The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot explores the historically racist treatment of black patients by doctors. Henrietta was alienated by her doctors and was not educated about her disease and the things they were doing to her body. Elsie, Henrietta’s daughter, was wrongfully experimented on by the doctors that were supposed to be taking care of her in the mental institution. African Americans as a whole race have always been ostracized by their doctors and scientists since their history in America began.

Rebecca Skloot, however, used a different perspective in her portrayal of Lacks. This is evident in the way in which she conducted her research and the way she wrote the book. Skloot’s book, The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, included both the “scientific element concerns the origin and the subsequent uses of the HeLa cell line of cultured cancer cells” (Harper, 2011, p. 463) and the social and

Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.

Skloot shifts between focal points of her individual research and Henrietta's story. The story begins with Skloot first learning about HeLa cells named after Henrietta Lacks; immediately he becomes enthralled with learning more about Henrietta and what she did for cell culture. However when Skloot learned about the abuse the Lacks family has endured even after Henrietta’s passing she becomes set

Being born into a privileged life can provide more opportunity and the perception of more rights than what appear to be available to the average individual. The immediate and extended family of Henrietta Lacks were without such privilege considering they began from a slave owner, Mr. Lacks, and one of his slaves that he fancied. It is evident throughout that African American people are less privileged than the average individual as seen in their lifestyle and morale.

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.

Throughout the years of our nation’s history, we have learned to solve or cope with problems that could potentially tear our society apart. However, there is still one underlying issue that American citizens cannot solve today- racism. Racism has been a problem for over hundreds of years and still continues today. The novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks shines a light on how this discrimination personally affects the families who are minorities. Henrietta, the protagonist of the novel, experienced poverty and discrimination in different aspects of life. She grew up during The Great Depression, from the 1920s through the 1930s. Growing up with nine other siblings, trying to find the means to provide the basic needs to survive was

The treatment of African Americans in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks demonstrates the lack of ethics in the United States health care system during the 1950s and 1960s. Under the impression that medical doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital were solely injecting radium treatment for cervical cancer, Henrietta Lacks laid on the surgical bed. During this procedure Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr. shaved two pieces of tissue from her vagina, one from a healthy cervical tissue and one from the cancerous tumor, without Henrietta’s prior knowledge. After recovering from her surgery Henrietta exited the door marked, “Blacks Only,” the door that signified the separation between White and African-American patients. Had Henrietta been White, would the

As documented in the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta lived her childhood in the segregated rural south. There was no real inspiration for her to attend school, much less develop a strong interest in getting a formal education. Segregation contributed to a cycle of oppression and poverty that affected Henrietta’s knowledge, and quality of life. The unfair early education laws, impaired all black children’s potential to learn, and negatively affected their confidence. America has laws that intend on producing, equal education for all children regardless of economic circumstances, race, religion, or academic ability level. On the other hand, a studied by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, find that “public school, especially in the south, is becoming re-segregated at a surprising level.”(Hancock Jones) Today there is evidence that suggest public education still needs equal protection reform in order to give all children a high quality education.

The time period Henrietta Lacks lived in wasn’t the ideal conditions for black people. Even though slavery was over and everyone was considered equal, black people were still separated from whites in this this time period. Henrietta grew up in a poor black community that didn’t really have black medical centers nearby, babies were born in the houses and not many of them ever went to a doctor. Later on in chapter one Henrietta finds a lump insider her vagina and she was bleeding when it wasn’t her time of the month. John Hopkins hospital was twenty miles away from her house, but it was the only hospital that would accept black families like the Lacks. I did not like how some hospitals would reject sick black people even though it meant some

After her death in 1951, for six decades, Henrietta Lacks did not exist in the eyes of the society, but her cells did. How? Well, the answer is quite simple. HeLa Cells are the first immortal human cells. These cells never die and multiply every twenty-four hours. After spending 10 years to perfect her first book, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot essentially captured the life, the death, and aftermath of Henrietta Lacks’ life. With controversial issues regarding science, ethics, race, and class Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey. From the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover,

Like previously stated, there has been a vast history of racial issues particularly in the medical field. These issues have led to minorities, especially African Americans, to not trust medical professionals and procedures. A study found in the Archives of Internal Medicine gives shocking results by stating that “African Americans were far less trusting than whites of the medical establishment and medical researchers in particular. African Americans were 79.2 percent more likely to believe that someone like them would be used as a guinea pig without his or her consent” (Clark 118). There are many cases in the past which would make a minority feel neglected and like a “guinea pig”. For instance, Henrietta Lacks, the main character of Rebecca Skloot’s book, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. Her doctors were shocked at the terrifying rate her tumor was growing (Skloot 117). Her cells were taken from her cervix and they were distributed world wide without her or her family’s consent. The distribution went on for years even after her death

This essay was written in effort to critically analyze the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot. The question researched was as follows: can Skloot’s objectivity be challenged due to the continued use of secondary sources, an angled or biased perspective, and uneven representation of both sides of the tale? Its main objective was to examine the apparent subjectivity with which the novel was written. In order to cover the copious amounts of information and unique situations, the essay separates each part of the research question into its own section. The aim of this technique is to effectively highlight the differences within a highly focused research question. The investigation for the information presented in the essay was found mostly through careful analyzation of the novel, yet outside sources are pulled in occasionally for definitive purposes and counterpoints to be disproved. The essay determines that Skloot’s objectivity can be challenged and in fact disproved through the points mentioned in the research question: repeated use of secondary sources, a perspective that is biased and a skewed representation of both sides presented in the novel. The effect of these conclusions speaks to the previous acclamations of the novel, discrediting and refuting their praise and weight.

●Although there are many social injustices presented in the novel by Rebecca Skloot, we felt that the most pressing issue was prejudices and imbalance of racial power in the medical field. This is the most relevant issue because it is the source of the confusion Henrietta’s family endured for decades, and almost more importantly, it is why Henrietta’s body was taken advantage of initially. We plan to address the countless instances in the novel of this cruel misuse, as well as point out how this issue is still haunting the lives of others today. ●Then: Hospitals were split into colored wards, and often times those of color were not given the best care, as well as their medical files were not confidential.