The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: The Real Story and Beyond [Paperback]

Fred D. Gray (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 175 pages
• Publisher: River City Pub (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579660126
• ISBN-13: 978-1579660123
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,335,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Little-known history, November 24, 2011

By 

Janice Horne "JADE Books" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: The Real Story and Beyond (Paperback)

This is an amazing, almost unbelieveable account of the horrible abuse of black Americans. It illustrates clearly how government programs can get so far out of hand that people are harmed, lies are told, and truth hidden. Once government begins a program, those in charge are most unlikely to be willing to end it even when it is obsolete. Six hundred twenty-three African Americans paid the price for the pride and arrogance of government officials who did not want to admit that the study was no longer needed ... beside the fact that the study was based in racism, as no other races were invited to participate. Author Fred D. Gray does an excellent job in relating the facts in a logical, understandable way. "Fred D. Gray is one of the nation's leading civil rights attorneys. At age 24, he was the lawyer for Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Montgomery Bus Boycott which began the modern Civil Rights Movement. His other cases and clients include the Freedom Riders, the Selma-to-Montgomery March, numerous school desegregation and voting rights lawsuits, and many others." In his statement at a press conference on April 8, 1997, the author said, "...the United States Government, through its public health service, committed one of the greatest frauds, injustices, and misrepresentations ...." The study was the first traumatic experience for the participants. The second traumatic experience was the movie called "Miss Evers' Boys." Gray stated that the film does not accurately portray the facts of what occurred. In truth, the movie simply lied.

Fred Gray "worked with Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, E. D. Nixon, and other giants of what mushroomed into the Civil Rights Movement." During the years between 1955 and 1972, he filed many successful lawsuits to desegregate schools, transportation, housing, places of employment, and other areas. In 1970, he became one of the first two African Americans to be elected to the Alabama legislature since the Reconstruction. Also during this time, he continued a busy law practice and was also a full-time minister in the Church of Christ. He was heavily involved in the community in and around Tuskegee, AL, yet he was unaware of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study until it became public knowledge in 1972. The study had been kept a total secret for forty years.

When this book was published in 1998, sixty-six years after the beginning of the Study, all participants in the programs were deceased except seven men, several of whom were in remarkably good health. The most amazing thing to me is that these men lived such long lives. In 1998, Mr. Charlie Pollard was 92 years old; Mr. Herman Shaw was 96; Mr. Carter Howard was 94; Mr. Fred Simmons was 99; Mr. Ernest Hendon was 91; Mr. Frederick Moss was 88; and Mr. George Key was 91. Of these survivors, Mr. Pollard, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Howard, Mr. Simmons, and Mr. Moss made the trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the official Apology Ceremony conducted by then President Clinton in May, 1997. Mr. Shaw even spoke at this ceremony. I cannot help but think how much better their lives could have been and how much more those 623 men could have contributed to our society and their communities if they had actually received treatment rather than just "studied."