ROANOKE, Va. — Officials in Roanoke are planning to erect a statue of Henrietta Lacks where an effigy of Robert E. Lee once stood.
Lacks was a black mother whose cells were harvested during radium treatments for cervical cancer in 1951 and then used in research without her consent.
It happened at Johns Hopkins Hospital, which says such practices were acceptable in the 50s, but would not occur today without patient consent.
The line of cells cultivated from Lacks are still used in medical research today.
She succumbed to her cancer the same year as her treatment at age 31.
The statue is expected to be completed next year.
The plaza has already been named Lacks Plaza — it was formerly known as Lee Plaza.
