CDC donates $5M in scholarships for Tuskegee Descendants

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On February 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation implemented a scholarship fund for the Tuskegee descendants.

The CDC is a non-profit organization, which raised $5 million to advocate for the Voices For Our Fathers Legacy Foundation scholarships.

Lillie Head, president of Voices For Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, stated how it impacts other people to “transform the legacy of the longest-lasting, non-therapeutic study in U.S. medical history from shame and trauma to honor and triumph.”

CDC calls Tuskegee Experiment

In 1932, the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) partnered with the Tuskegee Institute. Together, they worked on a study recording the natural history of syphilis. The study included 600 African American men: 399 with syphilis and 201 without it.

However, the men were not informed on why they were being tested. Researchers explained they were being cared for “bad blood”, describing multiple ailments, such as syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. As a reward for taking part in the study, the men were offered free meals, medical exams, and burial insurance.

When researchers realized penicillin cures syphilis, they did not inform the tested men with the disease about it. As a result of the lack of explanation, it is considered one of the most horrific violations of ethical standards on African Americans. Furthermore, it expanded a negative relationship between African Americans and public health officials, as they no longer trusted them.

The federal government enacted initiatives to explore education for descendants of Tuskegee victims. CDC Director Mandy Cohen stated, “This scholarship is a step toward correcting an inexcusable violation of medical ethics.”

Cohen explained the purpose of the fund is to motivate the Tuskegee lineage, as “it seeks to uplift the descendants of the Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee and takes steps toward rectifying a difficult part of our public health history.”