Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia, to a poor family of tobacco farmers. Her mother died when she was just four-years-old. Henrietta’s father couldn’t care for her and her eight siblings. So, he split them up and sent them to live with other relatives. Henrietta was sent to her grandfather, Tommy Lacks, who was also raising another grandchild, David Lacks, Henrietta’s first cousin. The children were made to work in the tobacco fields from sunrise to sunset without water or food. It was a rough life for anyone, especially children. When they matured, Henrietta and David had sex which resulted in her first pregnancy at fourteen. Eventually, Henrietta and David married, had four other children, and moved to Baltimore where David got a job at a steel mill.

David caroused with other women which resulted in Henrietta becoming infected with both...