Flashcards for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Alfred Lacks

Alfred Lacks is one of the sons of Henrietta and David "Day" Lacks, serving as a secondary yet relatable figure in Rebecca Skloot's narrative.

character

Christoph Lengauer

Christoph Lengauer is a cancer geneticist at Johns Hopkins who plays an important, humanizing role in Rebecca Skloot's story, connecting the scientific community that took advantage of HeLa cells with the Lacks family, who never fully grasped what happened to Henrietta's cells.

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David 'Day' Lacks

David "Day" Lacks is Henrietta's husband and the head of the Lacks family.

character

Deborah Lacks

Deborah Lacks is a deeply emotional figure in Rebecca Skloot's narrative, acting as both a primary source and a co-investigator into her mother Henrietta Lacks's legacy.

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Elsie Lacks

Elsie Lacks is Henrietta's second child, born with what was likely epilepsy and an intellectual disability — noted in records as "idiocy."

character

George Gey

George Otto Gey is the Johns Hopkins cancer researcher whose decision to culture Henrietta Lacks's tumor biopsy in 1951 inadvertently initiated one of the most significant events in modern medical history.

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Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks is the heart of Rebecca Skloot's narrative nonfiction work.

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Howard Jones

Dr. Howard Jones is a supporting but historically important figure in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

character

Joe (Zakariyya) Lacks

Joe Lacks, who later changed his name to Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman after converting to Islam, is the youngest son of Henrietta, born just months before her death from cervical cancer in 1951.

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Lawrence Lacks

Lawrence Lacks is the eldest son of Henrietta and David "Day" Lacks, and he holds a quiet yet significant authority within the Lacks family throughout Rebecca Skloot's narrative.

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Rebecca Skloot

Rebecca Skloot serves as both the narrator and a central character in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, taking on the roles of investigative journalist, science communicator, and moral witness.

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Roland Pattillo

Roland Pattillo is a cancer researcher and professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, acting as an important link between the scientific community and the Lacks family in Rebecca Skloot's narrative.

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Sonny Lacks

Sonny Lacks, born David Lacks Jr., is the third of Henrietta and Day's five children and plays a vital role in Rebecca Skloot's narrative, offering an emotionally honest perspective among the Lacks siblings.

character

“The HeLa cells were one of the most important things that happened to medicine in the last hundred years.”

This quote is from Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), which tells the story of both the scientific impact of HeLa cells and the largely overlooked story of the Black woman they were taken from without her consent.

Medical professional/scientist (interviewee)

“I always have thought it was strange, if our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can't afford to see no doctors?”

This line comes from Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's daughter, in her conversations with author Rebecca Skloot throughout the book.

Deborah Lacks

“Henrietta's cells have now been living outside her body far longer than they ever lived within it.”

This reflection is found in Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), a narrative nonfiction piece that weaves together science, biography, and social justice.

Rebecca Skloot (narrator)

“Day didn't know what cells were. He thought maybe they were something like a piece of her spirit.”

This line comes from Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), a narrative nonfiction work that mixes science, ethics, and personal history.

Narrator (Rebecca Skloot), reflecting on Day Lacks

“Henrietta Lacks: the woman whose cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine.”

This line anchors the theme in Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), a narrative nonfiction work that combines elements of science, biography, and social justice.

Rebecca Skloot (authorial narrator) · Prologue

“Part of me was glad those cells were out there saving lives. But another part of me felt like they'd stolen something from her.”

This reflection comes from Deborah Lacks, the daughter of Henrietta, and is recorded by author Rebecca Skloot in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010).

Deborah Lacks

“You've got to be careful when you start talking about Henrietta, because people get upset.”

This cautionary remark comes from a relative of Henrietta Lacks—likely a family member or a close friend from the community—during Rebecca Skloot's interviews as she embarks on her investigation into Henrietta's life.

Lacks family member / community contact · Early chapters (Part One: Life)

“There's a photo on my wall of a woman I've never met, whose very existence changed the world.”

This opening line is spoken by Rebecca Skloot, the author and narrator of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), in the book's prologue.

Rebecca Skloot (narrator) · Prologue

“Science is only as ethical as the people who practice it.”

This line is spoken by Rebecca Skloot, the author and narrator of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), and highlights the book's main moral argument.

Rebecca Skloot (author-narrator)

“I want to be a scientist and study cells like the ones that came from my mother.”

This line is spoken by Deborah Lacks, the daughter of Henrietta Lacks, as she reflects on her complex feelings toward her mother's immortal HeLa cells.

Deborah Lacks

“She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother so important to science, why can't we get health insurance?”

This heart-wrenching question comes from Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's daughter, as she and author Rebecca Skloot explore the story of HeLa cells and their far-reaching scientific influence.

Deborah Lacks

Clover, Virginia

In Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Clover, Virginia — the small tobacco-farming town where Henrietta grew up and where her family has deep roots — represents her origins, sense of belonging, and the rural Black Southern culture that shaped her identity.

HeLa Cells

In Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells illustrate the deep conflict between scientific advancement and the exploitation of individuals.

Henrietta's Medical Records

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Henrietta's medical records highlight the struggle between institutional authority and personal identity.

Johns Hopkins Hospital

In Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Johns Hopkins Hospital symbolizes the deep racial and economic inequalities present in American medicine.

