Tuskegee/Henrietta Lacks
English-101
September 24, 2012
Essay 1
Tuskegee/Henrietta Lacks The Tuskegee Institute would test Syphilis on 600 African Americans, 399 would have Syphilis and 201 didn’t have Syphilis. They volunteered to do these tests so it’s not like they picked them randomly. This caused a lot of problems as soon as it became known to the public. Once people found out that they couldn’t use the vaccine to cure their Syphilis everyone got involved. When their families found out they started to wonder if they had it or if their children had it as well. I think the connection between Tuskegee and Henrietta Lacks are very obvious to the situation. I will explain why I think they compare to each other in this essay. The first reason why they are alike is because of the events that occurred during this time period. In Tuskegee they used African American men to test Syphilis and they used Henrietta Lacks to run tests on. I believe this because it makes a lot of sense to me and it makes it a lot easier to compare them to each other. Nobody knew about these cases except for the medical community. The only time everyone found out about it was when something really big happened which was death. In Tuskegee the men that had Syphilis would die and couldn’t use the vaccine to stay alive. Henrietta Lacks as soon as she died everyone started to ask questions and went into further research about her cells. To me it seems like everyone wants to do something about it as soon as someone dies from anything, instead of finding out when they are still alive. The fact that they are like that really upsets me because they deserve to see that you actually care before they pass away. When they don’t see that it makes them feel bad and unloved, that’s never a good thing for someone to feel. The second way Tuskegee can be compared to Henrietta Lacks is their family. I believe this because their family members didn’t know what was going on to their loved ones. Nobody during these cases told their
September 24, 2012
Essay 1
Tuskegee/Henrietta Lacks The Tuskegee Institute would test Syphilis on 600 African Americans, 399 would have Syphilis and 201 didn’t have Syphilis. They volunteered to do these tests so it’s not like they picked them randomly. This caused a lot of problems as soon as it became known to the public. Once people found out that they couldn’t use the vaccine to cure their Syphilis everyone got involved. When their families found out they started to wonder if they had it or if their children had it as well. I think the connection between Tuskegee and Henrietta Lacks are very obvious to the situation. I will explain why I think they compare to each other in this essay. The first reason why they are alike is because of the events that occurred during this time period. In Tuskegee they used African American men to test Syphilis and they used Henrietta Lacks to run tests on. I believe this because it makes a lot of sense to me and it makes it a lot easier to compare them to each other. Nobody knew about these cases except for the medical community. The only time everyone found out about it was when something really big happened which was death. In Tuskegee the men that had Syphilis would die and couldn’t use the vaccine to stay alive. Henrietta Lacks as soon as she died everyone started to ask questions and went into further research about her cells. To me it seems like everyone wants to do something about it as soon as someone dies from anything, instead of finding out when they are still alive. The fact that they are like that really upsets me because they deserve to see that you actually care before they pass away. When they don’t see that it makes them feel bad and unloved, that’s never a good thing for someone to feel. The second way Tuskegee can be compared to Henrietta Lacks is their family. I believe this because their family members didn’t know what was going on to their loved ones. Nobody during these cases told their