The Legacy Museum

Walk-ins are welcomed --- Groups of 20+ should schedule an appointment in advance.

TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT:

Email: legacymuseum@tuskegee.edu | Phone: 334-724-4485
OPERATING HOURS: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Monday - Friday (Closed during official University holidays.) 

Review the Tuskegee University Academic Calendar for official University holidays.
The LEGACY MUSEUM operates under the auspices of Tuskegee University Library Services.  

LOCATION (Entrance to Campus): 1200 W. Montgomery Rd., Tuskegee, AL 36088 CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS. 

Please follow all campus security policies and visit the Public Safety Office at 1103 W. Montgomery Rd. Tuskegee, AL 36088 before entering the campus. For the most updated security information please see the notification at the top of this page or visit the "Police-TU" page under the resources tab. 

Thank you for your generosity. 

We do not charge admission fees but a suggested donation of $5 per visitor is greatly appreciated. ​

To donate to the museum using the University portal, choose the 'Other' designation, and type 'Legacy Museum' in the text box.

Your donations support programming, student and community outreach, internships, exhibitions, and collections care.

THE SANKOFA BIRD  (mythology from the Akan people of West Africa) Dahomean cloth appliqué Fon People's Republic of Benin (formerly Dahomey) - West Africa Tuskegee University Library Services The Lovette W. Harper Collection of African Art.

 

About the Legacy Museum

Welcome to the Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University. 

The Legacy Museum is part of a consortium of Tuskegee University museums, including the National Park Service-operated Dr. George Washington Carver Museum, The Oaks (Booker T. Washington's Home), and the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. 

The Legacy Museum serves the campus and visitors by presenting the University’s visual arts collections and exhibiting the history of Tuskegee University about science, healthcare, and bioethics. Through the lens of bioethics, the museum examines the intersection of bioscience and art – both central to the history of Tuskegee University, the surrounding community, and the former Infantile Paralysis Unit of the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital, which the museum occupies. Through rotating art exhibitions, permanent exhibitions on bioethics and the United States Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male in Macon County, Alabama from 1932 to 1972, and educational programs, the Legacy Museum staff provides diverse audiences an opportunity to engage with complex histories and their present ramifications. The Legacy Museum:

• Preserves and exhibits Tuskegee University’s visual arts collections.
• Preserves and exhibits Tuskegee University’s history and contributions to African American and American life, particularly its contributions to the sciences and healthcare.
• Educates the public and Tuskegee University students, staff, and faculty about bioethics as an evolving field.

The second floor exhibitions highlight the University's art collections and rotate throughout the academic year. 

On the third floor of the museum are two permanent exhibits: 

1. The Patient, The Project, The Partnership: The Mass Production and Distribution of HeLa Cells at Tuskegee University
2. The United States Public Health Service Untreated Syphilis Study in the Negro Male, 1932-1972.
      

From left to right: Dr. Russell Brown, Ms. Henrietta Lacks, and Dr. James H.M. Henderson 

The HeLa Cell exhibit celebrates the immortal life of Virginia-born Henrietta Lacks, a tobacco farmer and mother to five children. She suffered from an aggressive form of cervical cancer which landed her at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, MD. During the surgery to remove cancerous cells, her cervical cells were harvested and given to the lab for research purposes. Mrs. Lacks was not targeted for her cells, all surgical patients at the time had their cells sent to the lab without their knowledge or consent as a standard practice. Informed consent as we know it today, did not exist at that time. Her cells were discovered to possess the unique ability to grow and reproduce beyond measure outside of her body. HeLa’s growth characteristics made it the ideal alternative primate host cell source for the massive testing of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. Tuskegee University’s Carver Research Foundation was one of the sites selected to utilize the cells for vaccine testing, later mass-producing the cell line and distributing it to laboratories worldwide for various medical research projects from which we all benefit today. Recent lawsuits mean that her descendants are now receiving some of the financial gains realized from Mrs. Lacks' cell line and the medications and treatments developed with their usage.

The United States Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male of Macon County, Alabama was an observational study that began in 1932 and was formally ended in 1972. Often erroneously called the Tuskegee Experiment or Syphilis Experiment, the Syphilis Study followed a total of 623 Black men (399 of which had previously contracted syphilis through sexual contact) for 40 years to see the effects of untreated syphilis on the Black body during autopsies. Medical research, a new field at the time, was marred by the racist and debunked pseudoscience of eugenics, which categorized and ranked people based on race. Scientists hypothesized that syphilis would function differently in the Black body than it did in the white body.

Treatment options in 1932 for syphilis included topical salves with mercury and bismuth at their base and an injectable medication with arsenic at its base, all of which can cause death by poisoning or render the patient sterile. The injectable medication took at least 12 injections and potentially more than 30 injections to affect a cure. Many patients did not complete the course of treatment given the large gauge of the needle and the fact that the medication burned on the way in. 

Patients deeply trusted their doctors at the time, and the men were often spoken to in euphemisms about their condition, such as "bad blood," which could refer to issues as different as infection, low iron, fatigue, the flu, or syphilis. The men were also promised treatment for "bad blood", free medical care, meals, and burial insurance in exchange for their participation and the right to autopsy their bodies; all of which were very enticing during the financial uncertainty of the Great Depression. Although promised treatment, the men were not treated for syphilis during the study even once penicillin became widely available and known to be a safe and effective cure. 

The study ended in 1972 following whistleblowing by USPHS employee Peter Buxtun which led to the groundbreaking article by Jean Heller, exposing the Study. Charles Pollard, a surviving participant of the Study, contacted attorney Fred Grey and together they filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the federal government. That suit was won, leading to financial compensation for the survivors or their surviving families, with the bulk of the payout going to lifetime healthcare for the men, wives/widows, and their children. The public outrage and activism in the medical community led to Congressional hearings, the Belmont report, and the enshrinement into law of the Patient Bill Rights and Informed Consent. The men leave us both a right and responsibility to be active participants in our care and prevent any such future abuse.

Please try a virtual tour of the Legacy Museum!

IN 3D:

    (c) Copyright Legacy Museum 2022. Cannot be used for any purpose without written permission from the Legacy Museum.

Or a video tour: 

    (c) Copyright Legacy Museum and Historical Vision Productions, 2020. Cannot be used for any purpose without written permission from the Legacy Museum and Historical Vision Productions.