After the Civil War, the Reconstruction era brought about hope and change in the form of citizenship and equality in America. Black men were given the right to vote and hold political office.

Sadly, this progress was short-lived. The rights they were granted at the start of the Reconstruction period slowly diminished. In result, a Black presence in Congress was completely eradicated by 1901, and it would take a full generation for it to be restored.

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Born into slavery as Ida B. Wells in 1862, she was a pioneer of modern investigative journalism during the Reconstruction Era. After the lynching of her close friend, Thomas Moss, in 1892, Wells amplified her efforts on calling attention to the horrific treatment of black people through her investigative report, entitled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. It was her commitment to shedding light on the injustices of African-Americans that make her an admired figure in black history.

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In 1951 Henrietta Lacks, a young African American mother of five, visited The Johns Hopkins Hospital for vaginal bleeding. Soon after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. A sample of her cancer cells was sent to Dr. George Gey's lab. What he discovered was that Mrs. Lacks’ cells were unlike any of the others he had ever seen: where other cells would die, Mrs. Lacks' cells doubled every 20 to 24 hours. Although Mrs. Lacks ultimately passed away on October 4, 1951, at the age of 31, her cells continue to impact the world.

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