By: Kalie Fikse

Black experimentation played an important role throughout Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Just as Henrietta's cells were collected and experimented on without her knowledge, black individuals were continually taken advantage of in order to gain scientific insight at little cost for the experimenters. Many African-Americans at the time recognized that doctors had a greater degree of medical knowledge than them and thus trusted their medical actions. The African-Americans were often uneducated and could not understand the medical jargon, so they had to blindly trust the doctor's procedures. For instance, trusting that the doctors had the best interest for him, Day, Henrietta's husband, "did what he'd always done when he didn't understand something a doctor said: he nodded and said yes" (Skloot 183). Most of this blind faith in doctors in American history was unwarranted, as blacks were continually manipulated and exploited.

TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY

A U.S. public health worker drawing blood from a man as part of the Tuskegee syphilis study. Digital image. Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, n.d. Web. .

A U.S. public health worker drawing blood from a man as part of the Tuskegee syphilis study. Digital image. Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, n.d. Web. <http://kids.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-9002212>.

Skloot references the Tuskegee syphilis study in order to provide examples of the enormous magnitude of racism in medicinal practice in American history. In the 1930s, the Tuskegee Institute began to experiment on African-American men in order to further understand syphilis. In total, 600 black men located in Macon County, Alabama were recruited by the U.S. Public Health Service with the promise of "free physical exams, hot meals, and rides into town on clinic days, plus fifty-dollar burial stipends for their families when the men died" (Skloot 50). The experimenters wished to discover how syphilis infected an individual and eventually resulted in their death. Out of the 600 black men observed over a forty year time span, 399 of them had syphilis. Although the subjects were informed that they were being treated for their disease, the African-Americans were left untreated even after the discovery of penicillin as a cure for syphilis. In order to ensure the study's progression, the U.S. Public Health Service ensured that the Alabama Health Department and the U.S. Army would also not offer care to any of their subjects ("Tuskegee Syphilis Study").

Skloot attributes many factors to why blacks were chosen for experimentation. Firstly, the white experimenters believed the African-American men were inferior and therefore did not see the blatant wrongness in murdering them for scientific gain. In many cases, the men were viewed as property. Secondly, the men were both poor and uneducated, so they asked few questions in regards to the research.

A U.S. public health worker drawing blood from a man as part of the Tuskegee syphilis study. Digital image. Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, n.d. Web. .

A U.S. public health worker drawing blood from a man as part of the Tuskegee syphilis study. Digital image. Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, n.d. Web. <http://kids.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-9002212>.

Taliaferro Clark, a venereologist, elaborated on this point. He justified the syphilis study by arguing that black people were not intelligent enough to seek treatment themselves. In Clark's mind, since the black men would not seek medical treatment on their own anyways, it was not wrong to observe the process of syphilis in African-Americans. His biases caused him to ignore the fact that the scientists had originally enticed blacks to participate in their study by promising them the treatment that Clark believed they did not desire ("Tuskegee Syphilis Study"). Lastly, Skloot states that the researchers thought "black people were 'a notoriously syphilis-soaked race'" and thus would provide a good research subject (Skloot 50).

The Tuskegee syphilis study continued until the 1970s when the news exposed their unethical research. In the end, the study had little scientific value. They never accomplished a treatment method based on the results of the progression of the disease other than the already known treatment of penicillin. The researchers main result was preventing care to the black population in Macon County. The "Tuskegee Syphilis Study" concludes that "medical research can use ethically impermissible methods to achieve many things, but medical research can also fail to accomplish anything more than an expression of the worst of our social views." Therefore, the study, like many others, was severely limited by the social views at the time. The scientists were more focused on racial inferiority than actually seeking better care for victims of syphilis.

MISSISIPPI APPENDECTOMIES

Southern Conference Educational Fund. Women Protesting in 1971. Digital image. Women of Color Deserve a Voice in the Debate over Planned Parenthood. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Southern Conference Educational Fund. Women Protesting in 1971. Digital image. Women of Color Deserve a Voice in the Debate over Planned Parenthood. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.seattleglobalist.com/2015/10/01/women-of-color-planned-parenthood-abortion-congress-debate/41981>.

Similarly to the unnecessary deaths of the African-American men in the syphilis experiment, black women were receiving unneeded hysterectomies. This procedure acted to both prevent the woman from reproducing and give the doctor more experience in performing the surgery (Skloot 50).  The figure below illustrates the number of sterilizations in Mississippi from 1933-1983. Sterilizations ended in 1963, resulting in a total of 683 sterilizations recorded. Approximately 77% of these sterilizations where performed on women while 23% where practiced on men. The researchers justified their actions by declaring that their subjects were mentally ill. However, according to Edward Larson's research, "'although Black patients […] received significantly worse treatment than […] White patients and suffered appalling death rates, no evidence exists of a different sterilization rate for the two groups'" (Kaelber).

