startsection section10mm-.5 Discussion 1 Tuskegee Truths

 

The next four Fridays (February 1, 8, 15, and 22) will be devoted to a discussion of what has become known as the ``Tuskegee syphilis experiments.'' The primary sources for these discussions will be the articles contained in the collection Tuskegee's Truths, Edited by Susan M. Reverby, which is on reserve in the Science Library. The book Bad Blood by James H. Jones, which first brought these experiments to national attention is also on reserve.

The assignment for Friday, February 1, is to read pages 15-69 of Tuskegee's Truths. This will provide background material on the experiments and some contemporaneous, that is, written in the 1930's, background material. We'll simply have a class discussion on this on Friday.

For subsequent Friday's I would like to divide the material in Part IV, V, VI and VII among people in the class as follows: 4 people for Part IV on February 8; 4 people for Part V on February 15; and 6 people for Parts VI and VII on February 22. Each person

• would be responsible for one article in their part of the book, meaning they should choose and read one section;
• write a one page footnoted summary of the article for distribution in the preceding Wednesday's class;
• play a leading role in the discussion of that part of the book and be the expert on their article;
• submit a 3-4 page paper that summarizes the points of view in their article and responds to its points, hopefully informed by the classroom discussion. Papers will be due two weeks after the presentation date.

To help you decide which article to choose, I've put together telegraphic summaries of the articles you may prepare. Note that you can choose any article in Parts IV and V, but only selected articles in Parts VI and VII. To help you gauge the amount of work in each article I've listed the number of pages of text in each article. Anyone choosing an article in Part VI must also read ``An Interview with Nurse Rivers,'' which appears at the beginning of Part VI. Keep in mind when choosing articles that you don't have to agree with the article-in fact, it might be more interesting if you don't.

Tuskegee's Truths telegraphic summaries.

• Part IV. The Question of Treatment.
  • ``The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis,'' R. H. Kampmeier. 8 p. text. Pro-study brief.
  • ``The Contribution of the Tuskegee Study to Medical Knowledge,'' Charles. J. McDonald, 9 p. text. Cautious positive evaluation of some of the information, notwithstanding other serious questions.
  • ``The `Tuskegee Study' of Syphilis: Analysis of Moral versus Methodological Aspects,'' Thomas Benedek. 20 p. text. Longer evaluation of the study and the science vs. ethics.
  • ``Non-Random Events,'' Barbara Rosenkrantz. 11 p. text. An evaluation of Jones original book Bad Blood.

• Part V, Historical Reconsideration.
  • ``The Rhetoric of Dehumanization: An Analysis of Medical Reports of the Tuskegee Syphilis Project,'' Martha Solomon [Watson]. 15 p. text. A study of the language used in the reports and its implications for our understanding of the experiments.
  • ``The Tuskegee Syphilis Study in the Context of American Medical Research,'' Susan Lederer. 9 p. text. A brief look at the role of race in the interactions of American medical researchers and black subjects.
  • ``A case Study in Historical Relativism: The Tuskegee (Public Health Service) Syphilis Study,'' John C. Fletcher. 19 p. text. Explores the application of contemporary (late 20th century) ethical standards to experiments begun in the 1930's.
  • ``The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: Biotechnology and the Administrative State,'' Benjamin Roy. 16 p. text. A critical analysis that posits that the experiments were an instance of the economic exploitation of human subjects by the biotechnology industry.

• Part VI, Rethinking the Role of Nurse Rivers.

  • ``Your silence will not protect you: Nurse Rivers and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study,'' Evelynn M. Hammonds. 8 p. text. A meditation on the role of Nurse Rivers.
  • ``Neither Victim nor Villian: Eunice Rivers and Public Health Work,'' Susan L. Smith. 13 p. text. An exploration of why black health workers supported the project.
  • ``Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Nurse Rivers, Silence, and the Meaning of Treatment,'' Susan M. Reverby. 16 p. text. ``Listening'' attentively to the voice of Nurse Rivers to understand her dilemma.
  • ``Reflections on Nurse Rivers,'' Darlene Clark Hine. 9 p. text. On the ``problematics of black womanhood'' viewed through the prism of Nurse Rivers' experience.

• Part VII, The Legacy of Tuskegee.
  • ``The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 1932-1972: Implications for HIV Education and AIDS Risk Education Programs in the Black Community,'' Stephen B. Thomas and Sandra Crouse Quinn. 15 p. text. Makes the syphilis-AIDS connection in discussing attitudes of the black community toward the health care system.

  • ``Under the Shadow of Tuskegee: African Americans and Health Care,'' Vanessa Northington Gamble. 10 p. text. The Tuskegee experiments as a metaphor for health care of African Americans.