the Tuskegee Syphilis Study: When The Government Decided To Watch People Die.

0:04 Welcome to True Crime, Authors and Extraordinary People. The podcast where we bring two passions together. The show that gives new meaning to the old adage, truth is stranger than fiction. And reminding you that there is an extraordinary person in all of us. Here is your host, David McClam. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to an episode of True Crime, Authors of Extraordinary People, Black History Fact Edition. Of course, I'm your man, David McLam. If you guys haven't already, make sure you follow us off on social media. One link to a link tree will get you every place you need to go pertaining to the show. And as I always like to remind you, if you are someone you know someone who feels like hurting themselves or someone else, please leave this episode in Dow 988.

0:52 It is a suicide prevention hotline. They will get you the help that you need. And just in case no one else has told you this today, let me be the first to tell you I do care and I need you to be here. There is nothing worth your life. Alright. This fact is maybe a little bit of a heartbreaking one if the other ones haven't been. You're gonna find a lot of reasons why black people don't really trust studies or medicine. So let's get into today's episode entitled The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: When the Government Decided to Watch People Die. In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service launched a study in Macon County, Alabama. It was called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated syphilis in the Negro Male.

1:36 The name alone tells you everything about how it viewed its subjects, not as patients, not as citizens, but as data. 600 black men were enrolled. Most were poor sharecroppers, many were illiterate, none were told the truth. They were told they were being treated for bad blood, a vague term used locally to describe a range of ailments. In reality, 399 of them had syphilis. The rest were used as controls. No informed consent was given because the concept didn't exist for black men in the Jim Crow South. Even when penicillin became the standard cure for syphilis in the 1940s, the men were not treated.

2:20 They were deliberately denied care so researchers could observe the natural progression of the disease. They went blind, they went insane, they died. Their wives were infected, their children were born with congenital syphilis, and the study continued for 40 years. Doctors wrote papers, researchers advanced careers, the government funded the work, nurses were instructed to keep the men enrolled even if they tried to leave. The study only ended in 1972 after a whistleblower leaked information to the press. Congressional hearings were held, an apology was issued 25 years later by President Bill Clinton to survivors and families.

3:08 But the damage was irreversible. Tuskegee became more than a study. It became a wound. It became the reason many black Americans distrust medical institutions. It became shorthand for betrayal. And here's the truth America struggles with. That distrust is not paranoia, it is historical memory. Tuskegee was not an anomaly. It was an expression of a system that believed black suffering was acceptable, collateral for white progress. When people ask why communities hesitate to trust authority, Tuskegee is part of the answer. It wasn't ancient history, it wasn't a misunderstanding, it was policy.

3:50 So yeah, this is why you don't see a lot of black people signing up for these studies, or if they tell them they they have some experimental medicine that they need to get. Even up to my mom passed, they would say, Hey, we got this experimental drug we could give you that'll work. And she says, We ain't taking it, it's because of this Tuskegee study, where a lot of these men, as you heard, they died because they literally was nothing but lab testing rats for the government. This should prove to you, if no other fact I've given so far has, that black lives in America did not matter. And in a lot of cases today, we still feel they don't matter, especially in the current administration that we find ourselves in.

4:36 So this is the study of why black people have no trust in health services or systems, and why we still feel that we are mistreated, especially black women, in today's clinics. Alright, guys, I hope that you enjoyed and learned something from this fact. I thank you for joining me today. I know you have many choices in true crime and interview podcasts. I am grateful that I am one of your choices. Remember, you have been listening to the only three-faceted podcast of its kind. Be good to yourself and each other, and always remember, always stay humbled.

5:17 An act of kindness can make someone's day. A little love and compassion can go a long way. And remember that there is an extraordinary person in all of us. I'll catch you guys on the next one. Don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe. Join us on social media. One link to the Link Tree has it all. Feel free to drop us a line at TrueCrime and Authors at gmail.com. Sound mixing and editing by David McLam. Intro script by Sophie Wilde and David McLam. Theme Music Legendary by New Alchemist. Introduction and ending credits by Jackie Voice.

5:59 See you next time on True Crime Authors and Extraordinary People.