Kaelber, Lutz. Temporal Pattern of Sterilizations and Rate of Sterilization. Digital image. Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Kaelber, Lutz. Temporal Pattern of Sterilizations and Rate of Sterilization. Digital image. Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.uvm.edu/%7Elkaelber/eugenics/MS/MS.html>.

Reproductive rights were also challenged in 1939 by the Negro Project. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, proposed the Negro Project as a way to regulate and possibly exterminate the black population. As a eugenicist, Sanger believed in racial supremacy. In general, eugenicists wanted only the "fit" to reproduce, which generally just included the white race. The "unfit" and inferior races were attempted to be contained with various methods including sterilization, abortion, birth control, and segregation. Many eugenicists believed poverty proved that there was a population crisis, so restricting certain inferior race's ability to reproduce would prevent the crisis from growing. In part, Sanger justified her project and eugenicist ideas by arguing that the Negro Project would provide better health to families. Even the black elite participated in Sanger's plan, believing that it would help them rise further in society (Green).

EXPERIMENTATION TO SUPPORT RACISM

Alexis Carrel

Similarly to Margaret Sanger, Alexis Carrel was a eugenicist. He agreed with Sanger's ideas of forced sterilization for inferior races. Additionally, he believed that the inferior races should be confined and possibly euthanized by gas chambers. In 1935, Carrel published Man the Unknown in which he discussed the necessity of ridding the world of criminals. These criminals, in Carrel's mind, were mainly those that were not the educated white class. Carrel's leadership position within the French Foundation for the Study of Human Problems allowed him to seek ways to 'purify' the population while maintaining a high birth rate from 'healthy' individuals (Conley).

Alexis Carrel's ideology influenced his scientific research. He was a French surgeon that became famous after growing a supposedly immortal chicken heart in 1912. People began to hypothesize that Carrel's discovery could later be used in order to prevent death. However, as a eugenicist, Carrel was only interested in utilizing his technology for certain groups of people. He wished to extend life for "what he saw as the superior white race, which he believed was being polluted by less intelligent and inferior stock, namely the poor, uneducated, and nonwhite" (Skloot 59).

Nutrocos Ceuticals. Alexis Carrel. Digital image. Cell Therapy. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Nutrocos Ceuticals. Alexis Carrel. Digital image. Cell Therapy. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.nutricosceuticals.com/cell_therapy.php>.

Medical Testing

Medical students had similar racial biases as Alexis Carrel. They routinely used slaves to practice surgeries, like the appendectomies in Mississippi and other areas of the United States. In one case, two doctors forced a young slave girl named Harriet to experience 113 minutes of electroconvulsive current in order to treat her spasms. At one point Harriet informed the doctors that they were burning her back with the current. Instead of realizing the atrocious acts they were committing on the girl, the doctors believed that their treatment was successful since Harriet spoke. Previously, Harriet was unable to speak when she was experiencing the seizures (Benlloch).

Landman, Tanya. John Brown. Digital image. The Tragedy of John Glasgow. N.p., 12 Sept. 2014. Web. .

Landman, Tanya. John Brown. Digital image. The Tragedy of John Glasgow. N.p., 12 Sept. 2014. Web. <http://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-tragedy-of-john-glasgow-by-tanya.html>.

A slave named John Brown was also exploited by a doctor. Dr. Thomas Hamilton wished to discover a cure for sun stroke. So, he used Brown and other slaves as easy test subjects. The slaves were treated as property, only serving to benefit their master. Acting on his master's orders, Brown had to remove his clothes and sit on a stool that was directly above a fire. Each time, Hamilton would give Brown a new treatment to see if the affects of the heat had reduced. The experiment stopped when Brown would pass out from the heat. After his experimentations with Brown for sun stroke, Hamilton wanted to find the physical differences between blacks and whites. He gave Brown blisters in order to discover how deep his black skin went. These blisters scarred Brown and acted as a constant memory of his past (Benlloch).

In yet another case, a slave owner named Elias S. Bennett, wrote about a four-week old female slave's tumor. After noticing this tumor, Bennett, who was training to become a doctor, proceeded to attempt a surgery on the girl. His inadequate knowledge resulted in the spread and growth of the tumor. When the girl was six, one of her tumors became the size of an ostrich egg. The girl died when she was seventeen. Just as Bennett used the girl's body for medical practice when she was alive, he used her body after her death. Bennett ended up dissecting the slave girl and giving her skull to a museum in Baltimore (Benlloch).

Like the young girl, many slaves did not even have the luxury of resting in peace after they passed away. Occasionally, after slaves died they were brought up from their grave for research and educational purposes. Medical students would then use their bodies to learn anatomy and practice on. Even blacks that sought hospital care were treated to a lower degree than whites. It was discovered that blacks were hospitalized during a later stage of their sickness than white patients (Skloot 64).

