Henrietta Lacks statue to replace Robert E. Lee monument in Virginia

A bronze statue of Henrietta Lacks, whose “immortal” cells have been taken with out her permission after which utilized in a number of medical breakthroughs, will likely be erected in her honor in her hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, taking the place of a monument to Accomplice basic Robert E. Lee.

The statue, which was designed by artist Bryce Cobbs, will stand in Roanoke’s Henrietta Lacks Plaza — previously Lee Plaza.

Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump stated on the unveiling of the statue’s preliminary sketch that honoring Lacks is a chance to “proper a historic unsuitable” and shine a light-weight on the various contributions Lacks made to trendy medical science.

“Right this moment, right here in Roanoke, Virginia, at Lacks Plaza, we acknowledge that she was not solely important, she was literate and she or he is as related as any historic determine on this planet in the present day when you think about problems with genetic justice, reproductive rights and stem cell analysis,” Crump stated at Monday’s press convention.

Vice-Mayor Trish White-Boyd started fundraising for the Lacks monument by the Roanoke Hidden Histories undertaking, gathering almost $184,000 to design and assemble the sculpture, which is predicted to be accomplished by the top of 2023.

Lacks’ son, Lawrence, and grandson, Ron, have been in attendance throughout Monday’s unveiling. Ron stated his household is completely satisfied to see his grandmother acknowledged and acknowledged as extra than simply her cells.

“I feel they’re seeing her extra as a human being, a spouse, a mom,” he stated. “I imply it is nice now that we’re reaching out and acknowledging her as a human being.”

In 1951, Lacks went to The Johns Hopkins Hospital the place she was recognized and handled for cervical most cancers. One among her docs, who usually collected the cells of his sufferers to check them, was shocked to see Lacks’ cells double each 20 to 24 hours as a substitute of dying, as his different sufferers’ cells had, in response to Johns Hopkins.

The cells, referred to as “HeLa” cells, have since been used to check the affect of poisons, medication, hormones and viruses on the expansion of most cancers cells — with out the necessity for testing or experimentation on people.

They proceed for use in the present day and even performed an vital function within the design and improvement of the polio and COVID-19 vaccines.

“I simply assume it is so becoming within the state of Virginia, the place we all know how vital statutes have performed a task, the place prior to now we commemorated numerous males with statues that divided us — that right here in Roanoke, Virginia, we may have a statue of a Black lady who brings us all collectively,” Crump stated.

The Roanoke Hidden Tales undertaking can also be engaged on a digital actuality expertise designed to teach individuals about Lacks and different historic Black American figures utilizing immersive know-how.

“Each time considered one of her cells regenerates, I would like you all to know that Henrietta lives, Henrietta lives, Henrietta lives,” Crump chanted.

Lacks’ statue is the most recent in a sequence of strikes to switch or take away monuments devoted to Accomplice figures. 

In 2020, former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam introduced {that a} well-known statue of Lee in Richmond could be eliminated after it had been vandalized throughout protests that erupted after the homicide of George Floyd. The choice to take away Lee’s statue had been controversial — with the problem reaching all the best way to the Virginia Supreme Courtroom.

The USA Army Academy this week introduced it will be eradicating 13 “13 accomplice property and memorabilia” by December 2023.