade and focus her undivided attention to the family farm, (The Immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 2).

As the years passed and Henrietta continued to grow into her teenage years, her and Day’s bond grew stronger. Instead of playing childish games such as hopscotch and ring-around-the-rosy, the two bonded over horseback riding. Like most teenage girls her age she was beautiful, had great style, and had boys obsessing over her. The obsession over her nearly took the life of one young man named Joe, AKA “Crazy Joe”. Crazy joe absolutely adored Henrietta so much that he would go out of his way to follow her around and beg her to go out with him. Through several failed attempts Crazy Joe decided to take extreme measure to win his girls heart, foolishly deciding to jump straight into the middle of a frozen pond, and sternly refuse to retreat back to safety until Henrietta went on a date with him. Their love story is hazy throughout the years no one really knows how it ended up after the several dates that they went on. Although, Henrietta fell in love with another man that had her heart since the immature games they played in the tobacco fields. David Lacks and Henrietta got together, and things started to move rather quickly. In such a short amount of time, and a very young age she welcomed her first baby boy into the world at fourteen years old. Day and Henrietta named their first-born son Lawrence. Right after her first child she welcomed a baby girl into the world four years later named “Lucile Elsie Pleasant”. Lucile was a beautiful baby girl and her parents loved her very much, but she was “touched”. African American families did not have the resources to learn about words such as “Mental retardation, Neurosyphilis, etc.”, so instead they labeled Lucile as “touched”. Among the pleas from her resistant sisters for Henrietta to find a new man, she went against their wishes and married David alone on April 10, 1941 in the preacher’s house. Since business in their small tobacco farm was sparsely slow, they were unable to afford a honey moon trip after their secretive wedding. Times in the south were getting intensely rough, families were barely making enough wages to feed their children. After the bombing of pearl harbor in 1941, the prayers for work have been answered. Turner station turned into a gold mine for work, and African American men were leaving the south left and right boarding trains to claim their treasure. Fred Garret was the first in the family to board the train to the promise land and vowed to come back soon for Day and Henrietta. After finally getting settled in the groove of working Fred returned back to Clover, Virginia to convince Henrietta and Day to come to Turner station. Once they settled an agreement it was clear that Henrietta would stay and care for the children while Day goes and make enough money to provide for her and the kids. A few months have passed, and Day was still hard at work with the motivation to get his wife and children by his side once again, but Fred answered his prayers sooner. Fred was leaving overseas for a draft notice, and kindly gave Day all the money he had saved to reunite him with Henrietta and the kids. The start of a new life was invigorating and refreshing, and Henrietta and the kids boarded the train to welcome their new life in Baltimore.

Henrietta’s “normality” can be defined as ordinary. However, her ordinary persona does not apply to her medical treatment when she becomes seriously ill. Instead of human treatment that every person should be granted, she was treated like a thing. The years in Baltimore quickly passed and it was now the 1950s. This year was a terrible time for Henrietta, because it was the moment her life completely changed. Henrietta’s body felt odd, but she could not guess what was wrong with her, so she settled with not knowing. Instead she tried to ignore the natural warning signs that her body threw at her. She continued her life as normal and proceeded to cook dinner every night for her husband and children without any worries. The homecooked meals even extended to passerby cousins who were in the neighborhood and needed a meal before they hit the road. Although, Henrietta put forth her absolute best effort to ignore the pain, the body had a cruel way of being heard and would not let her ignore the warning signs. She discovered blood in her underwear leaving her no choice but to check on herself. Although, she did not completely trust the hospitals opinions, so she slid two of her fingers inside of herself to get a feel first. She had fears of what she might find inside of her cervix, and her suspicions were confirmed. Embedded in the side of her cervix was a quarter size lump, (Parker, 2012). Undoubtable Henrietta washes up and starts her dreadful walk to John Hopkins medical hospital.

