Tuskegee Study Essay

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The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro male appears as another blemish on the face of American History. The study began in 1932 at the Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama, with the intent to observe, record, and analyze the effects that syphilis has in black males. Also, researchers intended to see how the disease affects the natural behavior of a man. Known as “the great imitator”, Syphilis, a bacterial STD, can disguise itself as a multitude of other diseases. Syphilis was the cause of a multitude of epidemics and countless deaths before its cure was found in 1947. Statistics state that males are 1.5 times more vulnerable to Syphilis, and African Americans are 30 times more vulnerable to the disease (Syphilis). At…show more content…
Washington and is a predominately black university. It was one of the ideal locations to be the host of the experiment due to the overly abundant amount of black sharecroppers in the area (About). With the United States Public Heath Service, The Tuskegee Institute experiment eventually came to include over 600 uneducated black men. A third of the participants (two hundred and one African Americans) became the control group and therefore were not infected with Syphilis. The experimental group was represented by three hundred and ninety-nine other African Americans who had previously been diagnosed with syphilis that had already reached the tertiary, or final stage of the infection (infoplease). The vast majority of these participants were sharecroppers who could not read, let alone afford a doctor to diagnose them prior to the experiment. The experiments provided the sharecroppers with free examinations, treatments, meals, and burial services at death as an incentive to sign up for the experiment. However, this was just a front. The doctors deceived the sharecroppers into believing they were being treated for their diseases when they were just observing the development and effects of the disease and injecting them with placebos, thereby prolonging unnecessary suffering in fellow Americans without the education to know otherwise
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