Elsie Lacks

Lucille Elsie Lacks (1939 - 1955) was the daughter of David Lacks and Loretta Pleasant. Elsie had developmental disabilities and was described by her family as "different" or "deaf and dumb". It was also reported she was epileptic, as well as suffering from neural syphilis.[1]

Elsie was placed in the Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland (later renamed Crownsville Hospital Center) in 1950, when she was around eleven years old. Elsie died in that hospital at age fifteen.[1] The family learned years later that Elsie had been abused and may have had holes drilled in her head during experimental treatments including pneumoencephalography.[2] Elsie's body was eventually relocated to a grave near her mother's in Clover.[3]