Miss Evers' Boys

The play titled "Miss Evers' Boys" was about a group of blacks who were selected to participate in a study for syphilis. This was known as the Tuskegee Experiments, and went on in the 1930s'. The government deceived the participants by leading to believe that they were being treated for the disease, when in reality they were not. The main characters of the play all had the disease, and one even had HIV/AIDS. They start off receiving "treatment" as normal, but after a while the funding for the program is cut short. The subjects are proposed the idea of allowing the doctors to monitor the effects of the disease, and compensating them for it later. Two of the main characters end up dying, and one has suffered greatly from the effects of not receiving treatment for the syphilis. The other main character was treated effectively.

This play made me think about how unfairly african-americans were treated in this country, even after slavery. It was later declared that conducting human experiments is illegal, but for them to even attempt to try using us as guinea pigs is degrading. The case of Troy Davis is a more recent example of the unfair treatment we as african-americans receive. We are fed misinformation and lies all the time, just as the black men of the Tuskegee experiments were then, as displayed in Miss Evers' Boys. These thoughts were accompanied by the thought that we as African-Americans have to be strong-willed and determined, because everything is shifted away from our favor. We have to work twice as hard to achieve the success and/or recognition of our white counterparts, which has made us stronger individuals. I believe that if we could come together as a unit, as we have in the past, we can put a stop to this type of treatment.