John Hopkins was different than most hospital in the 1950s. They were different because unlike the rest of their competition John Hopkins examined and treated African American (colored) patients. Through the front entrance doors to John Hopkins Henrietta trekked down the hallways, past the White section to the back where the colored patients checked in for their illnesses. On a wooden bench she sat and waited for the frozen clock to tick by. After finally being summoned to the back, the colored patients all laid close to one another in a flat hard bed, almost side by side with only a hollow white sheet separating them from another. Henrietta complained about having abnormal bleeding in her cervix to the Medical doctor that went by the name of Richard Wesley Telinde. Telinde was one of the top experts in the country for cervical cancer (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 3). He had splendid ideas that could help impact the study of cervical cancer for centuries to come, but he did not have an audience willing to listen to his spill about it. There are two different types of cancer that Telinde was delving in to find the answers to. What he found were carcinomas, and they are medically described as a layer that grows across the cervix. The difference in the two carcinomas were that “invasive” carcinoma was pronounced deadly, but “situ” carcinoma is considered harmless, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 3). Henrietta had a possibility of having one of the two types of carcinomas, but they would not know which one she had until they ran a test on her cervix. The medical examination came and went sending Henrietta back home to her family. She did not want to think of the endless possibilities that the lump could hold, so instead she decided to carry on with her life as if the doctor’s visit never happened (The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, Chapter 3). Dreadfully she received the call to come back to the hospital for her results. Sadly, her worries came true her cervical cancer was invasive and they needed to start treatments immediately. The doctors agreed to treat her cancer with her written consent to do so. Henrietta signed away on a dotted line with her carefully scripted signature, and the doctors proceeded with treatments (Parker, 2012). Henrietta tried desperately to keep the secret from her friends and family, so she willfully carried on with her vigorous daily routines cooking and caring for her family as usual. Even though she tried to ignore the pain of her cancer treatments, inevitably she knew that her life was like an hour glass and she was almost out of sand. She still decided to keep the secret from her family, instead she convinced Day and the kids that she was just sick and the doctors at Hopkins were about to give her some medicine to get better. In secret she would run away to Hopkins and get treatments for her cervical cancer with radium (radioactive metal). Henrietta’s first treatment of radium was like a big ball of confusion, she did not know what was going on. The medical doctors at Hopkins ran every test that they could on Henrietta starting with her urine, lungs, blood, and invasively prodded tubes in her nose and bladder, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 3). Adapting to the effects of radium are very tough. Radium is used to kill cancer cells, but it also destroys any cell that comes into contact with the monster. Radium if not administered correctly could burn the skin off an individual, if it is given in high doses, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 3). As Henrietta lay unconscious on the hospital table in the operating room specified for colored patients only, the doctors probed through her legs and cut off a piece of tissue from her cervix that contained the lump. Unsatisfied with just having one sample the doctors cut a piece of tissue from the healthy side of her cervix as well. Without her knowledge of the tissue being collected, the doctors continued with treatment as planned, and sued radium shut between her legs. After the treatment was complete Dr. Wharton had two separate clipboards that he kept notes on during the duration of the time she was unconscious. One of them confirmed Henrietta handled the treatment well, whereas the other clip board read “Tissue specimen collected and given to Doctor George Gey”, (The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, Chapter 3). Dr. Gey was like a mad scientist in a way because he loved to run tests on anything that he could humanly get his hands on. Unfortunately, in this instance Henrietta was his Guinea pig. Through countless attempts to study cells outside of the body, they all ended in failure and death. Dr. Gey assistants at the labs collected the petri dish with the idea that those two cells were undoubtably going to suffer the same fate as the rest of the dead cells.

