The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and Morgan State University have collaborated to honor Henrietta Lacks‘ legacy.
Earlier this month, MSU’s Behavioral and Social Sciences Center showcased its first wax statue dedicated to Lacks.
The Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group said in a news release, “The Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group (HLLG) is dedicated to extending the legacy of Mrs. Lacks and that of historic Turner Station where she lived at the time of her death. With the help of the public, HLLG raised the funds necessary to create a wax figure of Mrs. Lacks that will be housed in the National Great Wax in Blacks Museum. We are proud of the accomplishment and the enduring legacy that will be on full display in the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum.”
In 1951, Lacks was a patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital diagnosed with cervical cancer. After her death at 31, doctors took her cells without her consent and used them to make the first strain of self-replicating cells, HeLa cells. Over 70 years later, in 2023, her family settled with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for an undisclosed amount, with both parties releasing a statement:
“Members of the family of Henrietta Lacks and Thermo Fisher have agreed to settle the litigation filed by Henrietta Lacks’ estate in U.S. District Court in Baltimore,” Blavity reported the statement read. “The terms of the agreement will be confidential. The parties are pleased that they were able to find a way to resolve this matter outside of Court and will have no further comment about the settlement.”
