Henrietta Lacks' hometown will build statue of her to replace Robert E. Lee monument

The "immortal cells" from Henrietta Lacks grew indefinitely instead of just a few times.

AP

A statue of Lacks will be built in her hometown in Virginia.

Robert E Lee's monument will be replaced by a statue. The city decided to remove the monument after it was vandalized during Black Lives Matter protests. The Harrison Museum of African American Culture is working with the vice-mayor to raise money to replace the monument.

The cost of the statue and virtual reality documentary will be covered by the funds raised by the Roanoke Hidden Histories initiative.

A press conference was held on Monday where Lacks' family members were present. We would like to honor her and celebrate her.

After Lacks died from cancer, a doctor took her cells without her consent. Lacks' continued to double every 20 to 24 hours despite other cells dying.

Lacks' cells are often referred to as HeLa cells and are an important part of medical research and the development of vaccines. Lacks' contribution went unrecognized for a long time.

Over the course of more than 50 years, we reviewed our interactions with the Lacks family and found that they should have been better informed and worked with.

The Lacks family has filed a lawsuit against the company over the nonconsensual use of Lacks' cell lines.

The Lacks family said at the press conference that she was as relevant as any historic figure in the world today.

A sketch of the statue was shown at the press conference. The statue is expected to be finished in October of 2023.