HenriettaLacks_RGG_characters.pdf

7/27/2019 HenriettaLacks_RGG_characters.pdf

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The Immortal Life ofHenrietta LacksRebecca Skloot

A Broadway Paperback ISBN 978-1-4000-5218-9 RebeccaSkloot.com HenriettaLacksFoundation.org

A Readers Guide

Cast of Characters

mmediate Lacks Family

David Day LacksHenriettas husband and cousin

David Jr. Sonny LacksHenrietta and Days third child

Deborah Dale LacksHenrietta and Days fourth child

Eliza Lacks PleasantHenriettas mother. She died when Henrietta was four.

Elsie Lacks (born Lucille Elsie Pleasant)Henriettas second born and eldest daughter. She was institutionalizeddue to epilepsy and died at age fteen.

Gladys LacksHenriettas sister, who disapproved of Henriettas marriage to Day

Johnny PleasantHenriettas father. He left his ten children when their mother died.

Lawrence LacksHenrietta and Days rstborn child

Loretta PleasantHenriettas birth name

Tommy LacksHenrietta and Days grandfather who raised both of them

Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman (born Joe Lacks)Henrietta and Days fth child. Henrietta was diagnosed withcervical cancer shortly after his birth.

Extended Lacks Family

Albert LacksHenriettas white great-grandfather. He had ve children by a former slave named Maria and leftpart of the Lacks plantation to them. This section became known as Lacks Town.

Alfred Cheetah CarterDeborahs rst husband. The marriage was abusive and ended in divorce.

Alfred Jr.Deborah and Cheetahs rstborn child and Little Alfreds father

Bobette LacksLawrences wife. She helped raise Lawrences siblings after Henriettas death and advocatedfor them when she discovered they were being abused.


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A Readers Guide

Cliff GarretHenriettas cousin. As children, they worked the tobacco elds together.

Crazy Joe GrinnanHenriettas cousin who competed unsuccessfully with Day for her affection

Davon MeadeDeborahs grandson who often lived with and took care of her

EthelGalens wife, an abusive caregiver to Henriettas three youngest children

Fred GarretHenriettas cousin who convinced Day and Henrietta to move to Turner Station

GalenHenriettas cousin. He and his wife, Ethel, moved in with Day after Henriettas death to helptake care of the children. He ended up abusing Deborah.

Gary LacksGladyss son and Deborahs cousin. A lay preacher, he performed a faith healing on Deborah.

LaTonyaDeborah and Cheetahs second child; Davons mother

Little AlfredDeborahs grandson

Margaret SturdivantHenriettas cousin and condante. Henrietta went to her house after radiationtreatments at Johns Hopkins.

Reverend James PullumDeborahs second ex-husband, a former steel-mill worker who became a preacher

Sadie SturdivantMargarets sister, Henriettas cousin and condante. She supported Henrietta duringher illness. She and Henrietta sometimes sneaked out to go dancing.

Members o the Medical and Scientifc Community

Alexis CarrelFrench surgeon and Nobel Prize recipient who claimed to have cultured immortal chicken-heart ce

Chester Southamcancer researcher who conducted unethical experiments to see whether or not HeLa could infecpeople with cancer

Christoph Lengauercancer researcher at Johns Hopkins who helped develop FISH, a technique used to detect andidentify DNA sequences, and who reached out to members of the Lacks family

Emanuel Mandeldirector of medicine at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital (JCDH) who partneredwith Southam in unethical experiments


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A Readers Guide

Dr. George Geyhead of tissue-culture research at Johns Hopkins. He developed the techniques used togrow HeLa cells from Henriettas cancer tissue in his lab.

Howard JonesHenriettas gynecologist at Johns Hopkins

Leonard Hayickmicrobiologist who proved that normal cells die when theyve doubled about fty times.This is known as the Hayick limit.

Margaret GeyGeorge Geys wife and research assistant. She was trained as a surgical nurse.

Mary KubicekGeorge Geys lab assistant who cultured HeLa cells for the rst time

Richard Wesley TeLindeone of the top cervical cancer experts in the country at the time of Henriettas diagnosis.His research involved taking tissue samples from Henrietta and other cervical cancerpatients at Johns Hopkins.

Roland Pattilloprofessor of gynecology at Morehouse School of Medicine who was one of George Geys only Afric

American students. He organizes a yearly HeLa conference at Morehouse in Henriettas honor.

Stanley Gartlerthe geneticist who dropped the HeLa bomb when he proposed that many of the most commonlyused cell cultures had been contaminated by HeLa

Susan Hsuthe postdoctoral student in Victor McKusicks lab who was assigned to make contact with the Lacksesand request samples from them for genetic testing without informed consent

Victor McKusickgeneticist at Johns Hopkins who conducted research on samples taken from Henriettas childrenwithout informed consent to learn more about HeLa cells

Walter Nelson-Reesthe geneticist who tracked and published the names of cell lines contaminated with HeLawithout rst warning the researchers he exposed. He became known as a vigilante.

ournalists and Others

Courtney Mama Speedresident of Turner Station and owner of Speeds Grocery. She organized an effort tobuild a Henrietta Lacks museum.

John Moorecancer patient who unsuccessfully sued his doctor and the regents of the University of Californiaover the use of his cells to create the Mo cell line


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A Readers Guide

Michael Goldauthor ofA Conspiracy of Cells. He published details from Henriettas medical recordsand autopsy report without permission from the Lacks family.

Michael RogersRolling Stonereporter who wrote an article about the Lacks family in 1976.He was the rst journalist to contact the Lackses.

Sir Lord Keenan Kester Coeldattempted to sue Johns Hopkins and the Lacks family

Ted Slavina hemophiliac whose doctor told him his cells were valuable. Slavin founded Essential Biologicals,a company that sold his cells, and later cells from other people so individuals could prot from theirown biological materials.

HenriettaLacks_RGG_characters.pdf

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