( woman vocalizing )
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Show me ♪
♪ Lord ♪
♪ Mmm ♪
♪ If there's a way ♪
♪ Show me ♪
♪ Lord ♪
♪ I can't see ♪
♪ Tomorrow ♪
♪ And I can't hide ♪
♪ My sorrow ♪
♪ If there's a way out ♪
♪ Won't you show me ♪
♪ Lord? ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
♪ If there's a heaven ♪
♪ Would you take me ♪
♪ Lord? ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ If there's a heaven ♪
♪ Don't forsake me ♪
♪ Lord ♪
♪ Oh, there's no place ♪
♪ To run ♪
♪ You know everything ♪
♪ That I've done ♪
♪ If there's a heaven ♪
♪ Would you still take me ♪
♪ Lord? ♪
Woman: "I solemnly pledge myself before God
to pass my life in purity...
( camera shutter clicks ) ...to practice my profession faithfully,
to endeavor with loyalty,
to assist the physician in his work,
to devote myself to the welfare
of those patients committed to my care."
That's the oath I took, Senator.
Just like the doctors do, I took an oath,
the nurse's oath.
You have to understand, nursing was my life.
We do understand
and respect that, Miss Evers.
And we do appreciate very much
your testifying before us today.
I hope you understand
that the sole purpose of this committee
is to discover the truth
about the public health service program
commonly called "The Tuskegee Study."
That's what we all want, sir.
Good.
Now I understand
you worked on the program from the beginning.
From the very first in 1932
up until I retired a few years ago--
nearly 40 years.
( chuckles ) Oh goodness,
that's longer than I've been in the Senate.
( crowd laughing )
Tell me, Miss Evers,
how did you feel about the study?
Our patients got the best doctoring
they ever had in their life.
But according to the testimony so far, Miss Evers,
there are ways in which this study
sounds like some sort of Nazi experiment.
It was established at Nuremberg that experimentation
without informed consent-- You did the best you could, whatever.
There was an epidemic
with all that syphilis going around, Senator.
Life was always hard in Macon County,
but the Depression made it worse.
You just have no idea what it was like down there back then.
We've heard a lot of testimony, Miss Evers.
from some of the patients, from other nurses
and from your supervisor Dr. Brodus.
Dr. Brodus is a fine doctor
who cared, Senator.
I don't care what y'all say about him now.
I was honored to serve under that man.
( insects chirping )
( man wheezing )
Are we just gonna let him choke to death?
Well, what do you suggest, Nurse?
We've tried digitalis. We've tried mercurial diuretics.
Maybe I should just cut him open and drain him.
I'm sorry.
I don't mean to take it out on you.
It was a farming accident, wasn't it?
Yeah. He was plowing.
The mule got away from him, kicked him,
crushed his chest.
His heart just won't work.
Is that fluid on the pericardium?
We'll have to notify his parents.
What made you think, boy,
that you were old enough to handle a mule?
His bedclothes are wet. I'm gonna get dry ones.
No. No, wait a minute.
Get away from him. What?
Nurse, I want you to get me a syringe with a large bore needle.
Now!
What did I say? "Cut him open and drain him"?
Maybe I knew what I was talking about.
Now I'm not gonna-- I'm not gonna hurt you, son.
I just want to take a look at your chest, that's all. I just want to take a look.
And you take Nurse Evers' hand.
Here it is. And you squeeze it tight.
You can't hurt me. You don't get much of a chance
to hold on to a pretty lady's hand like that, now do you?
I'm not gonna hurt you, son. Am I, Nurse?
No, Doctor.
Aha. That's it. That's it.
You gotta trust the doctor. I'm gonna get you out of this, boy.
You trust him and you'll be up and around in no time.
That's true. ( continues wheezing )
I don't want you with that mule no more.
What's that mule's name? Hang on-- what's his name?
( wheezing )
( wheezing quieter )
( breathing deeply )
Hallelujah.
( dogs barking ) ( people chattering )
( car honking )
It was performed by a fine doctor.
And this Dr. Brodus-- is he colored or is he white?
Papa, how many times I gotta tell you
we don't have white doctors at Tuskegee?
The way you've been carrying on, I thought maybe--
I wasn't carrying on. I was just being appreciative.
He saved that boy's life.
What's he supposed to do? He's a doctor, ain't he?