The next two days in the hospital felt like forever as Henrietta lay in the bed recovering from the radium treatments. After being thoroughly examined one more time with countless needles in her veins, tubes in her bladder and nose the doctors finally determine that she was well enough to go home. Sending her home with instructions to return in two and a half weeks for the second treatment Henrietta went on her way back home to her eager family. Although, she did not know that her cells had been sent out to a laboratory to grow. Returning back to her normal routine she took the kids back to clover almost every weekend if she could. Even though her previous treatment of radium was cautioned with inducing anemia, vomiting and weakness Henrietta was like a true solider at war and did not complain once with pain. As the days ticked by Henrietta continued with life cooking away in her kitchen for her husband, kids, and any stray cousin who landed at her door step with hunger pains. She kept her dirty little secret for a month and a half no one not even the trees outside the hospital window knew that Henrietta had cancer. During her second radium treatment the doctors were immensely pleased with what they saw, her cervix was bright red from the lasers, but it did appear to be shrinking, (The immortal life of Henrietta lack, Chapter 5). Finally spilling her secret after a little over a month of treatments Henrietta finally confided in her dearest cousin “Sadie” about her battle with cancer. Her cousin Sadie was outraged at being left out of the loop, but she was also saddened by the pain that her cousin had to endure with the radium treatments. Henrietta reassured her that she was fine, because from her knowledge the cancer in her cervix had vanished. Even though the cancer appeared to be gone she still had to report to Hopkins for radium treatment to ensure that the cancer cells would never return. Henrietta loved her children more than life itself, and she yearned to bare another child. Sadly, she would no longer be able to carry any child in her charred womb ever again because the radium treatments left her infertile. Typically, at the beginning of treatments doctors forewarn the potential patients that there would be a possibility of infertility ultimately leaving them with the choice to proceed if desired. Although, every other patient was given the prewarning before operations started, Henrietta was not given the choice in deciding her fate. The doctors wrongfully withheld that deal breaking piece of information because they coincidently knew that if given the choice between having children and living Henrietta would have choose to have children, (The immortal life of Henrietta lack, Chapter 5). Three weeks after the treatments continued Henrietta’s urine came out her bladder feeling like shards of glass, so she went back to John Hopkins to get it looked at. The doctor’s diagnosed her with acute Gonorrhea that had been superimposed from the radiation treatments, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 5). After another one of her X-ray treatments Henrietta laid on her cousin Sadie’s couch with her shirt risen showing the damages that the treatment has done to her skin. Traveling from her breast to her pelvis the formally chocolate brown skin was now charred a deep dark color of coal.

In early June Henrietta begin to doubt what the doctors previously told her about the cervical cancer healing up, because deep in her gut she felt that her cancer was spreading inside her body somewhere. She continuously went to John Hopkins to get examined for her suspicions, but regrettably they could not find anything wrong with her. Like most Black people in the 1950s she did not question her doctor’s opinion, because in those times treatment for African Americans were almost impossible to find and when they did find help they did their best not to lose it over petty things such as arguing with the doctor. Most Medical doctors in the 1950s were notorious for withholding diagnosis from African American patients because they deemed them as “to incompetent to understand medical terminology”, (The immortal life of Henrietta lack, Chapter 8). Weeks and weeks ticked by and routinely she checked into Hopkins complaining about a pain in her side, and they would send her home with no evidence of finding any source of pain. Shortly after leaving she returned with a complaint that she could not urinate, and the doctors at Hopkins simply emptied her bladder with a catheter and sent her home. Immediately three days after leaving the hospital she returned with a complaint of pain, but this time around the doctors pressed down firmly on her abdomen and were immediately meet with a hard “stony mass”, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 8). Further looking into the stony mass in her abdomen X-rays confirmed that the mass was indeed attached to her pelvic walls, almost nearly blocking the entrance of the urethra. Doctors further examined the mass and decided that it was “inoperable”. Having to go back on their previous diagnosis that she was cured from the untimely sickness, now Henrietta will ultimately lose her life to the sickness. Each day that she left the care of the doctors at Hopkins was another day that she had to suffer the long dreadful walk back home. Leaving her with the sadden choice of checking herself into the care of John Hopkins care facility and staying there for good. Henrietta was in excruciating pain, it did not matter what medicine she hurled down her throat the pain would not ease up. The cancer continued to attack her body, tearing apart her insides one by one. The blackness spread from her pelvis, to her hip bones, labia, and lymph nodes, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 8). As the months flew by the cancer in Henrietta’s body doubled in size taking over her bladder, lungs, and diaphragm. The cancer even grew so large that it began to block her intestines, causing her stomach to swell up so large she appeared to be carrying a six-month-old fetus, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 11). Her kidneys failed her no longer able to filter the toxins that her blood carried, she was left with no choice but to get a blood transfusion. The transfusions only continued on for so long that ultimately they had to postpone them until her debt with the blood bank was paid leaving Henrietta to suffer from the toxins of her own body.

