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Birth
Henrietta Lacks is born in Roanoake, Virginia -
Marriage
Henrietta married David "Day" Lacks -
Period: to
Nuremberg Code
The Nuremberg Code, a set of ethical standards for human experimentation, is produced as a result of a trial against several Nazi doctors who conducted experiments on prisoners during WWII -
Goes to John's Hopkins Hospital
Henrietta goes to John's Hopkins Hospital - the only hospital in her area that would treat African Americans - to have her symptoms checked out. While she is there, two samples are taken from her without her consent. She is diagnosed with cervical cancer and received aggressive treatment from the doctors at the hospital. -
Surgery
Henrietta undergoes surgery/treatment for her cervical cancer. While performing the surgery, Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr removed two pieces of tissue from Henrietta's cervix - one diseased, one healthy. These tissue samples were given to Dr. George Gey. -
HeLa cells survive
...not only do they survive the lab, they grow with intensity. They doubled their numbers every twenty-four hours. The irony? The cells that multiplied were the cells that contained cancer...not the cells taken from her "healthy" biopsy. -
Henrietta checks into Hopkins...for good
Henrietta can tolerate the treatment, but constantly feels like she is getting worse and worse. When she goes for a check up in August, she asked to stay. Day, her husband, would bring the kids by every day and have them stand under Henrietta's window so she could see them play. -
Death
Henrietta dies from cancer. She is buried, in an unmarked grave, in Clover, Virginia. At this point in time, no one in the area - or her family - confidently knows exactly where she is buried. -
Period: to
Tuskegee Institute
The Tuskegee Institute opens the first "HeLa factory," supplying cells to laboratories and researchers and operating as a non-profit. At this time, scientists also use HeLa cells to develop the polio vaccine. -
Collier's Magazine
An atricle is published in Collier's Magazine about HeLa cells, however, they do not correctly identify the woman responsible for the HeLa cells. As time moves on, the Lacks family has NO idea that Henrietta's cells are being used to make major scientific breakthroughs because the magazine identifies the person as "Helen Lane"