Wait on people doing what they supposed to do
and see how long you wait.
Papa: You always did like saving people.
I didn't save him. Dr. Brodus saved him.
I was only doing my nursing job.
Don't you be saying, "only" neither.
You're a nurse
and that's more than just a job,
so don't you go making light of it.
I'm not, Papa.
Unless you want to end up cleaning some white lady's toilet
like your mama had to do all of her life.
No, I have had my share of that.
Ham will be out in 10 minutes.
We didn't slave to send you to a nursing school
for that kind of life.
No, Papa, you did not.
All right then.
( knocks on door ) Come in.
Yes, Doctor?
Oh good, Nurse Evers. Are you still checked out
to drive the district office car? I've got a new job for you.
Do you need me to go somewhere?
If we hurry, we can-- we can make it on time.
There's somebody very important
that we have to pick up off the bus.
( blues playing )
Dr. Douglas. I'm sorry we're late.
I hope you had a pleasant trip. Yes, I did.
Welcome to Tuskegee. How are you?
Fine. Sure a pleasure seeing you, Doctor.
You too. Bags? Oh, yes.
Here. Let me give you a hand.
Thank you. Sure.
Oh, I forgot my manners. Dr. Douglas, Nurse Evers.
How do? It's a pleasure.
Yes sir.
Dr. Douglas, I think you're gonna find
that Nurse Evers will be a tremendous help to you.
Well, we will need all the help we can get.
And luckily, we've got all the funding we need
from a foundation in Chicago.
Everyone's aware of what a plague syphilis has become
and we're determined to stamp this thing out.
But this problem is just for the Negroes in Macon County.
Yes, and that's why Tuskegee was chosen.
It's one of the few all-Negro hospitals in the South,
in a county that's almost 80% colored.
Now you may not know this,
but you people have one of the highest
concentrations of syphilis in the country.
It's nearly 35%.
We know it, Doctor. I mean, our wards are filled with syphilis
because the white hospitals won't let them in.
Negroes also have more pellagra, pneumonia and TB,
but there is no statistical basis for the belief
that syphilis is a Negro disease
any more than it was a French disease in the last century
or Russian or Polish before that.
No, don't get me wrong, Doctor,
I'm not one of those that believe that Negroes
are inherently more susceptible because of some...
I mean, I voted for Roosevelt.
We'll have to test them first, of course,
give them Wassermann's to make sure. I'll take that, Doctor.
That in itself will be a huge undertaking.
Great pains for great rewards, right?
You don't intend on telling them they have syphilis, do you?
Well, if they have it,
we'll have to tell them something, won't we?
Well, maybe we'd better not use a word they've never heard before.
That'd just scare them off, Doctor.
So what are supposed to tell them?
Just tell them that there's something the matter with their blood.
You don't have to say exactly.
They all know about bad blood.
She's right.
That's what they call anything that's the matter with them.
The main thing is, we have to make them understand
we only want to get them well.
And indeed we do.
I do, you do and the government does.
This way.
We're gonna find a cure for this disease.
We're gonna stop at nothing less.
They doing this for the Negro?
Gotta be a hoodwink in there someplace.
Don't go always looking for the underside, girl.
But I'm always finding it.
These men are being treated for a very bad disease,
and that's more than anybody else has ever done for them,
so don't you go making a mockery of it, Betty Parsons.
Now look, you're taking my place here on the ward,
so you hop to it.
You keep your eye out on old Mr. Blakely, 'cause you're gonna think
he's taking his medicine, but he hiding his pills under his tongue.
And that new man that's come in--
you check him for a fever every two hours
and make sure he don't go spiking on you.
Listen to me giving you advice.
Come here, girl.
You're gonna do just fine.
But now don't go getting too many ideas of your own self.
You listen to your doctors, 'cause they know, hear?
I hear you.
You sure look good in your new uniform, Eunice.
Thank you. Like you was born to it.
It's gonna be a great thing.
Good luck!
I'll see you.
Miss Evers: It was a great thing.
The government had never done nothing like that for us before.
It was the dawn of a new day
and I was the one they had chose
to spread the word.
I have been sent--
I have been sent here by the government,
the United States government,
yes, I have,
up there in Washington.
And the government is sending us the best medicine
to treat anybody in this county who needs it.
