Thread by @IamGMJohnson

Today’s #BlackHistoryMonth thread is dedicated to scientific racism.

Drapetomania: “Runaway Slave Syndrome”

American physician Dr. Samuel Cartwright observed black slaves who fled from captivity and saw an illness. He named the illness, “Drapetomania or the disease causing Negroes to flee” #BlackHistoryMonth

To cure Drapetomania, recommended “whipping the devil out of them” until slaves became submissive again. “Submissive” was the primary state to which he felt they belonged. Another remedy suggested by Cartwright was having the big toe from both feet severed. #BlackHistoryMonth

The Tuskegee Experiment:

In 1932, the Tuskegee Institute began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks. It was called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” #BlackHistoryMonth

The study initially involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without the benefit of patients’ informed consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” #BlackHistoryMonth

In exchange for taking part in the study Tuskegee Experiment, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually went on for 40 years. #blackhistorymonth

In July 1972, an Associated Press story about the Tuskegee Study caused a public outcry that led the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs to appoint an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel to review the study. #BlackHistoryMonth

The men were never given adequate treatment for their disease. Even when penicillin became the drug of choice for syphilis in 1947, researchers did not offer it to the subjects. #BlackHistoryMonth

In the summer of 1973, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the study participants and their families. In 1974, a $10 million out-of-court settlement was reached giving lifetime medical benefits and burial services to all living participants. #BlackHistoryMonth

Henrietta Lacks: HeLa Cells

Dr. Gey harvested Henrietta’s cells without her knowledge or permission, in hopes of using them for scientific research. #BlackHistoryMonth

He discovered that her cells, now known as HeLa Cells, could not only be kept alive, but that they would grow indefinitely, meaning that it is was an immortalized cell line. These cells can, under sufficient living conditions, reproduce themselves indefinitely. #blackhistorymonth

The HeLa line started to be in high demand and began to be mass-produced in a cell production factory in 1954, and then mailed to scientists around the world for countless uses for scientific research. #blackhistorymonth

HeLa cells have brought us the polio vaccine, AIDS, chemotherapy treatment, in vitro fertilization, gene mapping and much more. The family has never been fully compensated. #blackhistorymonth