According to officials, a bronze statue of Henrietta Lacks in life-size will be placed in Roanoke, Virginia, where she was born.
The proposed monument has been termed “an honor” by her family.
The cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks were the first to be cloned outside of the human body and have contributed immensely to global medical advances. She is referred to as the “mother of modern medicine” by scientists.
Her children, however, claim that those cells were taken without her knowledge or pay, and they have fought for their mother’s respect for decades.
A non-profit organization called Roanoke Hidden Histories, which aims to highlight the contributions of African Americans, assisted in raising more than $180,000 (£148,000) for the statue’s construction.
It will be built where a statue honoring Confederate General Robert E Lee used to stand, now known as Lacks Plaza. During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, that statue was pulled down. Sculptor Larry Bechtel was hired to create a statue honoring Ms. Lacks in response to calls to replace the current monument with one that honored the efforts of black Americans.
At an event to reveal the statue’s plans, Ron Lacks, her grandson, stated, “This means a lot to my family.” “The sole surviving member of Henrietta’s family is my dad. For me to share her story with the rest of the world, he persisted through his tears and pain to do so.”
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