Speaker at UA to Show How Quilt Project Can Help Voice Unresolved Feelings Over Tuskegee Syphilis Study

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The founder of the Bioethics Community Quilt Project in Tuskegee will talk about how her efforts tie into the story of the still-controversial Tuskegee syphilis study at a lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14 in room 205 at The University of Alabama’s Gorgas Library.

Muhjah Shakir will deliver the lecture “Stories that Heal, Stitches that Bind: The Syphilis Study and the Tuskegee Bioethics Community Quilt Project.” She is a Bioethics Senior Scholar at the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care and an assistant professor of occupational therapy at Tuskegee University.

The Tuskegee syphilis study, which began in 1932, went on for 40 years, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site (http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm). The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, studied the natural history of syphilis. The study involved 600 black men — 399 with syphilis and 201 who did not have the disease. After an Associated Press article exposed the study in 1972, a panel found that it was conducted without the formal consent of the subjects, and a $10 million out-of-court settlement was reached in 1974.

In the community quilt project, Shakir has asked quilt artists to create squares inspired by their feelings toward the syphilis study and its impact on the black community. She plans to bring some of their work to the talk.

“The women were asked to think about either how they felt or what they knew about the syphilis study,” Shakir says. “The project helps them turn those thoughts and feelings about the experiment into a symbolic representation of the story.”

The community quilt project, Shakir says, is adding to the community’s conversation about the syphilis study, which is still a topic of concern for Tuskegee.

“There are a lot of unresolved issues and a lot of still-unresolved feelings and anger,” Shakir says. “Because of the stigma, people did not talk about it. Now in 2008, I’m sensing there’s more of a willingness to talk about it.”

The Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South, the department of history, UA Libraries and the College of Arts and Sciences are sponsors of the event with the support of Lakey and Susan Tolbert.

For additional details, go to www.lib.ua.edu/events/, phone Jessica Lacher-Feldman at 205/348-0500, or send e-mail to libevents@ua.edu. The Summersell Center can be found at http://scss.ua.edu/, or phone Dr. Kari Frederickson, director, Summersell Center, 205/348-1862, kfrederi@bama.ua.edu.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.