Selected text and guiding questions

The next session will take place Thursday, December 10th, from 4-5pm.

For this session, we will discuss The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Here are some questions to consider as you read the book:

1. Henrietta Lacks expressed her distrust in the medical community as a Black woman in her time. Has this relationship changed today, the relationship between the Black community and medicine and science?
2. Writing a book comes with many challenges, whether that be during the writing process or gathering information. Given that the author (Rebecca Skloot) is a White woman, what impact did that have on the book's content and style of writing?
3. With the knowledge you have about race and racism, do you believe this book would have been as widely accepted if it had been written by a Black author?
4. What were 3 quotes that stuck with you regarding the role science played in all this. Have them ready so we can discuss them and see how others felt as well.

Get reimbursed for purchasing the book

To enable all interested members to participate and to support attendees to purchase the book from a local or black-owned business, we have set aside funds to reimburse BCMM members for the cost to purchase the book.

Use the form (linked here) to submit your reimbursement request. The deadline for submitting reimbursement requests is 5 days after the session discussion. Priority will be given to trainees, staff, and junior faculty who purchase the book in any format (hard copy, digital, or audio book) and those that purchase the book from a local or black-owned bookstore.

Marcus Books in Oakland is a local black-owned bookstore. As of Oct 7, they had copies of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks available in their store.

Join the book club

This series is open to all members and staff of the BCMM and ImmunoX communities. Register below to receive the zoom link.

About this series

Every other month, we invite you to join us to discuss a text confronting racism and the experiences of being BIPOC in America. All sessions will occur over zoom and be led by Patricia Sanchez, a graduate student in the Ethnic Studies program at San Francisco State University. Assistant facilitators are Danielle Rodgers and Sarah Gowing. Our hope is that these informed discussions on racism will provide us with the opportunity to learn, discuss and become active participants in our efforts to combat racism in our community.

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