Book Talk – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by ISBN: 9781400052189Publication Date: 2011-03-08Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Writing a Literature Review
Book Talk – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
A book talk lead by Kevin McQueeney from Nicholls State University Department of History & Geography will focus on the themes of the biography of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. Reflections will include the racial injustice of the research without Lack’s consent, and other injustices that exist within the medical field.
Date: Thursday, February 10th, 2022
Time: 2:00pm
New Location: Ellender Memorial Library, Multipurpose Room (3rd Floor)
Dr. McQueeney will have a presentation and facilitate discussion questions:
1. Doctors from Johns Hopkins removed tissue samples that became the famous HELA cells while she was in the hospital for treatment for cancer. However, the doctors did not remove the tissue samples as part of her treatment, but rather purely for the purpose of research. Was it wrong for the doctors to collect those samples for the purpose of trying to grow them in controlled conditions? Does the end – i.e., the immeasurable benefit to humankind resulting from those tissue samples – justify the means – i.e., removing tissue from a person without their consent or knowledge?
2. HELA cells are still used by researchers today. Should the family of Henrietta Lacks be compensated for the many medical breakthroughs achieved through the use of the HELA cells? If yes, in what form should the compensation take? If money, who do you believe that money should come from? Should the HELA cells be removed from scientific research?
3. If you discovered that tissue routinely removed from your body at some point in the past went on to significantly benefit science and research, would you feel that you should somehow be compensated? What do you think is more important – a person’s personal rights over their own tissue, or contributing to science and research for the benefit of all humankind?
4. Reflect upon Henrietta’s life and the lives of her family: What challenges did she and her family face? What can we learn about the experiences of and barriers faced by low-income African Americans in the twentieth and twenty-first century?
5. Race and racism are woven throughout the book, both in the story presented and in the process of the research for the book. Skloot was yet another white person asking the Lacks family about Henrietta. How do you feel about a white woman creating the narrative of this story?
6. What does this book teach us about the relationship between African Americans and the field of scientific research and medicine? How do you think Henrietta’s experiences with the medical system would have been different had she been a white woman? African Americans have higher levels of mistrust of the medical field than other groups. What has led to this mistrust? What can be done to improve levels of trust?