When did that ever happen, hmm?
Oh, something good is starting up for a change,
something new. And this time
we all gonna be part of it.
You have not seen the health you're gonna see
in Macon County, Alabama.
Y'all gonna come see me? When you get there,
you will see me, don't worry.
You gonna come see me, sister?
You gonna bring that big pretty baby with you?
You gonna come see Nurse Eunice?
Yes, that baby's gonna come.
Miss Evers: The way the government was thinking, Mr. Kirk, sir,
is that you might have field hands don't even know they got bad blood.
They're just-- they're kind of sickly a lot of the time.
Mm-hmm. That, sir, is not good for your cotton business.
Mm, see, stand to reason
that a sickly field hand ain't gonna pick
near about as much cotton as a healthy one.
Mmm. So, uh, we get them better
and then as that's helping them,
it's helping you, which is my concern too,
'cause we're here for the whole community.
Yes, ma'am, even if you're dirt poor
and you ain't got a dime to your name,
if you ain't seen a doctor in your whole life,
if you got bad blood, you get treated for free.
Now ain't that something? I'm asking you,
ain't that something for a government to be doing?
And for the colored?
Oh, we got us a whole new deal here.
Now who coming to see me?
Raise up your hand.
Who coming to see me?
( harmonica playing ) ( men chattering )
Ah, morning.
Morning, Miss Lady.
Y'all done bring your friends?
Well, I'm happy to see you.
Hello. I'm Miss Evers.
Ooh, what's that?
Good morning. Ma'am.
( harmonica continues ) Snake hips, baby.
What you do next?
Bow away. Bow away it is.
Hey! Oh! ( laughing )
Oh!
Hey hey hey!
Yeah! Ha!
That felt good. We'll get that Victrola.
That was truly fine.
The way you was turning and twisting,
that's the mark of a born dancer.
Thank you.
Excuse me. I'm Nurse Evers.
I'm the person you're here to meet.
Thank you for coming.
We're here on account of Mr. Kirk. He told us we gotta.
He send you too?
No white man sent me,
a colored man, a fine, important colored man,
Dr. Samuel J. Brodus from up at Tuskegee,
to offer y'all some free doctoring.
Free, huh?
You say free?
Yeah, doctoring as fine and free
as any you can get anywhere.
Yeah, but see, we ain't sick.
That's right. Yeah.
You seen anybody that's sick
be able to dance like this?
( scats )
Now that's a mighty fine movement,
but that still don't mean you ain't got bad blood.
How you know we got bad blood?
Well, that's what we're gonna find out, ain't it?
Been a long time since I sat here.
This where you done your schooling?
Mm-hmm.
I sat right smack dab in front of Miss Teeters.
Look. She didn't like us doing that,
but everybody did it. ( chuckles )
Just had to be careful not to get caught.
There. You sir, your name?
Wait, hold up.
Why the government helping us all of a sudden?
What, they got a war coming? They gonna need us?
Well, they have a whole new view of things,
a kind of people point of view,
and it's coming straight down from President Roosevelt.
Well, I ain't scared to give my name.
My name is Willie Johnson.
Willie.
W-I-L-L-E Johnson.
Mm-hmm.
Yes?
Give your name. Hodman.
Hodman Bryan.
Bryan.
Yeah?
Well, I'm Ben.
Ben.
I'm Big Ben Washington.
Big Ben Washington.
See, we're a group, the four of us.
You're looking at the next winners
of the Macon County Victrola Gillee Competition right here.
Both: That's right. Mm.
Yeah, but see, just 'cause I give you my name
that don't mean I'm coming back for no treatment.
I just had me an idea.
I know how I can get the government to take y'all to that competition.
How are you gonna do that?
I'll drive you there in my government car
after we stop off at the hospital and get you free tests
and your free hot lunches.
Hey, free lunch, all right.
Free lunch? Yep.
We got to fatten you up for the kill.
( guffaws ) I got you.
She joshin' us. ( men chattering, laughing )
She almost has us there.
I got scared.
( giggles ) Oh, your face.
Okay, now y'all said there's four of you in this here group.
Where's the fourth?
He ain't coming, no.
See, he don't believe anything Mr. Kirk says could be good for the colored.
He work for Mr. Kirk? Ben: No, he don't work for Mr. Kirk.
