• 1:10:54 - 1:17:39
66: Black Butterfly
Rebecca Skloot and the History of Medical Exploitation in Baltimore
Author Rebecca Skloot discusses her book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" on Democracy Now, explaining how she discovered the story as a teenager. She details the history of "colored wards" in segregated hospitals like Johns Hopkins, where poor Black patients were often used for research in exchange for "free" care. This history of exploitation, including grave robbing and unethical experiments, created a deep-seated distrust of medical institutions in East Baltimore.