Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy

by Susan M. Reverby

The forty-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which took place in and around Tuskegee, Alabama, from the 1930s through the 1970s, has become a profound metaphor for medical racism, government malfeasance, and physician arrogance. Susan M. Reverby's Examining Tuskegee is a comprehensive analysis of the notorious study of untreated syphilis among African American men, who were told by U.S. Public Health Service doctors that they were being treated, not just watched, for their late-stage syphilis. With rigorous clarity, Reverby investigates the study and its aftermath from multiple perspectives and illuminates the reasons for its continued power and resonance in our collective memory.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Race, African American, Medicine, Medical

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to read, just because of the horrifying subject matter. But it is an important part of 20th century American history that needs to be examined, and Reverby's take is extremely strong. She aims to complicate a narrative saying that Southern racism was the only major factor behind the "study." Racism was clearly the canvas on which it was all painted, but there was also quite a bit about medical arrogance, knowledge, paradigms, government agency imperatives, etc. Her main point was that the *real* crime, in the context of the day, was the systematic deception of the study's (exclusively black) participants. They were deprived of agency. Whether or not the intentions of the study's leaders were benign or malicious, then, would be besides the point.

The clinical writing in the studies and notes reminded me of Nazi Germany's sanitized documents about the Holocaust.

[Degenerate Chemist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much what it says on the can- a very detailed examination of the Tuskegee experiment. The book is split into three sections- testimony, testify, traveling. Testimony is a history of the study taken from official documents, testify are account from the people in the study, and traveling are how the facts of the study became part of the public consciousness.

The author's goal with this book is to clear up the mythology that has generated around the experiment and she does so brilliantly. She doesn't shy away from discussing the facts. I learned a lot from the testimony and traveling sections of the book. And I personally felt the testify section was the strongest.

That being said, this book is very dry and hard to read. The introduction reads like an abstract to an academic paper so I knew what I was getting myself into. As much as I enjoyed this book and think it is an absolutely necessary addition to historical writing I wouldn't recommend it to a casual reader.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reverby's "Examining Tuskegee" is an incredibly well-written, well-researched, and thoughtful examination of the legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. She distinguishes between testimony and testifying, the former more fact-oriented and the latter more emotion-oriented, to blend the documentary history of the Study with its ongoing use in American life. Throughout the book, Reverby highlights how an era's political movements and issues shaped an interpretation of the study and its participants. She also highlights the distinction between a racial, racialized, and racist motivation(s) behind the Study.

Organized into three parts, the book begins with the 'objective' facts of the study. Then, it moves on to add nuance to portrayals of the white doctors, nurse Rivers, and study subjects. Rather than position the study participants on one side of a moral divide and doctors on the other, Reverby suggests that the men and women involved were motivated by a variety of competing, sometimes contradictory motives. She is particularly interested in nurse Rivers, a black woman, and outlines how her experience came to stand in for all the ambiguity associated with the Study. Finally, she examines how "Tuskegee" came to have so much cultural power. She begins with a long discussion of the growth of bioethics in the US and a critical reading of Jones' book "Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment." This portion of the book then moves on to cover everything from HBO documentaries to President Clinton's official apology in the 1990s. In the epilogue, Reverby notes that Tuskeege is now used to critique drug trials in the developing world.

The book also includes appendices with a chronology of the Study, a list of major actors, and other information for quick reference.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Providing a meaningful update to past histories of Tuskegee, Reverby not only recounts the facts as we know them of Tuskegee, but also considers in turn specific perspectives, ranging from the black male subjects themselves to the physicians who conducted the study to the complex figure of Nurse Rivers. Reverby also adds significant rumination about how Tuskegee was and is constructed in the public imaginary and how its legacy fits into contemporary studies of medicine, public health, bioethics, and race.

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

First textbook down!

[Doris Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey. Is. This. A. Great. Book. Or. Not. You. Deserve. 5. Stars. This. Place. Is. For. Real. Small. Just. Like. A. Cup. Of. Tea. Tuskegee.

[A YOGAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan M. Reverbys Buch „Examining Tuskegee“ bietet einen detaillierten Überblick über die berüchtigte Syphilis-Studie in Tuskegee und ihre weitreichenden Folgen. Reverby diskutiert darin die Methodik, in der sie „Testimony“ und „Testifying“ – also Zeugenaussagen und gemeinschaftliches Berichten – einbezieht, um diese historische Tragödie zu beleuchten.
Das Buch beschreibt den sozioökonomischen und rassistischen Kontext im Macon County, Alabama, der die Entstehung und jahrzehntelange Fortsetzung der Studie durch den Public Health Service (PHS) begünstigte. Rassistische und eugenische Annahmen über „schlechtes Blut“ bildeten dabei die ideologische Grundlage.
Darüber hinaus untersucht Reverby die Rolle afroamerikanischer Fachkräfte – insbesondere der Krankenschwester Eunice Rivers und des Tuskegee Institute – sowie die internen und externen Proteste gegen die Studie. Diese führten schließlich zu ihrer Beendigung und zur juristischen Aufarbeitung, deren Vermächtnis bis heute in der Bioethik und Popkultur nachwirkt.

[Kevin McAvoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought only Nazis experimented on humans but here it is happening in the USA.
A very detailed analysis of the study and all of the main perpetrators.
White and Black doctors were guilty of not treating patients for syphilis in order to examine their corpses to see how syphilis affected the heart over a lifetime of infection.
The "subjects" were given aspirin and $25.
Well done CDC America, and you are now the authority for Covid treatments.

[Heather D-n]

Ruminations on Tuskegee, the research trial that created research ethics.