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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. For how long was Chester Southam's medical license suspended due to "fraud or deceit and unprofessional conduct in the practice of medicine" after he'd injected unknowing patients with cancer cells?

2. Who was the press officer at the NFIP that wrote to George Gey in 1953 to say that he intended to write a more detailed article about Henrietta Lacks once her name was revealed in the press?

3. When did the Tuskegee syphilis study begin, as described by the author in Part One: Life, Chapter 6?

4. Who were the two British scientists that fused HeLa cells with mouse cells, creating the first human-animal hybrids?

5. Who was the director of "Negro Activities" for the Tuskegee Institute when the HeLa Distribution Center was developed?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Mary Kubicek describe the instance when she first realized that Henrietta was "human" in Part Two: Death - Chapter 12?

3. What was the objective for Dr. Richard TeLinde in using cancer cells and samples from Howard Jones in his research?

4. Describe the genre and narrative style of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. From whose perspective is the narrative related?

5. How is Henrietta Lacks's early childhood described in the book? When and where was she born? Where did she grow up?

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

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

8. What led to the trial against Southam and Mendel? What sentence did the men receive?

9. How does the author describe the setting of "Lacks Town" when she first visited in 1999?

10. How did Deborah Lacks respond to Rebecca Skloot when she first called her? What information did Rebecca learn from this call?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the qualities of HeLa cells. Why were HeLa cells different than other cells that researchers had attempted culturing in the past? What made HeLa cells invaluable to scientific progress?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the narrative and language styles seen in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. How does the narrative shift in the course of the book? How does the dialogue in the narrative differ from the language style of the author? What literary devices are employed the most in the story?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the theme of poverty in the narrative. What role did poverty play in the lives of the Lacks family? How does the author juxtapose this poverty with the successes of HeLa?

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