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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did Rebecca Skloot travel to in order to meet David "Sonny" Lacks Jr. in Part One: Life, Chapter 9?
(a) Baltimore.
(b) Grover.
(c) Brooklyn.
(d) Cleveland.

2. On what date did Henrietta Lacks die?
(a) October 4, 1951.
(b) April 10, 1941.
(c) February 5, 1951.
(d) January 29, 1951.

3. How old was Henrietta Lacks's epileptic daughter when she died?
(a) 15.
(b) 12.
(c) 19.
(d) 32.

4. Who was the preacher that led Rebecca Skloot to Speed's Grocery in Part One: Life, Chapter 9?
(a) Reverend Wilson.
(b) Reverend Jackson.
(c) Reverend Elmer.
(d) Reverend Thompson.

5. What was the name of Deborah Lacks's first child?
(a) Fred Garret.
(b) Henry Harris.
(c) Alfred Carter.
(d) Harry Eagle.

Short Answer Questions

1. What radio horror show in the 1930s related the fictional story of a Dr. Alberts who created an immortal chicken heart that overcame the earth?

2. What researcher at the NIH used HeLa cells to develop the first standardized culture medium that could be made by the gallon and shipped ready to use?

3. What was Henrietta Lacks's name at birth?

4. Who was the gynecologist that examined Henrietta Lacks when she first went to Johns Hopkins Hospital to have the knot in her womb seen?

5. Who was the Harvard anesthesiologist that published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that Chester Southam's cancer research was just one of hundreds of similarly unethical cases?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did George Gey do with the HeLa cells that he obtained and cultured at his labs? What were Gey's objectives?

2. Who established the first distribution center for HeLa cells? Where was it established?

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

4. Why were HeLa cells useful in the study of virology and research into diseases? Was the malignant nature of the cells a factor?

5. What precedent was set by the 1957 case of patient Martin Salgo?

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

7. How is Henrietta Lacks's early childhood described in the book? When and where was she born? Where did she grow up?

8. Describe the genre and narrative style of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. From whose perspective is the narrative related?

9. How does the author describe the setting of "Lacks Town" when she first visited in 1999?

10. Where did the name "Helen Lane" arise? How did the Lacks family feel about "Helen Lane"?

(see the answer keys)

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