The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Imagine learning that part of your loved one lives on in laboratories—and that it’s transformed science forever. That’s what happened to the Lacks family, who discovered, decades too late, that cells from Henrietta Lacks had become the first “immortal” human cells grown in culture. This startling truth propelled them—and eventually the world—into new ethical territory.

Henrietta was an everyday person in many ways: a mother of five, a devoted friend, someone whose life included both joys and pains. Yet, without her ever realizing it, she contributed more to modern medicine than most researchers do in an entire career. Her story also reveals how complex issues like race, class, and consent converge in medical research, influencing how science is done.

In these pages, we’ll meet her family, learn how her cells—known as HeLa—gave rise to medical breakthroughs, and explore the social and legal debates surrounding them. Above all, we’ll see why honoring the real human being behind these cells matters, both for science and for society.

Henrietta grew up in the small town of Clover, Virginia, in a community largely shaped by the remnants of slavery and systemic segregation. She lost her mother when she was very young, and much of her childhood was spent on her family’s tobacco plantation land. Life in Clover was tough, with large families working in the fields, bound both by hardships and a deep sense of kinship.

Eventually, Henrietta moved to Baltimore in search of better opportunities. She and her husband, David (or “Day”), settled in Turner Station, a part of the city where many Black families strove for decent jobs at steel mills and lived tightly knit lives. Even amid economic struggles, Henrietta was known for her warm personality and the homemade meals that brought people together.

Yet the shadows of poverty and limited access to quality healthcare persisted. In those days, Black patients often visited segregated wards in hospitals like Johns Hopkins, grateful for treatment but wary of rumors about experimentation on the poor. Even so, Henrietta’s family mainly focused on everyday life—raising children and seeking a modest slice of security.