It's Caleb-- he work for hisself.
Well, this ain't got nothing to do with Mr. Kirk.
You're dealing with the government right here.
Caleb?
Humphries.
Caleb Humphries.
Caleb Humphries...
sat right behind me.
You're joshing now.
I will never forget that boy as long as I live.
He made me so miserable--
pulling on my hair and sticking my pigtails in the inkwell.
( laughing )
If I do nothing with him...
That sounds just like Caleb, don't it?
It sound like Caleb.
He won't come in for treatment?
Not Caleb, hmm-mm.
Well, I've been waiting 20 years
to put some size on that boy.
Can I--?
There. That don't exactly make us even,
but it's something.
Eunice Evers.
And don't say you don't remember me.
Eunice Evers.
I remember you.
You were the smart one.
Remember what you used to do to me?
You was a girl.
That ain't no good reason. You still ought to be ashamed.
Excuse me.
Hey hey.
Come here.
Carry this feed out to your mama out yonder.
Corinna!
Almost done.
We got company.
Well, you have a fine-looking family.
Oh, my brother's wife's kids.
I'm just living here, helping out.
What's this about you not coming for treatment?
I don't trust no government.
As far as this doctoring is concerned, I'm the government.
What you got to say about that?
Do you trust me
or do you still want to pull my hair?
Both.
♪ Satisfied... ♪ ( men singing )
♪ Satisfied... ♪ ( men laughing )
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ I'm going up north ♪
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ I won't leave you ♪
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ Gonna take my mule ♪
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ He can get it too ♪
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ Gonna find me a dale ♪
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ With a mountain view ♪
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ Gonna jump that broom ♪
♪ Satisfied ♪ ♪ Make a bed there too... ♪
♪ Oh, I'm going up north ♪ ♪ Satisfied... ♪
Hey, I got one, I got one. ( men continue singing, chattering )
Eunice: They came in with me,
and so did the other ones I talked to,
and the ones they talked to.
Did they come! On foot,
in the owners' trucks.
Any way they could, they came in for treatment,
sorely needed treatment.
Good morning. Good morning.
Oh my God.
There's so many. I had no idea.
Welcome to Macon County, Doctor.
Well, we'd better start another line.
There are a lot of men here in need of care.
Yeah.
Brodus: If I could have
all the young men down on this end
please file into this room and form two new lines.
Thank you.
Good morning.
How is that son of yours?
Oh, that stuff you give him, it sure did the-- ow!
Sure did the trick, Miss Evers.
Well, we're gonna get everybody in Macon County well, you'll see.
Eunice: Next group.
Caleb.
Ma'am, I see you're getting even with me
for pulling your hair, huh? ( men laugh )
You ain't getting off that easy, but give me your finger.
Argh.
It's all right.
All right?
Hold it up.
Hodman.
No no, Miss Evers. I don't want to get my blood took.
Go on, Hodman. I got a wife. I got a wife.
I got--
I'm still young and I got obligations.
Obligations?
You know, to my wife.
Family obligations.
So I just can't have my blood took.
You know Fred Milson down at Alma?
Works in the sawmill.
He's got seven, going on eight children.
He's been giving his blood for six years,
and his obligations is doing just fine.
( laughing )
Well, I sure hope you're right, Miss Evers,
'cause that-- Oh, I am.
O-ow. I wouldn't say it if it wasn't so.
Could you step out here for a second?
Eunice: Okay?
Doctor. Yes?
Would you excuse me? I'd like to speak with the men.
Sure, go right ahead.
Gentlemen, there seems to be some confusion.
Let me explain what we're checking for.
There is a germ
that infects the genital area,
resulting in a temporary and painless
but highly contagious
penal ulceration.
Now this ulceration will disappear
as the disease becomes non-contagious,
or latent.
And this-- this latency can last
for up to 30 years until finally
the cardiovascular and nervous systems
will disintegrate and collapse.
Are there any questions?
Doctor, could I just say something?
Sure.
By frolicking too much, or maybe passed on from your mama and your daddy,
you might get a really bad sore down below on your private parts.
Then through that sore a bug can crawl up inside of you
and go to sleep for 20-30 years or more,
so as not to hurt nobody but you.
But when it wake up, you can't walk,
you can't breathe, you can't think. That is bad blood.