Henrietta was no different than the average female she loved participating in vigorous dancing at her cousins Fred old juke joint that he owned. She would dance and dance for hours she loved moving her hips hypnotically to the beat of the music. She was a loving mother to her five children Lawrence, Elsie, Deborah, David Jr, and Zakariyya Abdul, (Dean, K, & Wolfe C, G, 2017). Not only was she a loving and caring mother, but she was an even equal caring wife to her husband David Lacks Sr. Henrietta was a very beautiful women with walnut eyes, and big stocky frame. She grew up with thick hips, and short muscular legs. Her hands were naturally rough from the years she spent in the tobacco fields as a teenager. She had short cut nails, just the right length that bread dough would not get stuck underneath them. Her nails were always filed to perfection with a dark shade of red layered on top of them, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 5). Her dark hair was always styled and rolled into curlers, and her wardrobe consisted of anything that were not pants. She loved wearing skirts and dresses, and high heeled pumps that were open toed so that her carefully polished toenails shone through. Henrietta transformed from a sturdy woman that weighed anywhere from 140 pounds, to a thin unrecognizable woman that barley broke 100 pounds. Night and day, she laid bound to the hospital bed by her hands and feet screaming in agony because the darkness inside of her body was consuming her. Her family sat by her side fiercely, and watched their beloved Henrietta scream out in pain. Sadly, Henrietta knew that her time was almost up, and she wanted to say goodbye. Her last request was for her loving husband Day to take care of her children especially her baby girl Deborah. Henrietta made her sister Gladys swear to never let anything bad come to her precious babies, and with the confirmation from her sister, Henrietta closed her eyes for good, (The immortal life of Henrietta lacks, Chapter 11). October 4, 1951 at 12:15 a.m. the beautiful Henrietta passed away at 30 years old in John Hopkins hospital.

After life

Although Henrietta physically is deceased she is not entirely dead. She may be at rest six feet in the ground, but her cells are living, breathing, and multiplying rapidly above the ground. On Henrietta’s first visit at John Hopkins medical research center she got more than what she bargained for during her examination. As she lay unconscious on the examination hospital bed, samples of her cervix tissue were unknowingly removed for further examination. Upon further inspection in Dr. Gey’s research lab his assistants on duty found something about Henrietta’s cells that were truly remarkable. Dr. Gey has been studying human cells in depth for three decades with the motivation to develop an immortal human cell line. Geys efforts were in vain because regrettable he could not find a useful human cell that could stay alive outside of the body to even examine the effects of toxins on. Henrietta’s cells were uniquely different because they were unlike any typical specimen that Dr. Gey has come into contact with. The cells from her cervix were truly a scientific miracle, because they thrived tremendously in culture studies. They thrived so well that they would actually double in size every twenty-four hours as long as they were fed and kept warm, (Sands, 2011). Since the cells were taken without the consent from a newly deceased patient at John Hopkins, they could not label the vile after the original lender “Henrietta Lacks”. So, instead they labeled the lab specimen “HeLa”, the abbreviation originating from the first two letter of the donors first and last name, (Tanne, 2010). The birth of the HeLa immortal cell line hit the market like a storm leaving mad scientist to run their Ludacris experiments on it.

Although, HeLa was truly a wonderful forsaken gift, the scientific discovery could not be kept a secret any longer it was time for the world to know. Bright eyed with his hair groomed nicely Dr. George Gey positioned himself poise onset for WAAM television. The entire broadcast was devoted to his recent discovery, and why he believed that with this new scientific finding, cancer will not live to flourish in another life time, (Skloot, 2010). On the set of WAAM television he talked about his latest finding and how the cell grew ten times the amount of a normal cell. Also, another topic that he mentioned were all the possibilities that the discovery of HeLa could help with breaking through the scientific fog that has fallen over their eyes. Everyone on the set was ecstatic, and simply could not wait for the cure to cancer and more to be assessible. Although, everyone was ecstatic they all wanted someone to thank for the use of their cells, so the interviewer kindly asked Dr. Gey “who initials does HeLa stand for?” Dr. Gey could not give up the main sources name due to the fact that it was an African American woman, and she did not give any form of verbal or written consent. So, he lied on national television and confirmed to the world that a kind woman by the name of Helen Lane donated her cells to the future cause of research right before cervical cancer consumed her body and took her life. Dr. Gey ended the broadcast with promises of a new life because HeLa will help further research and cure those untimely sicknesses. HeLa undoubtably stepped up to the plate and helped assist scientist in every aspect of research that has shaped the world today.

