How has the Lacks family reacted to the book?
Henrietta’s children and grandchildren read the book before it came out as part of the fact checking process. They were very happy with it — they didn’t object to any information in the book or ask me to remove or change anything, other than pointing out some dates or other factual things that needed fixing. For Henrietta’s children, naturally some of the book was painful to read, but it was also good for them to read about all of the amazing science that Henrietta’s cells contributed to, which they feel very proud of. For the younger generations of Lackses, it was a way to learn about their history: their family didn’t really talk about what happened to Henrietta or her children. So the younger generation didn’t know much (if anything) about Henrietta or the cells. They didn’t know what Henrietta had contributed to science, they didn’t know what had happened to their own parents. So finally having the full story has helped make sense of their history — they’re also filled with pride a
Henrietta’s children and grandchildren read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks before it came out as part of the fact-checking process. They were very happy with it—they didn’t object to any information in the book or ask me to remove or change anything, other than pointing out some dates or other factual things that needed fixing. Naturally some of the book was painful for Henrietta’s children to read, but it was also good for them to read about all of the amazing science that Henrietta’s cells contributed to, which they feel very proud of. For the younger generations of Lackses, it was a way to learn about their history: Their family didn’t really talk about what happened to Henrietta or her children. So the younger generation didn’t know much (if anything) about Henrietta or the cells. They didn’t know what Henrietta had contributed to science, they didn’t know what had happened to their own parents. So finally having the full story has helped make sense of their history—they’re a
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