Blacks United-Erika. "10 Evil Experiments Done on African Americans." Online Video Clip. YouTube. Youtube, 13 July 2016.

John Hopkins

Specifically in John Hopkins, where Henrietta Lacks sought treatment during her life, a hospital researcher took blood from about 7,000 of the children in the surrounding areas, mostly from poor black families without their consent. His research was to look for "a genetic predisposition to criminal behavior" (Skloot 167). Therefore, the researcher obviously viewed blacks as inferior criminals that would be more likely to contain this gene than white families. He also saw the black community as a readily available test subject.

In another scenario, John Hopkins was sued during the late nineties over a case in which researchers had supposedly exposed black children and families to lead on purpose. During the experiment they failed to mention increased levels of lead in the subjects' blood or cases of lead poisoning. This case was eventually dropped in favor of John Hopkins.

Growth of Fear

Due to the manipulation of the doctors and experimenters, hospitals began to have a bad reputation for most black individuals. Sonny, one of Henrietta's sons, recalls that John Hopkins, the hospital near his family, "'was known for experimentin on black folks. They'd snatch em off the street" (Skloot 165). As early as the 1800s, tales of "night doctors" began among black communities. They believed that "night doctors" from hospitals kidnapped black people and used them for research. Bobbette, another of Henrietta's children recounted the fear she had as a child, saying:

"I'm telling you, I lived here in the fifties when they got Henrietta, and we weren't allowed to go anywhere near Hopkins. When it got dark and we were young, we had to be on the steps, or Hopkins might get us" (Skloot 165).

These fears resulted in beliefs that John Hopkins and other hospitals were originally constructed in poor black communities to take advantage of them. Despite this belief, John Hopkins was founded with the purpose of helping Baltimore's poor. In fact, when John Hopkins founded the hospital he left $20,000 every year for the sole purpose of aiding black children (Skloot 167).

Advancement

Although the past regarding black experimentation was very dark and bleak, there have been some societal advancements. John Hopkins made one small step when he set aside money for the black children. A major step occurred with the abolition of slavery. Masters and experimenters were more hard pressed to exploit free blacks to the same degree that they exploited slaves. Skloot also acted to advance society by giving credit to Henrietta Lacks and her family for her cells. Instead of ignoring the Lacks family, Skloot highlights the family and exposes the racism present in many scientific achievements. Another step occurred in 2000 when the "Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act" was passed. The Act, as suggested by its title, worked to improve healthcare for minority groups. Furthermore, many medical schools incorporate information on the healthcare of ethnic and racial minorities within their curriculum (Dennis).

In "Race, Medicine, and Health Care in the United States: A Historical Survey," Byrd and Clayton reference Geiger, a president of Physicians for Human Rights. Geiger once referred to "race relations in the health system," stating:

"'progress over the last 30 years has been substantial, but its course has been as erratic and fitful as the nation's overall commitments to racial justice and equal opportunity'" (Byrd, Clayton).

Geiger's words act to both acknowledge that there has been much progress with racial disparities in healthcare and acknowledge that there remains a long road ahead for progress still.

Bibliography

Benlloch, Vincent. "BORN DEAD: THE CULTURE OF SLAVERY IN AMERICAN MEDICINE, THEN AND NOW."History of Medicine in America. N.p., 23 May 2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <http://lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu/HistoryofMedicine/uncategorized/born-dead-the-culture-of-slavery-in-american-medicine-then-and-now/>.

Byrd, Michael W., and Linda A. Clayton. "Race, Medicine, and Health Care in the United States: A Historical Survey."JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION93.3 (2001): 11S-34S. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2593958/pdf/jnma00341-0013.pdf>.

Conley, John J.The Strange Case of Alexis Carrel, Eugenicist (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <http://www.uffl.org/pdfs/vol23/UFL_2013_Conley.pdf>.

Dennis, Gary C. "Racism in Medicine: Planning for the Future."JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 93.3 (2001): 1s-5s. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2593955/pdf/jnma00341-0003.pdf>.

Green, Tanya L. "The NEGRO PROJECT: Margaret Sanger's EUGENIC Plan for Black America."BlackGenocide.org | The Negro Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <http://blackgenocide.org/negro.html>.

Kaelber, Lutz. "Mississippi."Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <http://www.uvm.edu/%7Elkaelber/eugenics/MS/MS.html>.

Skloot, Rebecca.The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway, 2017. Print.

"Tuskegee Syphilis Study." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by William A. Darity, Jr., 2nd ed., vol. 8, Macmillan Reference USA, 2008, pp. 472-473. Gale Virtual Reference Library