Black History Month should not only look at the contributions of American Blacks. We should also study aspects that we must not forget. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is one such event.
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| Some of the original participants |
The study also goes a long way toward explaining WHY Blacks were so hesitant to trust the government regarding COVID-19.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study started in 1932. In 1932, the United States began a study on a group of 400 Blacks in Georgia. They were diagnosed with Syphilis, and the US government reached out to them. They were all promised free medical care if they participated in the study. However, only 1/2 the men were treated, and the other half were given placebos. Even after it was found that penicillin would end Syphilis in 1947, they were not given it.
They were told the study would be for 6 months, it lasted 30 years until it was ended in 1972 when it was uncovered. During those 40 years:
- 28 patients died from syphilis
- 100 died from complications from syphilis
- 40 of the patients infected their wives
- 19 children were born with congenital syphilis at birth
It was an act perpetrated on Blacks with no thought about the impact on the men in the study. A lot of new information was uncovered, but they were never told the truth. Finally, the full story came out in 1997.
It is a part of Black History that is terrible, but must be remembered so it doesn't happen again.
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