Given the horrific treatment she was ironically subjected too, her cells study led to a major advancement in medical research. Henrietta is indeed the real “mother of modern medicine”, who due to fundamental inequities is forced to die so that others may live. The reason that scientist can label the cells with such an impactful name is because Henrietta’s cells opened the door for numerous cures to common illnesses. The reason that scientist was able to test on the HeLa cells was because they shared human characteristics’. Some of the traits that her cells shared were the ability to express genes, they were susceptible to infections, and they generated energy, (The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, Chapter 13). HeLa allowed for scientist to further their knowledge on subjects that they had no understanding of. For example, the HeLa cells allowed for scientist to research cancer, and AIDS in a new light. The HeLa cells were readily available to scientist in every corner of the world to get their hands on and experiment with. HeLa has created a vaccine to common illness known as Polio, (Schulman, 2012). Although, the benefits do not stop there, HeLa has also assisted with the sequencing of the human genome. The development of the Virgo fertilization also would not be possible if HeLa was not used in the research experiment, (Shulman, 2012). The cells were like a gift from a secret admirer, the receiver does not know who it came from, but they are pleased they have it. The cells continued to grow and grow so much that they even took a trip to the moon. HeLa helped aspiring astronauts get an understanding of what zero gravity in outer space can do to a person’s body. Cloning of human cells were not heard of until Dr. Gey was presented with Henrietta’s miraculous cells, now scientist is able to successfully clone HeLa repeatedly for their own personal use. The knowledge of an atomic bomb would continue to be sparse if it were not for HeLa. They contributed to the knowledge of the atomic bomb by being put under extreme heat and radiation of nuclear fission, (Stump, 2014). The cells continued to multiply and divide before the face of the world, causing them to make a factory just to house her cells. National Foundation for Infinite Paralysis (NFIP) was considered the HeLa factory and it was located at Tuskegee Institute. Research continued to flourish with HeLa driving the train, and the cells completely took over the medical field leaving scientist to finally carry out their perpetual ideas. The research that could be conducted was endless, scientist were salivating at the idea of trying new things on the immortal cells. HeLa helped aid one clumsy scientist in his discovery of the correct amount of chromosomes a human cell contains. A geneticist located in Texas mistakenly mixed the wrong liquid that contained another cell with HeLa. Research on the total number of chromosomes a human cell has was slow considering they did not have an immortal cell to test it on, or any means of correctly counting them. The birth of HeLa caused a tremendous weight to be lifted off the world shoulders because by that breathtaking mistake the geneticist made with the mixing of the liquids turned out to be a fortunate one. Since the liquids were incorrectly mixed with one another it caused all of the chromosomes in the HeLa cell to expand giving scientist the ability to count the number of chromosomes that a cell is supposed to have. Once they got the information they needed from the cell it further led them to diagnose diseases in a human by counting the amount of chromosomes that they have and compare it to the expected number, (The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, Chapter 13).

HeLa has made their way into hundreds of scientific factories, in numerous forms of transportation possible. While at the HeLa factory located at Tuskegee Institute they house an outrageous amount of the cells. The number to the cell replication has tripled over the years totaling in 20,000 tubes containing six trillion HeLa cells that are being housed in the factory, (Wolf, 2011). Although, the cells were a precious gift they also had a down side. HeLa not only doubled in size, but they took over the life of any cell that it came in contact with. Consuming other cells whole scientist had to be extra careful with the HeLa cells, because one accidental slip up could contaminate and destroy the life of another cell. Scientist treated HeLa with complete care and attention as if the cells were a baby, but Henrietta was treated the complete opposite.

