Tuskegee syphilis experiment The Tuskegee syphilis experiment
was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972
by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural
progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men
who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S.
government. The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee
Institute, began the study in 1932. Investigators enrolled in
the study a total of 600 impoverished sharecroppers from Macon
County, Alabama; 399 who had previously contracted syphilis
before the study began, and 201 without the disease. For
participating in the study, the men were given free medical
care, meals, and free burial insurance. They were never told
they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According
to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were
being treated for "bad blood", a local term for various
illnesses that include syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. The
40-year study was controversial for reasons rel