SYPHILIS EXPERIMENTATION AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN
This excerpt from the Maron County
Health Department, published by Alabama State Board of Health was the main information provided to African American Individuals to participate in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in which African American men were withheld treatment for the infection of syphilis.
These individual were referred to as having “bad blood” which was a common term used to describe ailments during the time. The men participating in the study were not informed on the background of their condition but were told they would receive and reward and treatment for complying with the terms of the research agreement. Without adequate knowledge, the men signed this form in hopes of simply receiving their reward, which was simply a free ride to and from the clinic as well as free meals. Once this humbly written form was signed, after 40 years of experimentation, ended the lives of thousands of African American men.
Identification of the nature of the Tuskegee Study reveals that the purpose was physicians attempt to find a cure for the infection disease syphilis as it was spreading rapidly in the United States during this time in the early 1900s. Further identification of what went wrong is noted in the article, stating how throughout the progression of this project, the African American men were falsely informed about their condition and further never received their treatment of Penicillin after it was discovered to be a viable treatment for syphilis. After the ending of the experimentation, there was compensation for the lives lost with major settlements to the African American families of the participants.
The treatment of the African American individuals during the Tuskegee syphilis experiment has affected African American’s perspective in modern day society about participating in research studies. There was a research study performed to determine how impactful historical experimentation has been on modern practice. A total of 300 African American individuals were informed on a research experiment and further declined their participation due to their knowledge about Tuskegee. Further examination throughout this study was attempting to find additional correlations between African Americans declining participation in research studies.
Sources:
“Faces of Tuskegee.” Tuskegee. Accessed April 5, 2020.
Poythress, N., Epstein, M., Stiles, P., & Edens, J. F. (2011). Awareness of the
Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Impact on Offenders’ Decisions to Decline
Research Participation. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 29(6), 821–
828. https://doi-org.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/10.1002/bsl.1012
Tuskegee Study - Timeline - CDC - NCHHSTP.” Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 2,
2020. https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.html