Dr. Yvonne S. Thornton Biography

During the 1900’s, society limited the rights of African Americans. Gwendolyn Brooks was a writer who experienced discrimination from the white population, and even African Americans who were fairer in complexion. She originally wrote about the oppression of African Americans, and their day-to-day struggles. Later on, she expanded her writings to include the struggles of African Americans everywhere. By the end of her life, she inspired thousands of young writers to write about things they’re passionate about. The impact Gwendolyn Brooks has on my life is incomparable to any other important figure I've studied. It's the steps that she took that made her a global leader and will impact my development as a global leader.

Vivian Osborne Marsh was one of the most influential black women in the San Franscisco area. Marsh served her community as an activist and government official.

Although she was taken from the world too soon, Henrietta Lacks was a warm hearted woman, and though unbeknownst to her, she would pave the way for the medical field and greatly expand our understanding of one of the nation’s

Dr. Benson was born in Yonkers, New York in 1935. He attended Wesleyan University and graduated with his B.A in Biology in 1957. He went on to attend Harvard medical school graduating in 1961 with his M.D. Dr. Benson went in to practice but followed his love for research and was part of many ground breaking research studies in what would be referred to as the PNI field later.

The non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, details the happenings and life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman and tobacco farmer who became a medical miracle in the 1950’s. The book is written in an attempt to chronicle both the experiences and tribulations of Henrietta Lacks and her family, as well as the events that led to, and resulted from, research done on Henrietta Lacks’ cells. Henrietta was a very average African American woman in this period; she had only a seventh-grade level education, and followed traditional racial and gender roles by spending her time has a mother and caretaker, as well as working on farms throughout her life until the involvement of the US in World War II brought her and her husband, “Day” Lacks, comparatively better work opportunities in industrial steel mills. However, after her death in 1951 Henrietta became much more than average to doctors at John Hopkins when the discovered that cells extracted from her cancerous tissue continued to live and grow much longer than any other tissue samples. Further investigation and isolation of these thriving cells led to the creation of the first ever immortal human cell line in medical history. The incredible progress in medicine made possible by Henrietta Lack’s tissue cells were not without downfalls, though. The treatments and experiences received by Henrietta and the effects it had on her and her family demonstrate both racial and gender

Can you imagine going to the doctor and doing whatever that doctor told you was the best for you without asking questions? Well that is what patients did in the 1950s, especially African Americans, who were still being victims of racial prejudice and segregation. In this book, the author, Rebecca Skloot tells us about Henrietta Lacks, a 31 year old African American woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and trusted her doctors, who took a sample of her cells without her knowledge. These cells would help in scientific discoveries that helped millions of people. Henrietta died of cancer and her family is devastated when they find out that the cells had been taken without permission, and that they were being sold for profit.

Canady was born in Lansing, Michigan, on November 7, 1950. Her parents taught her the importance of hard work and learning, which then helped her graduate from school with honors. While Canady was attending the University of Michigan, a health careers summer program for minority student’s sparked interest in medicine for her. After graduating she went on to the Universities medical school.

Dr. Stowe continued to break down important barriers for the next generation of women doctors and continued to try to make education more available for women. She put relentless pressure on the University of Toronto to reverse its policy. With luck, the first woman doctor to graduate from a Canadian medical school was actually her own daughter, Augusta in 1883! In the same year, at a public meeting of the Toronto Women's Suffrage Association, many ideas lead to the creation of the Ontario Medical College for Women. Attending an international conference of suffragettes in Washington, D.C an 1888 inspired her to “bring home” the information to revitalize the women’s educational and political rights movement in Canada. 4 The following year, she was also a co-founder of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association. She became it’s first president and held the position until her death. The following year in 1889, the Women's Christian Temperance Union addressed the Ontario

In the US, black women are over three times more likely to die from maternally related complications than white women, and their babies are less likely to survive their first year (Oparah & Bonparte, 2015). Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy and Childbirth, edited by Julia Chineyere Oparah and Alicia D. Bonaparte tells the stories, experiences, oppression, and subjection of black women in the maternal health care system. Each chapter in the book explained a certain key point in the experience of black women and the health care system. In the following, I will discuss how the medical industrial complex or the introduction of medical treatments has not only stripped women of color, trans women, poor and immigrant women of their autonomy, but has sustained the hierarchy of patriarchy in the health system.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", by Rebecca Skloot, is about an African American woman born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, and later dying in Baltimore, Maryland. Through her a life she battled a cancer that was often called a cervical cancer, and she later died in Baltimore, Maryland. Henrietta Lacks, born as Loretta Pleasant, is commonly known for her cancer cells called, HeLa, which is a name made from the first two letters of her first and last name. This book was very informational, not only for family purposes, but for science too. It has a lot to relate to science, whether readers realize it or not.

In 1951 there was a young black lady who was named Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was a tobacco farmer in Clover, Virginia. Her mother died giving birth and her father moved the family to Clover, where the children were distributed among some of the close relatives. In January of 1951 she went to John Hopkins hospital, which was the only place close to her that treated black patients at the time. Lacks described a “knot” in her stomach that ended up being cervical cancer. During her treatments two samples from her

She has made an impact on medicine and treatment today and as made a lasting impression on the ethical point of view for patients. Without her cells, the medical field may have gone in another direction. The world could have suffered from polio and never developed a vaccine. Ethics could have stayed in the same shape and each patient could have been the next guinea pig. But instead, we've learned from this horrible mistake and prospered from it. Ethics will forever be changed by an African American woman, named Henrietta Lacks. It was Henrietta who has been the medical hero, not the doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The world will forever remember Henrietta

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Flacks tells the journey of scientific advancement in both a legal advancement capacity as well as an ethical advancement capacity. As if what I could only imagine being and African American woman in the 1950’s in Baltimore City isn’t hard and complicated enough; being and African American woman and seeking medical treatment without knowledge of the sickness without a voice or understanding of the gravity of the situation must be an excruciating experience and was for Henrietta Lacks and her family.

The cause of health disparities are multidimensional, ranging from SES, to educational obtainment and race. Due to a lack of education dictated by her race, Henrietta is stuck in cycle of poverty that leads to increased health disparities. As a young African American women in the 1950’s, Henrietta was subjected to inequalities in health services, access to education and even occupational opportunity. Due to her lack of education, Henrietta did not have any other opportunity but to work on a tobacco plantation where she was most likely paid a meager salary. Due to lacking economic means, education and race, she was stuck in a cycle of poverty that builds on itself and is exacerbated by the addition of children. Once children are involved there

nursing certificate. Not only was she the first African American to receive a nursing certificate,