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The local Racial Equity Coalition is sponsoring a community read this summer and offering free copies of the book for the first 20 participants. A live event with the book’s author is also being planned for this fall.
“Henrietta Lacks: The Untold Story” by Ron Lacks provides insights into the life of the author’s grandmother while correcting inaccuracies found in other accounts. As the subject of a best-selling book and a feature film, Henrietta Lacks has been awarded posthumous degrees, had her image depicted in portraits and statues, had laws, buildings, and lecture series named after her, and been inducted into several halls of fame, all in honor of a contribution to science she never knew she had made.
Born in Roanoke in 1920, Henrietta was raised in rural Clover, before moving with her husband to Maryland in the early 1940s. Soon after the birth of her fifth child, Henrietta sought medical treatment for severe abdominal pain. Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital diagnosed her with cervical cancer. Despite treatment, she died months later, in October 1951, at the age of 31.
Without her or her family’s knowledge, the cervical cells retrieved from Henrietta’s tumor were sent to a lab for study. Researchers quickly discovered that the cells, later dubbed HeLa cells, had astonishing qualities, including longevity and an ability to replicate rapidly. Those qualities made HeLa cells invaluable to researchers and developers of biomedical in novations. Mass production and distribution of the cells began, but the Lacks family knew nothing of it until the 1970s. Since the 1950s, HeLa cells have been the cornerstone of a host of medical breakthroughs, among them the polio vaccine, the Covid vaccine, cloning, and allergy research. HeLa cells are integral to nearly 11,000 U.S. patents.
In 2021, the estate of Henrietta Lacks filed a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific, a pharmaceutical firm that mass produces and sells HeLa cells, on the grounds of “unjust enrichment.” The estate charges that the cells were taken without permission and asks for financial compensation.
In January, attorney Ben Crump, one of the lawyers representing the Lacks family in the suit, spoke at Washington and Lee University during the school’s Martin Luther King Jr. week.
It was Crump’s speech that compelled Marylin Alexander, a member of the Racial Equity Coalition, to propose a community read of Ron Lacks’s book.
“When Ben Crump spoke at W&L, I was reminded that Henrietta Lacks was born in Roanoke,” Alexander said. “Her story resonated with me to the point that upon leaving the venue it was all I could think about, knowing that the least we could do as her neighbors in Lexington is to honor her legacy. She could have been the mother of any of my peers, or part of my own family, even.”
Alexander cited the lack of adequate early cancer diagnoses in Lacks’ era, compounded by the dismissive treatment of Black and Brown patients, “which unfortunately is a much talkedabout topic to this day.”
“Her history touches all of us,” Alexander said. “I feel a sense of obligation to honor Henrietta Lacks – the person, her struggle, her history, her legacy.”
Details for the planned live event with Ron Lacks and Doug Rendleman, a retired W&L law professor who has assisted the Lacks family, will be announced soon.
In addition, a new statue of Henrietta Lacks is slated to be erected in Roanoke this fall at a site formerly occupied by a statue of Robert E. Lee. The plaza surrounding the statue has already been renamed for Lacks in honor of her contribution to modern science.
The Racial Equity Coalition is composed of representatives from CARE Rockbridge, Grace Episcopal Church, Maury River Friends Meeting, Rockbridge NAACP, and 50 Ways Rockbridge.
Fifty Ways Rockbridge is underwriting the free distribution of copies of the book to the first 20 takers. Books are available for pickup on a first-come, first-served basis at Downtown Books, 34 S. Main St., Lexington.
