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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. Who were the business partners that owned Microbiological Associates in the 1950s?

2. How old was Deborah Lacks when she became pregnant with her first child?

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

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

5. What was the name of the BBC documentary that Courtney Speed borrowed from the library to show to Rebecca Skloot when she visited Turner Station?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was discovered during Henrietta Lacks's autopsy? Where had Henrietta's cancer spread?

3. How is Henrietta Lacks's funeral described in Part Two: Death? Who attended Henrietta's funeral? Where was she buried?

4. How did the doctors at Johns Hopkins treat Henrietta Lacks after her recurrence of cancer in June of 1951?

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

6. Who is Roland Pattillo, and why did Rebecca Skloot contact him regarding the Lacks family? How did Pattillo respond to Rebecca's inquiries?

7. What role did Bobbette take in the family after marrying Lawrence? Why?

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

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

10. How were tissue samples obtained following Henrietta Lacks's death? Why were they obtained?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the impact of the Rolling Stones article that focused on the Lacks family in the 1970s. How did this article impact the family? How did Americans respond to the article? Why?

Essay Topic 2

When and where was the HeLa Factory established? What was its mission? Who was behind its development? What is the status of the HeLa Factory today?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the impact of Henrietta's death on Zakariyya in the narrative. How did Zakariyya feel about George Gey? Why? What helped to change Zakariyya's impressions of the scientific community? How?

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