3 ms·

I see the Tuskegee example trotted out pretty often and frankly I was ignorant of it. Is this a well known and discussed thing among black people or might it be

I see the Tuskegee example trotted out pretty often and frankly I was ignorant of it. Is this a well known and discussed thing among black people or might it be more about a general distrust of the government, etc. and as you pointed out, being historically under represented in medicine. I am just guessing a fairly small people asked about Tuskegee would know what it is but maybe it's just me. I am just suggesting maybe asking black people why they don't want a covid vaccine for example and address those issues.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
Yes, the Tuskegee study is well known among black Americans, and it's been written about extensively. They've even shown that the study might be responsible for as much as half of the life expectancy gap between white and black American men today, because it directly led to mistrust of the medical establishment and caused black men to avoid going to the doctor. That said, I recently read that most black people (falsely) believe that the Tuskegee subjects were deliberately infected with syphilis, but I can't find the source right now, and it's kind of splitting hairs anyway.