“Oh Henrietta,” Celebrating Henrietta Lacks
Time Bomb Publishing BMI
Oh, Henrietta!
Oh, Henrietta, sweet child you never knew
The miracle healer HeLa would be you
Oh Henrietta, you left this world so young
Still you’re here alive and growing strong
Hennie you’re an angel sent from up above
You can cure my disease with your precious love
Oh Henrietta, they burned you in and out
But you never did complain or cry out loud
Oh, Henrietta, your children miss you so
How you suffered no one will ever know
Oh Henrietta, they never knew you well
But now they know the beauty of your cells
Hennie won’t you come out dancing
It’s time to be wild and free
No time to loose, slap a shine on those shoes,
Come and swing out with me
Oh Henrietta, worth dollars rubles and yen
But your babies can’t afford no medicine
Night doctors coming, in their hoods of white
Children disappearing in the night
Medical experiments, no knowledge or consent
Defiled by Hippocratic hypocrites
They can bulldoze Clover, The houses and the shacks
They’ll never stop the angel Henrietta Lacks
Oh Henrietta, your good man done you wrong
That’s how it all started all along
Oh, Henrietta, sweet child you never knew
The miracle healer HeLa would be you
Oh, Henrietta, sweet child you never knew
The miracle healer HeLa would be you
(c) Jack Bryson Bowden
HeLa Cells
Multiphoton fluorescence image of HeLa cells stained with the actin binding toxin phalloidin (red), microtubules (cyan) and cell nuclei (blue). HeLa cells are a cell type in an immortal cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken in 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who eventually died of her cancer.Creator:Tom Deerinck, NIGMS, National Institutes of Health
