In honor of Black History Month, BLS Film and Book Club will be diving deeper into the shocking story and valuable legacy of Henrietta Lacks

Join us this Wednesday, February 9th, after school from 2:30-3:30 in Room 215 (Burke) as we begin the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. The book reveals the obscured story of Henrietta, covering themes of family, injustice, and racism with fascinating and digestible scientific and medical aspects.

“If you could pile all HeLa (Henrietta Lacks) cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.”