For the last few centuries, African-Americans have been subjects for medical research in America, often against their will. They had no way to protest this because they were such a marginalized group, with the least rights of any in the U.S. As author Rebecca Skloot explains in this chapter of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," these practices were immortalized in African-American folk culture as the work of so-called Night Doctors--evil spirits who kidnapped African-Americans at night to experiment on them. Many generations of African-Americans grew up hearing the legends of the Night Doctors, and because of this, grew to deeply distrust doctors and hospitals.
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As Skloot discusses in her book, the family of Henrietta Lacks, who are African-American, all grew up hearing stories of the Night Doctors. They lived near Johns Hopkins hospital, and were very suspicious of it. There were rumors in their neighborhood that the hospital had been built in that particular part of the city specifically because there were so many African-Americans living there, so it would be easier for the doctors to obtain research subjects. Henrietta's medical records show that she herself shared some of this deeply rooted distrust, for though she had multiple medical problems throughout her life, she rarely went to doctors to treat them. She checked into Johns Hopkins hospital in 1951 with a tumor on her cervix, and died a few months later from cervical cancer. Her suspicion of the hospital kept her from going there for more than a year after she first felt that something was wrong. And the racist ideas about African-Americans, which were the reason that they were used for experimentation, were also why Henrietta's doctors felt no qualms about taking a sample from her tumor (along with samples from all of their other African-American patients) without telling her--a sample that would give rise to HeLa cells, the first human cells to survive outside of the human body, which have been experimented on ever since.
Dissection is a large component of medical studies. Though it was looked down on, and even illegal in some states, it was a graduation requirement in almost all medical schools. Human dissection was the only hands-on learning available in medical schools, and was thus one of the most important experiences a medical student could have. Dissection taught earlier doctors how the body was put together. It continues to play a huge role in medical advancements, as seeing and touching bodies with rare illnesses is basically the only way to gain a better understanding of that illness and then be able to search for a cure to it. But every dissected body was first a living person, and, with such a shady atmosphere surrounding the practice of dissection, it makes sense that marginalized groups like African-Americans were most likely to be targeted as subjects. Throughout history, what factors have decided who gets to be buried and who ends up on a table? What have been the attitudes around dissection? And how did the bodies go from being living people to being taken apart? Explore the site to learn more!
Dissection is a large component of medical studies. Though it was looked down on, and even illegal in some states, it was a graduation requirement in almost all medical schools. Human dissection was the only hands-on learning available in medical schools, and was thus one of the most important experiences a medical student could have. Dissection taught earlier doctors how the body was put together. It continues to play a huge role in medical advancements, as seeing and touching bodies with rare illnesses is basically the only way to gain a better understanding of that illness and then be able to search for a cure to it. But every dissected body was first a living person, and, with such a shady atmosphere surrounding the practice of dissection, it makes sense that marginalized groups like African-Americans were most likely to be targeted as subjects. Throughout history, what factors have decided who gets to be buried and who ends up on a table? What have been the attitudes around dissection? And how did the bodies go from being living people to being taken apart? Explore the site to learn more!