That's what we're checking to see if y'all got, so we can get rid of it.
( men chattering ) Oh, all right. That make sense.
( chuckles )
You're done. Come on, Willie.
Nurse, could I speak with you for a second?
Sure. Thank you.
Yes, Doctor?
( sighs )
Thank you.
I know I'm a good medical doctor,
but I'm not so sure that I'm a good people doctor yet.
Dr. Douglas, you're helping people.
You're a good people doctor.
Caleb: Evening, Eunice.
I see you've worked a long day.
The world's full of sickness.
Mm. Thanks.
Look, I ain't accustomed to asking for favors--
Well, you ain't used to seeing me again neither, but here we are.
I was wondering, could you get ahold to a book--
a medicine book to tell you about that bug.
Oh, the docs will answer any questions that you have.
I know, but I'd rather read up on it for myself.
Those books are so technical.
Mm, you think I won't understand it.
I'll see what's in the library.
Caleb. Hmm?
What did you quit school for?
You was the smartest one in the class.
I was just the pushiest.
You used to drive Miss Teeters crazy asking questions all the time,
then all of a sudden you wasn't there.
I'd appreciate it if you could get ahold of that book for me.
( percussive music playing ) ( crowd cheering )
Old boys is pretty good.
Yeah, but they ain't good as you, Willie, and you know they ain't.
I don't know about that.
See the way that boy was doing that sand-slide?
Shoot, I done seen you do that step in your sleep, Willie.
Yeah well, the only thing is now I'm wide awake.
You go ahead, old Willie Johnson.
Come on, Willie, you gotta think positive now.
We gonna win this thing here.
That's right, 'cause we the best.
Ain't no doubt about that.
You tell that boy to say our new name?
You know I told him to say our name. He better not forget.
'Cause that name's gonna be our good luck charm.
Oh, names don't give you no luck. Neither do charms.
What do you know about charms?
I know enough not to mess with them.
Hey hey, shh shh. Listen, everybody listen. Listen up.
From Macon County, a group
we've been hearing a lot of good things about,
Miss Evers' Boys!
( cheering and applause )
( playing upbeat music )
Go on, Willie, work your head.
Dance it out, Willie.
Work that, boy.
Get on down there.
Yeah!
Here we go, y'all.
Ahh!
Yeah!
See, you-- I looked over there at Caleb, I said, "What?"
When you went up high, what was that you did then? That's right.
You mean, when I went up in the air? Yeah.
Oh, that was the-- that was the jackspring.
You sure did get everybody's attention out there today.
You sure did. You got mine.
I tell you the truth,
I-I can't believe we won the Victrola.
You know, I ain't-- I ain't never won nothing my whole life.
Me neither. This sure been some night.
Yes sir. First of many, Willie.
You're right, Miss Evers, right from here
right on to the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York, USA.
That's what I'm talking about.
Oh, Willie got aspirations, y'all.
Ben: Yes.
What's wrong with that? Don't you?
Oh, Miss Evers, now you know Caleb wouldn't tell you if he had.
Caleb wouldn't tell his own mama he'd been born.
I guess he figures she's to find out sooner or later.
Oh. Ooh.
Signifying... Y'all need to quit now.
There's our house. It's right over there, Miss Evers.
Willie: Ooh, wait till everybody sees this coming in.
( all laugh )
Come on out here, Hods.
( thunder crashing )
There you go. Take this. Don't drop it.
Boys, I'll tell you something:
this time the Victrola, next time the record.
That's right.
I like that.
Hey, Maisie, you and the children come out here,
look at this.
Eunice: Hodman, Ben, Willie,
Miss Evers' boys.
That's us.
I just want you to know
that naming your group after me--
Oh, we knew it would bring us luck, Miss Evers.
Well, I have never had such an honor
and I just want to thank you.
Hey, it's the first of many.
Oh, yeah.
( laughs )
Willie: Good night, Miss Evers. Caleb, talk to you later.
Thanks, Miss Evers. Caleb, see you. See you, Miss Evers.
( starts engine ) ( thunder crashing )
The audience loved y'all. ( chuckles )
That Willie-- he's very good.
He really could get to the Cotton Club if he wanted to.
Mm-hmm. Hey, that book you give me...
Yeah?
Well, I had them symptoms once, so...
y'all give me that test to make sure about it.
