Public Domain: Photograph of Participants in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (NARA) When people think of Tuskegee, Alabama they might think of Tuskegee University, a historically black college founded by Booker T. Washington. They might also remember George Washington Carver (“The Peanut Man”) teaching agriculture at the same university. Yet, many people do not know of the disturbing forty-year medical study in Tuskegee, Alabama. The 1932 study is considered the longest nontherapeutic experiment on humans in the U.S. The study, originally named “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” involved six hundred African American male participants who were promised free treatment for their “bad blood” or illnesses such as sickle cell disease, malaise, and syphilis. During this time, Alabama researchers falsely believed syphilis caused more neurological problems in white men and more cardiovascular issues in black men. The U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) intended to use the men to study the effects of syphilis on the body and compare those effects to what they already knew about white men with the infection. The covert and unethical study resulted in unnecessary deaths and health issues in many African American Tuskegee families as well as long lasting distrust in the government’s health system.
In the study there were three hundred and ninety-nine pre-infected men plus two hundred and one men who were in a control group to weed out other illnesses common among African Americans. Throughout the study the infected men believed they were being cured of syphilis along with other illnesses. The PHS study, originally scheduled to last six months, continued well past the 1940s even though penicillin was widely available to cure syphilis. None of the participants received appropriate treatment during the time they participated in the study. Furthermore, the PHS kept the participants from being drafted in World War II because their syphilis would be detected and treated. The researchers also sent the men to specific Alabama doctors (who knew of the study) if they needed outside medical care. In exchange for participation the Tuskegee men were offered free medical care, meals, burial insurance, and fifty dollars for their families if they agreed to an autopsy when they passed away. The study gave the participant’s families false hope leading them to believe their loved one would be cured from infection.
On July 12, 1972, the secrets of the Tuskegee Syphillis Study were exposed by a reporter named Jean Heller in The New York Times. This created questions as to why the government allowed hidden unethical research such as the Tuskegee study to occur. The infected men passed syphilis to their unsuspecting wives who later infected their newborn children. The unethical study led to the death of twenty-eight black men and left hundreds with long lasting health problems. After the study came to light, the participants filed a ten-million-dollar lawsuit in 1974 and won. The money was distributed to the men and their descendants. The last known survivor passed away in 2004 at the age of ninety-six. The aftermath of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study weakened the confidence in Alabama and in the government’s healthcare system.
Additional Information:
On July 12, 1972, the secrets of the Tuskegee Syphillis Study were exposed by a reporter named Jean Heller in The New York Times. This created questions as to why the government allowed hidden unethical research such as the Tuskegee study to occur. The infected men passed syphilis to their unsuspecting wives who later infected their newborn children. The unethical study led to the death of twenty-eight black men and left hundreds with long lasting health problems. After the study came to light, the participants filed a ten-million-dollar lawsuit in 1974 and won. The money was distributed to the men and their descendants. The last known survivor passed away in 2004 at the age of ninety-six. The aftermath of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study weakened the confidence in Alabama and in the government’s healthcare system.
Additional Information:
- Encyclopedia of Alabama: http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1116
Author
 | Madison Green in a junior studying nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. When she is not at school, she works as an EMT and in her spare time she enjoys kayaking. |
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