The Lacks Family's Ongoing Challenges and Resilience (1980-1985)

Key Insight

Deborah Lacks, despite her fears, lived past her thirtieth birthday, raising her children while working various jobs as a barber, notary public, chemical mixer at a cement plant, grocery store clerk, and limousine driver. In 1981, at thirty-one, she married James Pullum, a forty-six-year-old mechanic and preacher. Pullum, despite past legal issues, provided Deborah a sense of safety, always carrying a knife and a pistol. They eventually opened a small storefront church, offering Deborah a period of reduced worry about her mother's cells.

Zakariyya, released from prison after serving seven of his fifteen-year sentence, struggled with anger, drinking, and maintaining employment, often sleeping on a bench in downtown Baltimore or church steps. He blamed his father for Henrietta's death and for burying her in an unmarked grave. In need of money, he became a research subject at Hopkins, participating in studies that provided funds, meals, and sometimes a bed. He allowed researchers to infect him with malaria to study a new drug to buy eyeglasses and volunteered for alcoholism research for job training. He quit an AIDS study due to fears of infection, having changed his name to conceal his Lacks identity, believing Hopkins would not have allowed him to leave if they knew.

The family received a significant financial boost when Day, Henrietta's husband, received a $12000 settlement from an asbestos exposure class-action lawsuit against a boiler manufacturer. He distributed $2000 to each of his children, with Deborah using her share to buy a small piece of land in Clover. However, other family members faced severe challenges: Sonny was jailed for narcotics trafficking related to a food-stamp ring, and Deborah's son, Alfred, mirroring his uncles' path, was repeatedly arrested for minor offenses by eighteen. Deborah attempted to teach Alfred responsibility by leaving him in jail and forcing him to return to the Marines after going AWOL, but eventually had to cut ties due to his escalating drug use and stealing, telling him, 'The devil got you, boy-that stuff you on make you crazy. I don't know you, and I don't want you around here no more.'