August 6, 2025
Shawn Berkins and the Baltimore community honored the driving force behind modern scientific research during a Henrietta Lacks Paint Day.
Artist Shawn Berkins and Baltimore residents honor Henrietta Lacks during the Henrietta Lacks Community Paint Day.
In July, residents gathered to assist in the completion of the mural. Alongside Berkins, the community members assisted in bringing Henrietta’s story and image to life. The center of the mural features Lack’s face and was installed near Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Berkins spoke to WMAR Baltimore about the significance of bringing light to Lack’s story.
“We can bring awareness to her whole story about her immortal cells and how she’s been able to impact the world on a global stage,” Berkins said.
Nosreme Baltimore organized the commission that began in 2017. The organization sought to honor one of the driving forces behind modern medicine. It also attempted, and succeeded, in bringing the Baltimore community together to join the initiative.
Ariana Parish, executive director of Nosreme, noted the community’s proximity to Johns Hopkins, which also serves as a research institute. She believes the location is a fitting place to memorialize Lacks and educate others about her contribution to medicine.
“How can we do something that honors Henrietta Lacks in this neighborhood … we’re in the medical campus area,” said Parish.
Organizers say a formal unveiling event is planned for late September. In the meantime, the mural remains a powerful daily reminder of a Baltimore woman whose life had global implications and whose memory is finally celebrated.
Lacks’s cells, harvested without her consent in 1951, became the first immortal human cell line, the HeLa Cell, which is crucial to polio vaccine development, cancer research, and more. However, Lacks did not consent to the unethical testing. Though widely used in labs, Lacks never received recognition or compensation for decades.
The immortal HeLa cells have been used in multiple scientific research studies since 1951. As a result, descendants of Lacks have launched litigation against multiple pharmaceutical companies that have profited from the use of her biological property.
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