Tuskegee Syphilis Study Begins: 399 Black Men Denied Treatment for Observation

The US Public Health Service began its 'Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male' in 1932 in Macon County, Alabama. 399 Black men with syphilis and 201 controls were enrolled without informed consent and told they were being treated for 'bad blood.' They were deliberately denied treatment — including penicillin after it became the standard of care in 1947 — so researchers could observe the disease's full progression. The study continued until 1972, when a whistleblower exposed it. At least 28 men died directly from syphilis, 100 died from complications, 40 wives were infected, and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis. (Note: begins 1932, but context established in 1900s-1910s medical racism.)