In this month's "Naturally Speaking" lecture series at the Virginia Living Museum, two speakers will discuss the legacy of Henrietta Lacks, the person behind the HeLa cells. These cells have been used to create everything from the polio vaccine to in-vitro fertilization. The cells were taken without permission from Henrietta Lacks in 1951 but they revolutionized medical research as it was impossible to culture cells before then. While most of the Henrietta Lacks story is in Baltimore, she was originally from Roanoke. Last year, Governor Northam created the Henrietta Lacks Commission and declared Sept 23-29, 2018, Henrietta Lacks Legacy Week. This is due to a cancer facility built in Henrico County in her honor. A 2017 HBO movie chronicled her story, with Oprah Winfrey portraying Henrietta Lacks’ daughter.
Dr. Adele Newson-Horst, a professor of English at Morgan State University who sits on the Lacks Commission, will share her story and information on the Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group, of which she is vice president, and the regional and national activities that extend her legacy. Servant Courtney Leigh Speed, founder and president of the HLLG, will then recount how historian Louis Diggs contacted her in 1995 to write the Henrietta Lacks story, how she formed a relationship with Deborah Lacks in her quest to “tell the world who her mother was.”
Join the VLM for light hors-d’oeuvre with a cash beer/wine bar starting at 6 p.m. followed by our speakers at 6:30 pm. The talk will run for 20 minutes allowing time for questions and a 7 pm wrap-up.
Adults only. Program is free, but please RSVP so we can prepare appropriately.
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