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Mr. Kelly
Class #3a
Oct 28, 2015
Final Draft
Miss Evers Boys
What would you think if you heard the U.S government had support secret medical
experimentation for over 41 years? This is exactly what happened in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Unfortunately this is not an isolated case.
The film Miss Evers Boyswas released on February 22, 1997 and directed by Joseph
Sargent. This film was based on The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Blacks with Syphilis. This
experiment selected 412 men infected with syphilis. The doctors made the patients believe that
they would receive free treatment but they just wanted to observe how the patients died slowly
and painful. This experiment was conducted to compare the results to a white patients study that
had been done decades before. The doctors also wanted to make history and proved the black
doctors and nurses were equal to the white professionals. In the beginning Dr. Sam Brodus and
Miss Evers were proud of the study because this would help African Americans with syphilis.
Later on, theexperiments coordinators had financial problems to conduct the study as a result of
the Great Depression. Dr. Douglas who was also in charge of the study found federal
financing;however, the study changedand the patients only received placebos and liniments. The
doctors didnt treat the patients because this would change the results and they wouldnt compare
with the white patients results. During the experiment, Miss Evers just tried to help the patients
regardless the consequences.