The Wassermann test? Mm-hmm.
And that test can tell whether you got it or you don't?
That's right.
Well, do I or don't I?
Caleb, the doctors--
I'm asking you now.
Yeah, you have it.
So do the rest of the men,
Hodman, Ben, Willie,
actually most of the men that came in.
But syphilis is treatable.
There's Salvarsan treatment. There's the mercury rubs.
That'll cure it?
Well,
it's not 100%.
And there's some side effects, but there's a chance.
What kind of chance?
Caleb, you're fine, Caleb, you really are.
And we're gonna make all y'all even finer.
There's a whole lot more competitions to win.
But, uh, you won't tell them, will you?
I mean, what they got.
All they know is they got bad blood and we don't want to scare them.
You telling me I got a right to know.
Why don't they got a right to know?
Well, I made an exception for you.
It was unprofessional, but what's done is done.
But we don't want to scare the other men.
They ain't children. They're colored.
Please, Caleb, the doctors know what they're doing
and they think it's for the best.
You think that too?
Of course I do, yes.
Why are you always trying to fluster me?
You ain't changed a bit, have you?
All right.
I'll keep my mouth shut.
You ain't changed a bit neither.
( jazz playing )
Eunice: Rub hard now,
hard as you can.
Rub hard now.
Squeeze that mercury into those muscles
till they holler. Men: Please.
Ooh, I can't even hear you.
Please!
That is the puniest "please" I ever heard.
Please!
That's better. The harder you rub,
the quicker the bad blood becomes hot blood.
( laughing )
Willie Johnson.
I bet you ain't never seen no dance step like that before.
Actually I have seen something similar.
Where?
Harlem, the Cotton Club.
Oh, man, you're lying.
You ain't been in no Cotton Club.
No, I'm not.
Okay, who you seen dance there?
Well, I've seen Buckin' Bubbles
and Snakelips...
Snakehips Tucker?
Yeah, that's it. Snakehips Tucker.
Hey, man,
did you see Ruby Blue?
I don't think so.
He don't think so.
Hey, man, if you'd seen Ruby Blue,
you wouldn't think so. You'd know so.
Mm-hmm. Oh yeah.
Oh man, he be scatting
and leaping.
Ooh.
Hey, he's the best.
I guess I'm just gonna have to get back there someday and see him.
I guess you will. Hey, Miss Evers.
Hmm?
You know what this man say?
He say he's been to the Cotton Club.
Well, he can't stay ignorant all his life.
( laughing )
Listen to you.
And I wasn't lying.
I was actually there.
Caleb, I don't know any more books on the matter.
Oh, I don't need no more.
You wouldn't go out
with anybody who got what I got, would you?
You mean go out--?
Like to a picture show or get something to eat,
something like that. You wouldn't do that with--?
No, I wouldn't go with anybody that--
Yeah, that's what I figured.
Yeah, all right then.
I'd go with you.
I don't want you stepping out with no field hand.
You're a professional woman, a nurse.
You don't see any doctors asking me out,
or lawyers for that matter, or undertakers.
And he's not just a field hand.
He's-- why am I making excuses?
I've been trying to tell you all your life
you got to set your sights high,
uphold the dignity of this family.
( knocks on door )
Got a good sense of timing too.
Caleb. Evening, Eunice.
Come on in. I got my truck waiting.
Come on, it ain't gonna run off.
Come on, I want you to meet my papa.
Papa...
This is Caleb Humphries.
Caleb, Mr. Evers.
Good evening, sir.
Howdy.
He sat right behind me in Miss Teeters' class
and pulled my hair.
Well...
You've seen the worst. Don't go brooding on it.
( engine backfiring ) Eunice: Caleb, are you sure this thing'll make it?
Caleb: Hush now. She don't take kindly to disrespect.
I heard this was a juke-joint out here.
Well, they have the liquor
and all that carrying on on Saturdays.
Mm, good barbecue.
Mm-hmm.
I bet you my mama made better.
Everybody's mama made better.
( chuckles )
I remember me and my brother--
we had the job
of ladling out the sauce, you know?
It sure was good, my mama's barbecue.
I always wished I had a brother...
Mm-hmm. ...or even a sister.
My mama couldn't have any more children after me.
Was that the only brother you had?
Yeah, he's-- he's dead.
