Prior to attending the play, I knew only a few facts surrounding the Tuskegee experiment. However the play shed light on the medical apartheid of the 1930s and 1940s that occurred in America. The play focused around the lives of four patients in an experiment titled "The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male". The participants were unknowingly given shots of syphilis and were not given proper treatment. Instead the researchers observed as the men's bodies began to show signs of deterioration. In order to keep the participants in the study, free food, "medical care", and burial expenses were covered. Miss Evers was used as a tool by the government in order to recruit additional black men.
Despite the introduction of penicillin, the men in the study were refused treatment. Instead they were awarded certificates by the US government for their participation. In 1972 the story was released to the public and the families of surviving patients. In all a few monetary settlements were given out with an apology by President Clinton later. Overall I believed the play to be informative and well constructed. I truly felt for the men involved in the experiment. As a black male this play makes me suspicious of my next visit to the doctor's office.
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