(1920-1951)
Born in Roanoke on 1 Aug. 1920, Henrietta Pleasant lived here with relatives after her mother's 1924 death. She married David Lacks in 1941 and, like many other African Americans, moved to Baltimore, Md. for wartime employment. She died of cervical cancer on 4 Oct. 1951. Cell tissue was removed without permission (as usual then) for medical research. Her cells multiplied and survived at an extraordinarily high rate, and are renowned worldwide as the "HeLa line," the "gold standard" of cell lines. Jonas Salk developed his polio vaccine with them. Henrietta Lacks, who in death saved countless lives, is buried nearby.| HM Number | HM18WD |
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| Tags | |
| Marker Number | U 53 |
| Year Placed | 2010 |
| Placed By | Department of Historic Resources |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Thursday, September 11th, 2014 at 2:16pm PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 17S E 701963 N 4076995 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 36.81728333, -78.73571667 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 36° 49.037', W 78° 44.143' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 36° 49' 2.22" N, 78° 44' 8.58" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 434 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 1080-1082 James D Hagood Hwy, Clover VA 24534, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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