Racism and Research: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study – Key Vocabulary

These vocabulary flashcards cover major people, institutions, concepts, and ethical issues surrounding the 1932–1972 Tuskegee Syphilis Study, providing a concise review of key terms discussed in the lecture notes.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

A 1932–1972 U.S. Public Health Service project in Macon County, Alabama, that observed the natural course of untreated syphilis in Black men without their informed consent.

U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS)

Federal agency that designed, funded, and supervised the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Macon County, Alabama

Rural county where the Tuskegee experiment’s 600 Black male subjects were recruited.

Latent Syphilis

Stage of syphilis in which symptoms are dormant; focus of the Tuskegee study’s observation.

Control Group

The 200 non-infected Black men used for comparison in the Tuskegee experiment.

Penicillin

Antibiotic widely accepted by the early 1950s as the preferred cure for syphilis but deliberately withheld from Tuskegee subjects.

Arsenotherapy

Pre-penicillin treatment using arsenic compounds (e.g., Salvarsan/“606”) recommended in 1930s textbooks but denied to study participants.

Mercurial Ointment

Ineffective mercury-based topical drug given to subjects to maintain their trust while providing no real therapy.

Neoarsphenamine

Injectable arsenic derivative sometimes given in sub-therapeutic doses to appear helpful without curing disease.

Julius Rosenwald Fund

Philanthropic organization that financed a 1929 syphilis control demonstration whose findings helped inspire the later Tuskegee study.

Taliaferro Clark

Chief of USPHS Venereal Disease Division who conceived the Tuskegee experiment in 1932.

Raymond Vonderlehr

USPHS physician who assembled subjects, managed fieldwork, and later led the Venereal Disease Division.

Hugh S. Cumming

Surgeon General who approved the study, calling it a “ready-made situation” for observing untreated syphilis.

R. R. Moton

Director of Tuskegee Institute whose cooperation helped secure local facilities for the study.

Eunice Rivers

Black nurse who maintained long-term contact with participants, providing placebos and arranging autopsies.

John C. Cutler

USPHS physician and later Pittsburgh professor who helped publish study findings and defend the project.

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Federal agency (then CDC) that assumed study oversight and voted in 1969 to continue it.

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW)

Cabinet department that halted the study in 1972 and convened an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel.

HEW Ad Hoc Advisory Panel

Nine-member committee (1972–73) that deemed the Tuskegee study “ethically unjustified.”

HEW Final Report (1973)

Official document summarizing panel findings; criticized lack of informed consent and failure to treat with penicillin.

Informed Consent

Ethical requirement that research subjects knowingly agree to risks; absent in Tuskegee where men thought they were treated for “bad blood.”

“Bad Blood”

Local term for various ailments, used by researchers to mislead subjects about their actual diagnosis of syphilis.

Study in Nature

Observation-only design claimed by USPHS; actually invalid because diagnostic interventions altered conditions.

Oslo Study

1890–1910 Norwegian investigation of untreated syphilis in white patients; misused by USPHS as partial precedent.

E. Bruusgaard

Norwegian physician who published follow-up data from the Oslo Study, noting serious risks of non-treatment.

Claude Bernard

French physiologist whose 1865 distinction between observation and experimentation was cited to show Tuskegee was not a true ‘study in nature.’

Social Darwinism

Early 20th-century ideology applying evolutionary theory to justify racial hierarchies; influenced medical racism cited in the article.

Racism in Medicine

Systemic bias causing Black bodies to be viewed as inferior and exploitable—central to Tuskegee’s conception and continuation.

Venereal Disease Information

USPHS journal where Tuskegee findings were periodically published (1936 onward).

Spinal Tap (Lumbar Puncture)

Painful diagnostic procedure misrepresented to subjects as “special treatment” to test for neurosyphilis.

Neurosyphilis

Central nervous system infection caused by untreated syphilis; one outcome documented in Tuskegee autopsies.

Cardiovascular Syphilis

Late-stage infection damaging the heart and blood vessels; responsible for many Tuskegee deaths.

Syphilitic Lesions

Tissue damages from advanced syphilis observed in over 30 % of autopsied Tuskegee subjects.

Autopsy

Post-mortem examination central to confirming disease progression; promised burial insurance used to secure family permission.

Milbank Memorial Fund

Private foundation that paid burial expenses (~$50 per man) to encourage autopsies of Tuskegee subjects.

Placebo “Spring Tonic”

Aspirin or patent medicines dispensed by Nurse Rivers to maintain subjects’ belief in ongoing care.

Untreated Syphilis

Condition deliberately maintained in Tuskegee men to observe natural history, despite available therapies.

Ethical Unjustification

Panel’s verdict that risks imposed without informed consent rendered the study morally wrong from inception.

Scientific Racism

Use of pseudo-scientific claims about Black biology and sexuality to rationalize withholding treatment.

Promiscuity Myth

Stereotype cited by USPHS that Black men’s alleged sexual excess explained high syphilis rates and low treatment compliance.

“Miss Rivers’ Lodge”

Colloquial nickname for burial-insurance arrangement that deepened participants’ trust in Nurse Rivers.

Neacopsy Goal

USPHS objective, stated internally, to secure maximum autopsies for pathological confirmation.

Bad Treatment Prevention

USPHS efforts (e.g., notifying draft boards, local doctors) to stop outside therapy that might compromise study data.

Public Disclosure (1972)

Media exposés that finally halted the study after 40 years of secrecy and professional silence.

Professional Self-Regulation

Concept that medical research should police itself—shown inadequate by Tuskegee’s decades-long continuation.

Value-Free Science Myth

False belief that research is unbiased; Tuskegee demonstrates how social values, especially racism, shape scientific practice.