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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did the U.S.-led international war tribunal at Nuremberg sentence seven Nazi doctors to death for conducting unthinkable research on Jews without consent?

2. What did Joe Lacks change his name to after he converted to Islam in prison?

3. What was the name of the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Henrietta Lacks?

4. What war was Lawrence Lacks drafted into after lying about his age to get into pool halls?

5. Who discovered radium and its ability to destroy cancer cells?

Short Essay Questions

1. What illness was contracted within the Lacks family after Henrietta's death? How were they affected by this illness?

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

3. What were Mary Kubicek's impressions of HeLa cells when she first began observing them? What were George Gey's impressions of the cells?

4. How do you think Henrietta Lacks's life would have been different if her mother had not died when Henrietta was still a child? Why?

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

6. How does the author describe the actions of Ethel and Galen in the narrative? What relationship did Ethel and Galen have to the Lackses?

7. How did Deborah Lacks respond to Rebecca Skloot when she first called her? What information did Rebecca learn from this call?

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

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

10. How is Henrietta Lacks's funeral described in Part Two: Death? Who attended Henrietta's funeral? Where was she buried?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the use of HeLa cells in hybridization research. When did scientist first create animal-human hybrid cells? What was the purpose of this study?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the impacts of HeLa cells on Deborah Lacks. What misinformation caused Deborah to become paranoid when working with author Rebecca Skloot? Were Deborah's fears justified? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

When and where was the HeLa Factory established? What was its mission? Who was behind its development? What is the status of the HeLa Factory today?

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