Development Unit: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
For more than 50 years, almost nothing was known about Henrietta Lacks, one of the most influential persons in modern medicine, until Rebecca Skloot decided to tell her story in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot’s book was a New York Times Best Seller for more than six years and won numerous prestigious awards. We will examine the author’s techniques to uncover how a writer tells a complex story that unfolds over a century and involves the representation of multiple key people and perspectives. We will also examine how materials in other mediums—painting, poem, scientific journal, and film—portray Henrietta Lacks and the legacy she left with regard to class, race, ethics, and science. Through this study, we will examine the Central Question: How do we tell someone else’s story?