Forty Years of Medical Racism: The Tuskegee Experiments (American Secrets & Scandals)

The Tuskegee Study is one of the most infamous medical studies ever conducted. From 1932 to 1972, the federal government studied the long-term effects of syphilis on 399 men. The study has been condemned because the black men were never treated for the disease and were never told the true nature of their illness.

Grade 8 Up-What is usually only a footnote in works describing the history of race relations in America is here recounted in full detail. The introduction relates the shock and outrage engendered by the study when its existence became known publicly in 1972. Its full title, used throughout this work, is the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. A description of who devised the study and its original purposes reveals the benign nature of this undertaking at its start. How it changed and when it became truly unethical are explained just as clearly. The last two chapters deal with how it was revealed to the public and what the United States government did for the surviving participants and their families. Halftone photographs of participants and of the persons who designed, conducted, or criticized the project supplement the text. Informational sidebars provide additional descriptions and photographs of some of the damage done by untreated syphilis. Extensive notes and works consulted sections offer numerous books, periodical articles, and more than a dozen Web sites. Annotated listings of further reading include three of the best books available on this study. Overall, the scope of Uschan's work closely resembles that of James H. Jones's Bad Blood (Free Press, 1981), but its more inviting format and directness in addressing hard issues provide an accessibility that is vital to understanding the lessons to be learned from this era in American social history.-Ann G. Brouse, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY
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