The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

We move to 1999, eleven years after Rebecca learned about Henrietta’s existence. Rebecca has found a collection of papers from “The HeLa Cancer Control Symposium” at Morehouse College, a distinguished and historically black college. A professor at Morehouse named Roland Pattillo created the symposium—he is one of the few African Americans who studied with George Gey.When Rebecca calls Pattillo, he tells her that Henrietta’s family will never speak to her. Rebecca, however, spends an hour convincing Pattillo to put her in touch with the family.

On the phone with Pattillo, Rebecca displays her knowledge of the mistreatment of African Americans by the scientific establishment. She fills readers in about the Tuskegee Institute scandal, in which U.S. Public Health officials watched black men die of syphilis. They used black men because they believed that “black people were ‘a notoriously syphilis-soaked race.’” Rebecca next discusses the “Mississippi Appendectomies,” in which doctors performed unnecessary hysterectomies on poor black women so that inexperienced doctors could practice the surgery. She next moves on talk about the lack of funding for sickle-cell anemia research—a disease that almost entirely affects African Americans.

Pattillo informs Rebecca that he’s organizing the next HeLa conference. He mentions that Deborah Lacks lives in Baltimore, and that Day is still alive at eighty-four. He then moves on to Elsie, whom he reveals died at fifteen. Deborah, he explains, recently had a stroke because of the stress of her mother’s fame.

After three days of phone calls, Roland Pattillo at last gives Deborah’sphone number to Rebecca. He tells her the “do’s and don’ts” for their conversation: she must be honest without being aggressive, she must not be condescending, and she must be understanding of the family’s trauma. Most of all, she must be patient.

Rebecca calls Deborah and tells her that she wants to write a book about Henrietta. Deborah is cautious but polite, until Rebecca comments how important Henrietta’s cells were to science. Deborah is thrilled that her mother will be getting the recognition she deserves. Deborah despairs over having no one to trust, and begs Rebecca to help her learn about her mother.

Deborah eventually gets off the phone but first makes Rebecca promise to call her on Monday. When Rebecca calls back, however, Deborah seems drugged and confused, saying that the men don’t want her to talk to Rebecca. She gives Rebecca three numbers: those of her father Day, her brother Lawrence, and her brother David (called Sonny) before hanging up.

The persistent Rebecca begins calling Deborah every day, as well as her brothers and father. After several days, two boys answer the phone at Day’s house. Upon hearing Rebecca’s voice, they immediately know that she wants to learn about Henrietta’s cells. Later, Rebecca comments, she would realize that “the only time white people called Day was when they wanted something having to do with HeLa cells.” Eventually a woman answers the phone, and she connects Rebecca with a confused and elderly Day. He asks her if she’s “got” Henrietta’s cells, and when Rebecca replies that she does, he tells her that she should talk to the cells and not him—then he hangs up.