WELLESLEY HILLS, MA (October 11, 2011) – Ten years ago MassBay Community College began a program, the OneBook project, designed to engage students, faculty, staff and the general public around a common text and to holding activities and discussions around that text. Since then, other colleges in the region have used MassBay’s program as a model and have brought the OneBook concept to their campuses.
This year MassBay proudly kicks off the tenth year of OneBook with the title, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. A New York Times bestseller for more than 55 weeks, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks chronicles the story of Henrietta Lacks, a young African-American tobacco farmer, whose illness and subsequent death in 1951 of a particularly aggressive form of cervical cancer, is one of the most riveting and untold stories in modern medicine.
On Wednesday, October 19, 2011 from 9:00-11:00 am, in the MacKenzie Auditorium on MassBay’s Wellesley Hills campus, the OneBook schedule of events kicks off with a discussion with David “Sonny” Lacks, Henrietta’s third child.
Sonny’s visit puts a personal face to big issues such as the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over “informed consent” and whether we control the stuff we’re made of, and should share in the profits.
All OneBook Projects are free and open to the public. MassBay is located at 50 Oakland Street in Wellesley Hills, MA. Further information can be found at www.massbay.edu, or by contacting Professor Nina Keery at nkeery@massbay.edu.