African American men and women have had to deal with unfair treatment in the medical field, and the judicial system for centuries. Henrietta was another case study for scientist to explore their medical desires with. She was not treated equally back in the 1950s because she did not have the pleasure of receiving medical treatment from the best Doctor’s at the time because she was Black. A majority of the hospitals in the 1950s turned away black people once they reached the steps, leaving them to hopefully find medical treatment elsewhere which is how Henrietta ended up at John Hopkins research center, (Glifford, 2012). John Hopkins took Henrietta in for medical treatment, but they still did not treat her equally. She was subjected to sit in the all colored waiting room, forced to use the only colored bathroom when she had to relieve herself, and were not given proper care under the supervision of the hospital. Henrietta’s’ illnesses were treated in a mild manner and were not fully looked into with the means to cure it. Ultimately leaving her to spend her last days in constant pain and suffering. Also, African American women whom lived in the South in the 1950s were not granted respectful privacy during their Gynecologist exams. African American men and women were wrongfully withheld vital information by the examiner about their illnesses because doctors deemed them too incompetent to understand medical terminology. The reason that doctors were able to experiment on unwilling patients back in the 1950s is because unethical violation rules were not put into place at the time. Doctors performing medical acts on patients without their consent were very common, because since there were no laws against uninformed consent technically scientist did not break any rules, (Stump, 2014). Since such laws were not established at the time to stop scientist from running wild with erroneous crimes against people, the horrific studies against African Americans continued.

A prime example of a horrific experiment that were conducted on African American men in 1932 was called the Tuskegee syphilis study. The famous study was conducted in Tuskegee, Alabama on approximately four-hundred Black men. Although, the main purpose of the experiment was to study the effects of untreated syphilis on a person, there was a cure created in 1940 but the subjects in the experiment could not receive any dose of the cure for research purposes. Tuskegee syphilis study was known as the longest running, and prolonged violation of a subject’s rights experiment that was conducted in history, (Caplan, 1992). Although, the easy disposal of an African American man’s body can only be fully described dating back to the twentieth century. In the twentieth century scientist predicted the downfall of the African American (negro) race. Their predictions were determined from the bases that they were susceptible to viruses, vice, diseases, and crime, (Brandt, 1978). Scientist also predicted that African Americans could not be helped with Philanthropy or education, but that they ultimately had to suffer the fate of extinction. Coincidently scientist in the 1930s cared very little about the lives of the Black man as they willfully carried out their perpetual experiment. The selection of participants for the Tuskegee study consisted of the illiterate and the incompetent. Scientist based their selection off sharecroppers and tenant farmers with no prior education, (Brandt, 1978). The men were wrongfully misled at the hospital under the pretense that they were being checked out, but all the while they were being carefully chosen. After the men confirmed that they had syphilis and were in the “latent phase” scientist subjected them to extraneous physical exams to exhaust the body, (Humphreys, 2001). The physical exams included lumbar punctures etc., to study whether their spinal fluid was infected with parasites. The physical exhaustion persisted with their only break of relief came from promised aspirin and iron medications from the doctor. As the horrific study continued the men that were involved had no idea that they were infected with syphilis and were dying, but instead the scientist told them they had “bad blood”, (Humphreys, 2001).

