The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Skloot finally gets a chance to meet Henrietta’s family in 2000: Henrietta’s husband, Day, and her two elder sons, Lawrence and Sonny, along with Lawrence’s wife, Bobbette. Deborah is absent, having had too many negative experiences with people wanting information about Henrietta. The family members are surprisingly friendly and immediately warm to Skloot, sensing that she is not trying to exploit them. However, they all express anger and frustration at the way the scientific community has treated them. No one has ever treated them respectfully or explained to them properly about their mother’s cells and what they have been used for. They are also angry that scientists have made millions from HeLa, while the Lacks family lives in poverty and cannot afford health insurance.

The family members also have many frightening stories to tell about black people being used for scientific research: “Back then they did things […] Especially to black folks. John Hopkins was known for experiment in on black folks. They’d snatch em off the street” (165). Skloot comments that “there were disturbing truths behind those stories,” but nonetheless explains that John Hopkins hospital was created for the purpose of providing free medical care to Baltimore’s poor, regardless of race.