The Tuskegee Experiment: a dark chapter in medical history

The story of medicine throughout history can be dark, messy, and riddled with gruesome events. The never-ending journey towards more developed and perfected healthcare has inevitably seen its fair share of honest mistakes, but not every atrocity committed in the name of medicine and science was an accident. There are many horrible stories of those tasked with the preservation of humanity intentionally destroying entire groups of people, sometimes under the thin veil of the “greater good,” and sometimes out of general disregard. This was rarely more apparent than in the Tuskegee Experiment, a 40-year ordeal that involved 400 Black men against their will and without their knowledge in a study of the long-term effects of untreated syphilis.

Intrigued? Then read on to learn about one of the darkest chapters of medical history in the United States.