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Henrietta was born.
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Henrietta’s mother died giving birth to her tenth child.
Henrietta went to live with her Grandfather and her soon to be husband David Lacks. -
Henrietta and David wed.
Henrietta had five children with David: Lawrence, Elsie, Sonny, Deborah, and Joe. -
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During World War II, Japan bombed pearl harbor.
This bombing caused a high demand for steel and David wanted to be included in the business. David left for Baltimore during this timespan and later Henrietta followed with their children. -
Henrietta finally goes to the hospital about the bump she found.
They tell her she has stage one carcinoma of the cervix. She did not tell any of her cousins or her children about her cancer because she did not want to cause any unnecessary worry. -
Henrietta starts radiation treatments.
She eventually has to tell her cousins about the treatments since their house is in walking distance from the hospital, and David can not pick her up from the hospital when the treatments are over. -
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During the time of Henrietta's treatment she spent time with her family.
Henrietta never liked being in Baltimore and would take her children back to clover on weekends. She would harvest tobacco like she did as a child, though radium can cause weakness. During the week after her treatments she would spend time with her cousins playing cards and bingo, and talking about their families. -
Henrietta's tumor vanished from her treatments.
The doctors thought Henrietta's cancer was completely gone, and even gave her more radiation treatments to make sure all the cancer cells were dead. Her cervix was normal and no more tumors could be found. Towards the end of her treatment she discovered she could no longer have children. -
Henrietta thinks her cancer is back because she has abnormal pain, but the doctors don't find anything and turn her away.
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Henrietta was admitted into the hospital so her new tumors could be better cared for. The doctors now knew they could not cure her, but poorly attempted at releaving her pain
Henrietta had been having discomfort in her abdomen in early June, and the paint progressively became more intense. They had turned her away many times before finding she had four new tumors inside of her. It was too late to treat the tumors and make them vanish. -
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By September, Henrietta's body was covered in tumors.
The tumors were all over her diaphragm, lungs, and bladder. She had to have so many blood transfusions from her failed kidneys that the doctors stopped giving her blood from the deficiet she created. Once her cousin Emmet heard she needed blood, he came to the hospital with some of his friends and they donated 8 pints. The last time she had seen Emmet, he had taken her to visit her child Elsie in Crownsville at the facility she was admitted to for her sickness. -
Doctors discontinued all of Henrietta's medications and treatments except analgesics.
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Henrietta died at 12:15 a.m.
On that day, Henrietta was still in the hospital with Sadie and her sister. She told her sister, Gladys, that she was going to die, and to tell David to take care of her children. Little did she know that David would fail at his job, and let her cousin Ethel Lacks come in with her husband Galen, whom both abused the children. Deborah was sexually abused by Galen, Sonny was beaten like the rest, and Joe would be the most mistreated: locked up and isolated for days, causing an inferiority complex. -
Henrietta's name was leaked and published in the "Minneapolis Star".
The name that was leaked was incorrect, and Henrietta's family was not influenced by this first publication because of the flaw. Reporters attempted to get in touch with Gey about the patient he took the cells from, but he never wanted her name to be publicly known for her family's sake. There were different publications about Henrietta and her cells, but never with her correct name. As a result, her family never knew her cells were alive and what they had been doing for the rest of the world. -
Lawrence Lacks and Bobbette Cooper get married
They had their first child during this year, and found that Ethel had been abusing Henrietta's children, Lawrence's siblings. Bobbette insisted on the children moving in with them, and they did. Bobbette took care of them as if they were her own children -
Deborah gave birth to her first child, Alfred Jr.
Alfred Jr's father was Alfred "Cheetah" Carter. Deborah became pregnant with Alfred Jr. at the age of 16, and claimed she was no longer going to school. Bobbette, Lawrence's wife, wouldn't have it, and she enrolled Deborah into a school specifically for pregnant girls. At this time, Deborah's older brothers were doing well. Lawrence opened a convenience store, while Sonny graduated from high school, and joined the air force. All of her brothers were well except for Joe, who looked for trouble. -
Joe Lacks, Henrietta's son, killed a man named Ivy.
Ivy had threatened Joe twice before Joe killed him. Joe was the kind of person who stayed in trouble and couldn't get along with anyone. He was a heavy drinker, which probably initiated some of his problems. The day he killed Ivy, he was drunk. -
Joe Lacks turned himself in for the murder of Eldridge Lee Ivy.
David Lacks, Joe's father, tried to help Joe get away from Baltimore to prevent him going to jail. David's attempts didn't matter, because anywhere Joe went he never got along with anyone. Before Joe murdered Ivy, he tried enrolling in the military. all of the Lacks thought it would be good for Joe and he could learn how to discipline himself, but he was released for being uncooperative. Joe turned himself in because he was unhappy anywhere he went. -
Joe's trial began for the murder of Ivy
Joe had pleaded guilty and only obtained 15 years out of the 30 he could've been given. During his trial, it was explained to the judge that Joe had an inferiority complex for reasons they didn't know, and that because of the complex he felt the need to overly protect himself. They didn't know it was from the mistreatment and abuse from Ethel Lacks during his youngest years, when he was still developing. The reason why he was given such a short sentence was because of his complex. -
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In December of 1971, after Gey's death, his colleagues published a tribute to Gey's career. This article finally stated Henrietta's real name, and forever linked her family and future generations of Lackses to her cells.
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Mike Rogers's article was published in "Rolling Stone", that contained personal information about Henrietta's family.
The article included information that is illegal to publish today for protection of privacy. The information included facts about their DNA, the Lacks family, and Henrietta's history. It was the first article to provide background information on Henrietta and her family. The worst part is not only did the article reveal private information, but the Lackses didn't know that information was released to the world. At this time, they still had no knowledge about what HeLa cells were being used for. -
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Deborah remarries in 1981 to a man named James Pullum.
Deborah soon divorced Cheetah after she had her second child with him because he was an abusive alcoholic. She left him and became a signal mom working two jobs to keep her life going and her two children fed. Five years after divorcing Cheetah, in 1981, Deborah married a man named James Pullum. James made Deborah feel safe because he always had a weapon on him, and soon became a preacher. -
Henrietta Lacks Day
A day created by Pattillo, a scientist, to honor all the contributions to science made possible by Henrietta's cells. -
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Skloot grows close to Henrietta's family as a result of the book she's writing.
Skloot is able to meet almost all of Henrietta's immediate and distant family, like her cousins. She informs the family of all the things Henrietta's cells contributed to science, and is really able to help put them at peace with the events that have happened. Skloot even enables the family to see Henrietta's cells, and helps Deborah learn more about her mother and sister, Elsie.