by Shawn Nowlin
The City of Roanoke is recognized all over the world as the birthplace of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman considered by many to be “the mother of modern medicine.”
Born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920, her parents, John and Eliza, were both born in the 1880s.
When she was four, her mother died while giving birth to her tenth child. Unable to properly care for his children after the family tragedy, John moved the family closer to Clover, Va., where Henrietta and her siblings went to live with different relatives. A two-story cabin with her maternal grandfather is where Lacks ended up.
While it remains unclear how her name changed from Loretta to Henrietta, her family nickname was “Hennie.”
Without her consent, while visiting Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951 for cervical cancer treatment, Lacks’ cells were used. Doctors quickly discovered that, unlike other patients, her cells doubled every 20 to 24 hours.
Hal Irvin, the Virginia Tech Health Sciences and Technology Associate Vice President has publicly stated many times that “researchers were able to use her cells in various ways.”
To date, more than 11,000 patents using Lacks’ cells have been developed. Two years ago, a chief scientist at the World Health Organization said, “I cannot think of any other single cell line or lab reagent that’s been used to this extent and has resulted in so many advances.”
On April 14, Lacks, who was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame three years ago, was recognized with arguably the most prestigious historic distinction when a marker in her honor was placed in Perry Park, her birthplace.
The plaque, in part, reads, “She married David Lacks in 1941 and had five children. On 4 Oct. 1951, she died of cervical cancer in Baltimore. Lacks’ cells, known as the HeLa line, were the first human cells to multiply indefinitely in a laboratory. Used by scientists worldwide, her cells have contributed to many medical breakthroughs.”
Among those present for the celebratory gathering were Mayor Sherman Lea, Roanoke Branch NAACP Brenda Hale, former Roanoke City Council member Bill Bestpitch, Vice Mayor Joe Cobb, and Tucker Lemon, Chairman of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources Board.
Sponsored by the Carilion Clinic Foundation, Roanoke historian and minister Nelson Harris was the driving force behind the historical marker.
Twelve years ago, Halifax County, where Lacks is buried, unveiled a historical marker in her honor. In 2021, a statue of Lacks was installed at the University of Bristol in Great Britain.
According to the Trust for Public Land, just three percent of roughly 100,000 historic places nationwide tell the stories of Black Americans. October 4, which Governor Youngkin has declared Henrietta Lacks Day, is the planned date for Lacks’ bronze statue unveiling in Roanoke.