The Photograph of Henrietta

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, there's a powerful photograph of Henrietta—a young Black woman in a red dress, smiling with quiet confidence—that highlights her humanity and individuality despite being largely forgotten by science.

Tone

Rebecca Skloot's tone in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks strikes a balance between urgent moral witness and careful journalistic restraint.

Irony

In Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, irony plays a crucial role, intensifying the book's moral critique at almost every turn.

Flashback

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot relies on flashbacks to structure the narrative, seamlessly shifting between Henrietta's life and death in the 1950s and Skloot's present-tense investigation in the early 2000s, which includes Henrietta's daughter, Deborah.

Symbolism

In Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells serve as the book's most powerful symbol.

Juxtaposition

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot uses juxtaposition as a key structural element, consistently contrasting the achievements of modern medicine with the poverty and hardships faced by the Lacks family.

Narrative Poem

Rebecca Skloot constructs The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as a triple-braided narrative, intertwining three distinct timelines into a single urgent story.

Frame Narrative

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot weaves a complex frame-narrative with three intertwined storylines: her own investigative journey in the early 2000s, Henrietta's life and death in the 1950s, and the ongoing saga of HeLa cells in labs worldwide.

Imagery

Rebecca Skloot uses vivid, sensory imagery throughout The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to bridge the gap between abstract laboratory work and real human suffering.

immortal

In biology, describes cells that can divide and reproduce indefinitely in a lab without dying, unlike normal human cells that stop dividing after a set number of generations.

adjective · Chapter 1

biopsy

A medical procedure in which a small sample of tissue is removed from a living person so it can be examined under a microscope for signs of disease.

noun · Chapter 3

cervical

Relating to the cervix, the lower narrow part of the uterus; in this book it refers specifically to the cancer that was found in Henrietta's body.

adjective · Chapter 3

carcinoma

A type of cancer that begins in the cells lining the surfaces of organs or skin; here it refers to the malignant tumor found in Henrietta's cervix.

noun · Chapter 3

radium

A radioactive element once used in medicine to treat cancer by placing it directly against tumors to destroy them with radiation.

noun · Chapter 3

culture

To grow living cells or microorganisms in a controlled laboratory environment, providing nutrients and conditions that keep them alive and multiplying outside the body.

verb · Chapter 4

contamination

In cell biology, the unwanted invasion of one cell line into another in the lab, causing researchers to unknowingly work with the wrong cells and producing false scientific results.

noun · Chapter 11

cell line

A population of cells descended from a single original sample that can be kept alive and grown in a laboratory indefinitely, used repeatedly for scientific experiments.

phrase · Chapter 4

HeLa

The name given to the first immortal human cell line, derived from the first two letters of the donor's first and last name, used worldwide in medical research.

noun · Chapter 4

in vitro

Latin for 'in glass'; refers to biological processes or experiments carried out in a laboratory dish or test tube rather than inside a living organism.

phrase · Chapter 4

informed consent

The legal and ethical requirement that a patient be fully told about and agree to a medical procedure or the use of their tissue before it takes place.

phrase · Chapter 12

tissue

A mass of similar cells that form a specific part of a body; in this book it refers to the physical material taken from Henrietta that became the basis of scientific research.

noun · Chapter 3

autopsy

A medical examination of a dead body, including internal inspection of organs, performed to determine the cause of death or gather scientific information.

noun · Chapter 5

eugenics

A discredited movement that promoted controlling human reproduction to increase supposedly desirable traits and eliminate undesirable ones, often used to justify forced sterilization of marginalized groups.

noun · Chapter 8

institutionalized

Placed into a long-term residential facility such as a psychiatric hospital or state home, often without the person's full consent, as happened to Elsie Lacks.

verb · Chapter 8

Jim Crow

The system of laws and social customs in the American South that enforced racial segregation, keeping Black and white people separated in hospitals, schools, and public life.

phrase · Chapter 2

segregated

Forcibly separated by race under law or custom, so that Black patients, for example, were treated in separate and typically inferior wards from white patients.

adjective · Chapter 3

ward

A large room or section of a hospital containing multiple patients' beds, often designated for a particular type of patient such as those of a specific race or illness.

noun · Chapter 3

patent

To obtain an exclusive legal right over an invention or, in biotech contexts, over a biological material or process, preventing others from using it without permission.

verb · Chapter 12

commodified

Turned into a product that is bought and sold for profit; in this book it describes how human cells and biological materials became commercial goods traded by corporations.

verb · Chapter 12

propagate

To cause cells to reproduce and multiply in a laboratory setting, growing larger quantities of a cell line for distribution or experimental use.

verb · Chapter 6

polio

A highly contagious viral disease that can cause paralysis; HeLa cells were crucial to developing the vaccine that eventually eliminated it as a major public health threat.

noun · Chapter 6

chromosomes

Thread-like structures inside a cell's nucleus that carry genetic information; HeLa cells have an abnormally large and chaotic number of them due to their cancerous origin.

noun · Chapter 11

consent form

A written document a patient signs to give permission for a medical procedure or for their tissue to be used; the absence of such forms for Henrietta is central to the book's ethical argument.

phrase · Chapter 12

reparations

Compensation paid to people who have been wronged or exploited; the Lacks family sought some form of payment or acknowledgment for the commercial use of Henrietta's cells without their knowledge.

noun · Chapter 12