Name: ________________________________ Date:______________________

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

In Class Group Assignment: Discuss within your group and respond to all of the following.

1. What is informed consent? What does it really cover? Chapter 17, page 31.

2. Paraphrasing look at page 97 and describe the nature of the HeLa cells in YOUR own words.
3. Story telling - Examine the nature of urban legends like Hopkins gonna git me and the Immortal
Chicken Heart among others. How do they start? How do they grow? Create an urban legend of your
own.
4. Journalism discuss how a journalist recreates a story. How the reporter collects information and then
decides how to present it.
5. Compare religious beliefs to scientific theory (a strong theme through part III). Can they co-exist
peacefully?
6. What is hereditary syphilis? How does that affect the brain?
7. Explore the history of Johns Hopkins hospital. Who was Johns Hopkins? What was his intent for the
hospital? How did the institution live up to his intentions?
8. Who actually owns human tissues removed in an operation? Compare to the legal stance regarding
discarded items in ones garbage put out for collection.

9. Discuss the nature of justice. What is justice? Did the Lacks family ever find justice? View this from
several different points of view. Record your responses.

10. Using the Lacks family as a case study, explore the issues of:
Inner City Violence, B. Prison culture Islam conversions
Drug culture
Group Discussion
Character Study: Do character studies (behaviors, speech patterns, manner of dress, etc.). Part III is
excellent for this look especially at Deborah and Zakariyya.

Using your phones, Conduct research and locate a news article from a current periodical that deals with
some aspect of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

11. What new scientific studies have been published and how were HeLa cells used in their research?

12. Answer the following: A. What is the meaning of genre? B. What genre does The Immortal Life of
Henrietta Lacks fall under? C. What other books has the author written and in what genres?
D. What does the authors statement in the beginning of the text mean?

13. . Describe the genre and narrative style of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. From
whose perspective is the narrative related?
14. How is Henrietta Lacks's early childhood described in the book? When and where was
she born? Where did she grow up?