Summary

Chapter 6: “Lady’s on the Phone”… 1999

Eleven years after author Rebecca Skloot learned about Henrietta in a classroom, she discovered some scientific papers entitled, “The HeLa Cancer Control Symposium” at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. The school was one of the oldest black universities in the country. She contacted Roland Pattillo, a professor of gynecology at Morehouse. He had been a student of George Gey.

Pattillo knew how to contact Henrietta’s family but grilled Rebecca about her intentions. They were very sensitive about Henrietta’s experience. Rebecca provided him with documentation about her dedication to investigating questionable medical incidents involving black people and dubious research. She was white, but she cared about what she considered victims of research no matter what their color. She convinced Pattillo that she had no nefarious intentions about Henrietta’s story and...