Although the Tuskegee Syphilis study left an empty ache in the hearts of the participants family, the pain does not stop there. The undocumented crimes against African Americans continue leading to the outcry of the female womb. In the year 1910 through 1930 African Americans women bodies were treated as if it were not their own. The following years created an epidemic of children who the government deemed “mentally retarded” or “feeble minded”, and eugenicist aimed to find the root of the cause of the outbreak in the United States. Through carefully sought out research eugenicist pinned the epidemic on any undesirable traits ranging from epileptic seizures to criminal history. The government decided that they could not let this epidemic expand any farther, so they took matters into their own hands and forcefully sterilized women to prevent the reproduction of “unfit” and “unstable minded” children, (Castles, 2002). These sadistic laws not only took place in North Carolina, but the government passed a law to permit involuntary sterilization of mentally ill children in more than thirty states, (Larson, 1995; Lombardo, 2011). In North Carolina alone doctors forcefully sterilized approximately 7,600 patients in their eugenics program, (Begos, 2002). Women often were misled by their doctors about the extent of the care that they are receiving and instead the doctors would sterilize them without their knowledge, (Washington, 2006). Other women whom were too young to even know what was going on in the examination room, and legally the doctors did not need consolation would sterilize them without their consent as well, (Railey, J; Begos, K, 2002). These women from racial minorities would walk around under the impression that their caregiver has respectfully taken care of their needs in the hospital room, but all the while their womb would never bare a child again. Women and girls of color were placed into the eugenics program as early as twelve years old and were given tubal ligations sealing their fate of ever starting a family of their own, (Terry, J; Urla, J, 1995). The eugenics fascination with the deviance of black female bodies were the root of their research and enacted scientist in North Carolina to deem the poorest African American women as feebleminded. The cause of their assumption that African American women would produce “feebleminded” children is under the notion that their bodies are embodied in sexual deviation, (Hooks, 1997). In other words, eugenicist is saying that the women of color bodies are portrayed in a sexual manner and men cannot help but explore it ultimately ending in an unwanted pregnancy of a mentally ill child. The Frequent occurrence of sterilization practiced on colored women in North Carolina significantly rose in the 1950s, (Kaelber, L, 2012; Railey, J, 2002). Eugenicist prophesizes that feeblemindedness cannot be changed or altered but rather passed down from their parents, (Human Betterment League, 1946). The government were ruthless in their backlash and they condemned colored women to unfair circumstances because they were under the impression that they were helping the country. Scientist wrongfully took a vital part of being a woman which is baring a child away from them because they deemed them a burden to the population, (Schoen, 2005).

Henrietta’s treatments that she wrongfully had to endure are faintly similar to the pain that the men in the Tuskegee syphilis trials had to endure. They are similar because the men were subjected to racially incriminating treatment, and Henrietta was too. Doctors in these eras got away with treating Black people as if they were merely specimens in a watch glass to intently observe their behaviors on. The women who were put under immense pain and agony of their womb being permanently barren in the eugenics program shared a similar story with Henrietta. Their pain is familiar but unalike in way, because Henrietta was not forcefully sterilized instead she was uninformed of the extent of the medical treatment that she was being given which led to her womb being barren. The torture that African Americans received was unjustifiable, and uncalled for. Doctors treated colored people as if they were animals, operating on them with no sense of empathy or remorse for their bodies. There are several things that the government, medical doctors, and scientist could have done different in that time period, and that is treat everyone fair regardless of skin color.

Laws abiding the misusage of African Americans did not exist in that time period, so doctors got away with more injustice treatment than they should have. Although, the pain of the victims still lingers, there are several things that could be done about the wrongful treatment of the African American race. First, doctors should treat every patient respectfully and fair regardless of their skin color. Henrietta, the men of the Tuskegee trials, and the women of the eugenic program lives should have mattered more to the doctors than it did. Secondly, the government should treat every citizen as if they are actually a person, and not just those who they deemed worthy enough of human treatment. The treatment that African Americans endured, and are still battling today could have ceased to exist if they were given the equal amount of treatment that the majority of the race received. Thirdly, doctors, scientist, and the government should open their eyes, and see that black people are “people” and not “animals”. Black people should have been given the same rights as everyone else back in the twentieth century, instead of being subjected to inhuman treatment.

Conclusion

Henrietta’s tragic life story touched my heart in ways that are unexplainable. The pain and torture that Henrietta, the men of the Tuskegee trials, and the women of the eugenics program had to endure opened my eyes to the ways that black people were treated now and then. There are several things that personally I believe doctors should know. Doctors, scientist, and the government all swear to protect and care for human lives, but which lives are they speaking of? Swearing to protect and care for human lives should mean all human lives, and not just the lives they deem worthy of protecting. Henrietta’s life, the men of the Tuskegee trials life, the women of the eugenics programs life, and my life matter too.

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