Peoria Reads! is now in its 12th year and has chosen The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot for Peorians to read in 2013.
The program, which is a joint partnership lead by Common Place and Peoria Public Library, features a community-wide effort to get everyone to read the same book and discuss it. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the story of a woman whose cancer cells, known as HeLa cells, were taken without her permission and became the first human cells that could be kept alive in a lab, giving rise to many medical breakthroughs as well as enormous profits, yet her family lived in poverty.
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of,” according to the author’s website at www.rebeccaskloot.com.
This year’s partners include: Bradley University, Common Place, Delta Kappa Gamma, Illinois Central College, and Peoria Public Library. The program is supported in part by Friends of Peoria Public Library and The Community Foundation of Central Illinois. Jim Ardis, Mayor of Peoria, has declared March a month dedicated to Peoria Reads: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. More information about the program is available at www.peoriareads.com.
A series of events will provide opportunities to think about and explore the themes, many of which are relevant to Peoria, in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks:
A Panel Discussion on Biomedical Ethics and Human Research
Sponsored by The Women’s Studies Committee of Bradley University
Thursday, February 28- 7:00 p.m.
Bradley University, Westlake Hall Auditorium 130
Panelists: Jill Wightman, PhD; Lori Wiebold, PhD, Nick Stover, PhD, Samuel McIntryre, MD Panelists will respond to the scientific and ethical issues raised by Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Film Showing: The Way of All Flesh
Saturday, March 2 -2:30pm
Peoria Public Library North Branch
The Way of All Flesh follows the story of the cells of Henrietta Lacks. She died in 1951 of cancer, but before she died cells were removed from her body and cultivated in a laboratory in the hope that they could help find a cure for cancer. The cells (known as the HeLa line) have been growing ever since, and the scientists found that they were growing in ways they could not control. (53m 33s)
Book Discussion: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Tuesday, March 5- 1:30 p.m.
Peoria Public Library Lakeview Branch.
Explore the Peoria Reads! book more deeply during this book discussion facilitated by Carol May, Retired Illinois Central College Administrator, and Karen Bartelt, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Eureka College.
Bioethics and Literature: The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks
ICC Between the Lines program
Tuesday, March 5 – 7:00 p.m.
ICC North Arbor Auditorium
Panelists from Health Careers and English Department Faculty: Bonnie Allen, Liane Bisanz, Kelly Crawford-Jones, Cheryl Lambrecht, Suzanne Pavesich, and Edwina Jordan. Rebecca Skloot, a science writer, tells the story of a woman whose cells have contributed to numerous medical breakthroughs without the knowledge of her family. In Rebecca Skloot’s best selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot unravels the truth about the HeLa Cells. A panel of several ICC faculty will tell the story and discuss some of the controversial topics in Skloot’s book.
Film Showing: Contact
Sunday, March 10 – 2:30 p.m.
Peoria Public Library North Branch
Is something or someone out there? Jodie Foster is a driven astronomer who receives the first message from space and fights to be on the vehicle that the message describes to build. Watch the now classic movie and consider the place of women in science. This fictional account of a female scientist bears many similarities to the women who are part of the HeLa cell story. (150 min, rated PG, 1997)
Book Discussion- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Monday, March 11- 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Bradley University, Bradley Hall, Room 225
Explore the Peoria Reads! book more deeply during this book discussion facilitated by Dr. Jeanne Muzzillo and Dr. Michelle Edgcomb-Friday.
Film Showing: The Saint
Saturday, March 16 – 7:00 p.m.
Apollo Theater
How do men regard women in science? Take a look at what happens when a mysterious thief and master of disguise gets tangled in a web of love and intrigue with the beautiful scientist he is supposed to be protecting in this thrilling remake based on the classic TV series that starred Roger Moore. With Elisabeth Shue as Dr. Emma Russell. (118 min, rated PG-13, 1997)
Film Showing: Gorillas in the Mist
Thursday, March 28 – 5:30 p.m.
Peoria Public Library North Branch
One of the themes of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is that of women and their relationship to science. This is the story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them. With Sigourney Weaver as Dian Fossey. (129 min, rated PG-13, 1988)