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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where was Henrietta Lacks born?
(a) Roanoke, Virginia.
(b) Plainfield, New Jersey.
(c) Brooklyn, New York.
(d) Washington, D.C.

2. What is described in Part Two: Death, Chapter 13 as "an essential part of science"?
(a) Incongruity.
(b) Delusion.
(c) Division.
(d) Replication.

3. When did George Papanicolaou publish a paper describing what is now known as the "Pap smear"?
(a) 1941.
(b) 1929.
(c) 1956.
(d) 1962.

4. What was the first publication to name the woman behind the HeLa cells in 1953?
(a) Science magazine.
(b) The Chicago Tribune.
(c) Time magazine.
(d) The Minneapolis Star.

5. What date was inscribed to indicate when Henrietta's mother died on her tombstone?
(a) April 10, 1941.
(b) October 28, 1924.
(c) August 1, 1920.
(d) January 17, 1912.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who coerced Deborah to continue at an all-girls' school after she became pregnant with her first child?

2. How old was Alexis Carrel when he invented the first technique for suturing blood vessels together?

3. How old did Roland Pattillo say that Henrietta Lacks's husband was now, when Rebecca Skloot first contacted him to discuss Henrietta?

4. Alexis Carrel died while he was awaiting trial for what crime?

5. On what date did the gynecologist from Johns Hopkins Hospital call and inform Henrietta Lacks that she had a malignant tumor?

Short Essay Questions

1. What advancements did Alexis Carrel achieve in medical progress during his career?

2. How does the author describe Courtney Speed in the narrative? What business(es) did Ms. Speed run at the time the author first met her?

3. How did Henrietta respond to the treatment she received at Johns Hopkins for cancer? Why do you think that Henrietta Lacks did not question any of the treatment she received?

4. What did Henrietta's doctors at Johns Hopkins find during her repeated visits in June of 1951?

5. What unethical actions were committed by virologist Chester Southam in his research with HeLa cells?

6. What illness was contracted within the Lacks family after Henrietta's death? How were they affected by this illness?

7. How does the author describe the actions of Ethel and Galen in the narrative? What relationship did Ethel and Galen have to the Lackses?

8. How did Henrietta meet David Lacks? How did their early relationship develop?

9. What were Mary Kubicek's impressions of HeLa cells when she first began observing them? What were George Gey's impressions of the cells?

10. Why were HeLa cells useful in the study of virology and research into diseases? Was the malignant nature of the cells a factor?

(see the answer keys)

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