The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Rebecca Skloot   Crown Publishers (2009)        ISBN: 9781400052172

When Rebecca Skloot was 16, she first heard of HeLa and the woman responsible for the immortal cells, Henrietta Lacks. Since that day, Skloot could not shake the desire to learn more about Henrietta and her mysterious cells. In her book, Skloot’s investigation of the world famous HeLa cells only led her down a path of discovery that goes way beyond the realm of science.

HeLa, represents the first two letters of Henrietta Lacks’ name. In the 1950s and just shy of her 30^th birthday, Henrietta was diagnosed with “Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I.” The fatal cervical cancer proved voracious, spreading throughout Henrietta’s body despite weekly radiation treatments. It was during her initial treatment that Dr. George Gey, head of tissue culture research at John Hopkins Hospital, extracted a sample of Henrietta’s tumor without her knowledge. Under Gey’s ambitious guidance, HeLa was born—the immortal cell culture that will lead to the discovery of the polio vaccine, various cancer treatments and AIDS (among others).

When Henrietta died, she left behind five children. Those children—now in their 50s and 60s and some gone from this earth—grew up poor, uneducated, abused, neglected, and totally ignorant of their mother’s cells being used for science. In fact, the Lacks children never saw a penny of the money made from their mother’s cells. Skloot exposes the Lacks’ children torment and distrust of white people associated with HeLa, unearths some of the ghastly practices of the pre-Civil Rights Movement era, and questions behind scientific practices.

Quantitative: Lexile Level--1140L; ATOS--8.0

Qualitative: Despite the quantitative reading levels, I find The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is so rich in language, history, and science that students ages 14-17 would be able to access the book better, depending on scaffolding. This book really tells two stories. The first revolves around HeLa and how it has been used for scientific advances. The second focuses on the Lacks family—what they endured after losing Henrietta, how they coped with the deception involved with HeLa, and why they never knew anything substantial about their mother. Because of the shifting narrative, this book may pose serious difficulty especially as a reader interprets both stories and how they truly do enhance one another. In addition, language in the form of scientific terms and the Southern dialect the Lacks family uses to communicate make The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a challenge for any high school student.

Content Area: English; Health--Prejudice; Health—Deadly Diseases; Biology—Cells; U.S. History; Information Literacy

Common Core Standards: Since biology is generally taught in the 10^th grade, I have applied 10^th grade standards.

RI.9/10.1-9 (Skloot includes countless primary sources)

RH.9/10.1-9

Curriculum Suggestions: The most exciting aspect of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the angles and approaches to using it in the classroom. Here are some ideas:

• Because Skloot is open about her research process, teachers could use her explanation as a way to introduce the research process to students. By examining the types of resources and methods Skloot used, students can see how the book comes to be, especially since it all started with a question: Who is Henrietta Lacks?
• Explore Southern culture and race relations prior to the Civil Rights Movement—How were blacks treated? Why? What was the result?
• Examine aspects of medical practices including patient confidentiality, Nuremberg Code, Hippocratic Oath, research laws, or major medical cases that involved the mistreatment of patients including the “Night Doctors” myth.
• Investigate poverty and how it impacts communities.
• Investigate child abuse and the impacts in has on the children as adults.
• Students could engage in a family tree project where they research their roots, just as the Lacks children had to discover their mother’s story. Similarly, students might want to investigate a family mystery.
• Create an info. graphic related to any of the topics listed above.

This text lends itself very easily to cross-curricular collaboration and activities.

Additional/Digital Content:

• Lesson on Medical Ethics—http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/immortal-life-henrietta-lacks/
•  University of Maryland, Lesson—http://fyb.umd.edu/2011/lesson-plan-henrietta-lacks-context.html-
• Study: Stereotypes Drive Perceptions Of Race-- http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/02/11/275087586/study-stereotypes-drive-perceptions-of-race   

Personal Thoughts: First off, I didn’t include a ton of additional content since most of it is geared towards college-level students, which seems to be the place where teachers are utilizing the book most. I think this book is totally captivating. It can be used in full or in excerpts. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks allows teachers to use it as little or as much as they like in addition to targeting specific topics the text brings to light. With the CCSS emphasis on having the text take center stage, Skloot’s books is powerful example of how the CCSS can be addressed.

*Meets the “Meets the Science Title for HS” requirement