A Damn Shame! 2

From CBS News & the Associated Press -

Tuskegee syphilis study descendants speak about tragedy, seek healing

Decades later, it's hard to grasp what the federal government did to hundreds of black men in rural Alabama. Especially if you're among their descendants, who continue to gather in memory of their fathers and grandfathers.

For 40 years starting in 1932, medical workers in the segregated South withheld treatment for unsuspecting men infected with a sexually transmitted disease simply so doctors could track the ravages of the horrid illness and dissect their bodies afterward.

Finally exposed in 1972, the study ended and the men sued, resulting in a $9 million settlement. Twenty years ago this May, then President Bill Clinton apologized for the U.S. government.

But it did not mark the end of the study's ugly legacy.


Relatives of the men still struggle with the stigma of being linked to the experiment, what's commonly known as the "Tuskegee Syphilis Study." For years they have met privately to share their pain and to honor the victims.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tuskegee-syphilis-study-descendants-speak-about-tragedy-call-for-action/