Our campus chose the book as our 'campus read' a few years ago. It was very well received, brought out discussions of racism and fairness, and had an impact on faculty and students.

There are many stories of unfairness due to racism, but the benefits of HeLa cells are so utterly undeniable that it breaks through that barrier that keeps some white folks from considering institutional racism.

Yet those cells were taken without consent. No reparations were offered, no acknowledgement of her life or death, none, until recently. No acknowledgement of what she gave to millions of people, without her consent. Had she been asked? I believe she would have given it freely.

I think us white people need to wake the f**k up,



John Hopkins Hospital, an institution, took a black woman's cells, no permission asked. She was poor and black. Would a woman, an ethnic majority have been treated differently? My guess would be yes.

An hour and a half well spent.


I enjoyed how the legacy gets imprinted on our psyches came into play in a movie about DNA.

Dropping this here in case anyone drops by . . . It's very relevant to the story - but it's in there.

Last edited Sun Apr 23, 2017, 09:21 PM - Edit history (1)

They went deep into that side of the book and maybe a little less deep into the amazing contributions to science, but it was well done.

FWIW the Office for Human Research Participation is about the change the rules on informed consent and tissue collection in the human particpant's favor. I imagine this book about this story has a lot to do with it.


One of the downsides of science is that is sometime blind these types of injustices. It takes reporters or investigative writers to dig in and expose the story before reflection happens. For example, the Tuskeegee Syphyllis Study being another example.

To an explanation as to why even the earliest detection of breast cancer is pretty much a death sentence for black women.

It's the AfAm group so I don't think we need a link to have that discussion. You would think using a black women's cells to research it would lead to higher survival rates.