The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot and review of the movie

Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. Henrietta was a 30-year-old, African-American tobacco farmer. On January 29, 1951, she went to John Hopkins Hospital complaining of vaginal bleeding. Upon examination, it was found that she was suffering from an adenocarcinoma in her cervix. A malignant tumor was metastasizing and ravaging her body. Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951. Her cells were taken from her body without her knowledge and were used to form the HeLa cell line.  The HeLa cell lines were the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day. All while her children suffered and received no help or compensation for her contributions to science.