Send us a textIn this episode we unpack the history and ethics of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972), guided by Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall’s reporting in You’re Wrong About. We recount how U.S. Public Health Service researchers recruited 600 Black men in Macon County, Alabama under the promise of treatment for “bad blood,” then withheld effective care, even after penicillin became a simple cure, so they could watch the disease progress. We explore why the study was “bad science” as well as immoral; the racist assumptions baked into its design (e.g., claims...
Send us a text
In this episode we unpack the history and ethics of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972), guided by Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall’s reporting in You’re Wrong About. We recount how U.S. Public Health Service researchers recruited 600 Black men in Macon County, Alabama under the promise of treatment for “bad blood,” then withheld effective care, even after penicillin became a simple cure, so they could watch the disease progress. We explore why the study was “bad science” as well as immoral; the racist assumptions baked into its design (e.g., claims that syphilis affects Black bodies differently); and why it kept running long after penicillin was a viable option because the participants as “more valuable” as cadavers).
Content & Spoiler Warning:
This episode includes spoilers for the You’re Wrong About two-parter on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and discussion of: medical racism, eugenics, unethical human experimentation, government misconduct, venereal disease symptoms and treatment (e.g., spinal taps, mercury “rubs”), lynchings, sterilisation without consent, infection of prisoners, intergenerational trauma, and mental-health impacts.
Palate Cleanser
Max Rebo Productions (TikTok): Classic Star Wars toys lip-sync famous ‘90s movie scenes (Karate Kid, Home Alone, My Cousin Vinny). Pure delight between heavy topics.
Recommendations:
Podcasts & Episodes
- You’re Wrong About — Tuskegee two-parter; plus episodes on Anita Hill, eugenics, Reagan/Trump, DARE, Satanic Panic/D&D.
- Distrust & Disparities — Two-parter on Tuskegee and broader medical inequities.
- Black History for White People — Discussion including hospital perspectives.
- 1619 — “How the Bad Blood Started.”
- The Breakdown (Sean King) — Context for vaccine hesitancy vs. Tuskegee.
- This Podcast Will Kill You — Syphilis overview and history.
- The Dollop — Syphilis episode (history).
- American Scandal (Wondery) — Tuskegee season (Ep. 1 free).
- Sounds Like a Cult — Humanitarian/aid-adjacent critique.
- Seeing White - Episodes 1 & 2
Books & Articles:
- Medical Apartheid — On systemic medical exploitation and its legacy.
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
- Works by Dale Huey and Ta Nehisi Coates
Films & TV:
- The Fall of the House of Usher (Mike Flanagan) — Sackler-like family and “bad drugs.”
- Westworld — How people treat “less-than-human” beings.
- Stranger Things — Dr. Brenner as “greater good” rationaliser.
- The Pitt — Representation matters in diagnosis (sickle cell storyline).
- Sinners (set in Mississippi sharecropping milieu) and Weapons. Both flagged for future episodes for sure!
Contacts:
- Makeda Pennycooke, Life Coach & Chance Strategist for anti-racism coaching makeda@makedapennycooke.com
Homework:
Watch: Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro) on Netflix to explore the ethics of creation. and it includes a syphilis line: “A night with Venus, a lifetime with mercury.”
But before that, it’s our Christmas special! So read, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Special thanks to Nancy Azano for our cover art (Instagram: @nancyazano) and to Harry Kidd for our opening score (Instagram: @harryjkidd)
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