International Journal of Clinical & Medical Images

The Tuskegee Experiment From 1932–1972, the US Public Health Syphilis Study on the Negro Male (also known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or Experiment) was conducted on black males who had syphilis in order to measure the effects of the disease on their bodies. Another group of males was also included in the study. Although these men did not have syphilis, they also played a significant role in the study as well. The men who had syphilis were subjected to a great number of painful spinal taps that left some of them physically unable to walk after these procedures. These spinal tap procedures were even painful to a point in which some men were left with lifetime injuries as a result. The personal injuries these men suffered were the result of years of spinal tap procedures. The image displayed (left-sided image) shows an actual representation from a spinal tap procedure. The other image of the wheelchair is a photograph I photographed at an exhibition on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. It represents the fact that when painful spinal procedures were conducted on syphilitic men, they were oftentimes left unable to walk and provided a wheelchair in order to travel back home. In many cases, family members or an assigned nurse would assist these men in their travels back home after the spinal tap procedures. Obiora N. Anekwe, Ed.D April 5, 2013 Brooklyn, New York 16 by 20 inches Canvas paper, gouache paint, acrylic paint, white charcoal pencil, black pencil, soft pastels, and photography paper Original images provided by the Tuskegee University Legacy Museum, Tuskegee, Alabama, and the National Archives and Records Administration, Southeast Region, Morrow, Georgia.

*Corresponding author: Obiora N. Anekwe, Columbia University, New York, USA, E-Mail: obiora.anekwe@gmail.com