Henrietta Lacks and The Great Migration

In this lesson, through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students will learn about the push-pull factors that affected African Americans in rural areas of our country as they made decisions on joining The Great Migration in the early 1900s. It also exposes students a little-known fact that medical science uses the cells taken from Henrietta Lack to create new treatments and vaccines. This use of her cells, without her permission, brings up questions of medical ethics.