On Henrietta Lacks

​Finally getting credit where credit is due!

Sophomore year at Rutgers was enjoyable in many ways, but a personal highlight was the privilege I had in being the TA for an introductory women's and gender studies course at Douglass College.

The required summer reading for incoming Douglass girls was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - and if you haven't read it already, I encourage you to do so. Check it out from the library; nick it from a friend, or just plain buy it from Amazon because, although not incredibly well-written (if I may be honest), it's a wonderful insight into how modern-day medicine and cellular research predominantly stems from just one person...and without even her permission. 

It's a great account about ethics, classicism, morality, racism, and gender studies, but teaching this to first-year students who weren't terribly interested in feminism or gender studies to begin with was a tad difficult. That's why I'm so excited to hear a film version is in post-production, starring none other than the venerable Oprah and being broadcast by HBO.

This retelling could not have come at a better time, seeing as our political atmosphere at the moment is, unfortunately, rife with a lot of the same questions and issues raised during the 50s regarding the illegal cultivation of her HeLa cells. 

One has a little bit more than a month til the April 22nd broadcast date to read her story, written by Rebecca Skloot. I'd also encourage the purchase of the book, since a portion of the proceeds seem to go toward the Lacks family. 

If only this were sophomore year again!