Oh, I'm sorry, I-- I just thought maybe,
you know, with what you got and all, it was--
Oh, you want to know what he died of. He didn't have what I have.
Well, he didn't have no disease.
Was it accident?
He got himself lynched.
Oh God.
He had a big mouth, like me.
I'm sorry, I-- I didn't connect the name.
Well, ain't no reason for you to do that now.
I mean, there's plenty of Humphries around here.
Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spoil your evening.
I got you dripping all over your good dress.
Look, forget the dress.
You know, what's funny is
I was fixing to leave here when it happened.
For where?
Anywhere, USA. ( chuckles )
Ride the rails...
Chicago,
you know, see what's up north or out west-- California.
You think it'd be any different?
Sure can't be the same.
I dream on that sometimes.
Going up to New York City and see the sights,
don't have to get off the sidewalk
when a white person come along. Well, why don't you?
I love what I'm doing here--
the treatment, the program, knowing I'm doing good.
With us sinners.
Ooh!
The disease is the sin, Caleb, not the people-- the disease.
And you smotin' it 'fore and after.
Good Lord help me. Oh God.
I'm thinking Lord don't want me to wear this dress.
I reckon not.
Is it okay?
Oh yeah, should be all right.
Well,
after my brother--
well, that's why I had to leave school,
take his place down the way.
You were just a child.
You could have kept up at home,
as smart as you were.
You ever tried picking cotton all day and studying at night?
I tried. Kept falling asleep.
Everybody can't be John Henry.
You got no reason to hold back.
You're fine.
Come on.
Dr. Douglas: Sam, I've got some bad news.
The program is being canceled.
( chuckles )
Canceled?
We've run out of money.
Well, the foundation in Chicago, I mean, they're gonna--
Lost most of its assets in the crash.
They've given us all they can.
What about the Public Health Service?
The program was their idea in the first place.
"Stamp out syphilis," you said.
We're treating 1400 patients.
That's 40 injections a year for each man.
There's just too much disease for the budget.
Now the idea was to use the funding to get the program started
and then turn it over to the states.
States don't have any money.
Who was it that said that the poor aren't affected by Wall Street?
Sam, I'm in touch with Washington.
We all want to see if we can salvage this.
I mean, the data we've collected
this last year alone is worth its weight in gold.
I'm not interested in data. I'm interested in treatment.
Think of what it can mean for your race,
for the advancement in science.
The loss here is in lives, Doctor.
I understand that.
Just give me some time, okay?
Let's cut staff to the bare bone,
divert funds from other departments, whatever you have to do.
At least buy us a few more months.
And then what will I do?
These men are sick. They need treatment.
I know. We just can't stop it like that.
We've got no choice.
Doctor, they trust us.
Nurse Evers,
now you've done a wonderful job,
but I have to take you off the program.
We have to use what little money we have
for treatment, cut back in all departments.
It's either staff
or medicine.
I understand.
Yes, of course.
Now you can go back to the ward.
Betty Parsons is there. You have seniority.
No, I wouldn't take somebody else's job. You have a perfect right--
No, I wouldn't do that.
I hope-- I pray that this is just temporary
and that I'll be calling you back soon.
I know you'll do the best you can.
( sighs ) Oh, Mr. Williams,
not that you know I'm even here,
we're just gonna be late for catfish night.
Eunice: Six months passed
with no word.
There were fewer and fewer treatments,
and pretty soon none at all.
I tried to see 'em when I could,
but I had to take a job,
the only one I could find, working as a domestic,
just like my mother.
( women chattering )
( women laughing )
Caleb: You had your supper?
I had their supper.
Them folk waste more food than law allow.
We could feed the whole county.
How are my boys?
Your boys miss you.
I sure miss them.
Mm-hmm, Dr. Douglas is worried
about Willie doing his four-foot knee drops.
Said he might hurt his cartridges.
You mean-- I know-- cartilage. I looked it up.
But Willie took it for "cartridges."
And now he think he got bullets in his knees.
( both laugh )
I hear they're headed up to DC.
Willie?
Hmm-mm.
Dr. Douglas and Dr. Brodus.
For what?
Can't tell by me.
Douglas went up there, what, last week?
Brodus rushed off today.
Wha-- to Washington?
Sam.
How was your trip?
Well, first the bus, then the train--
I don't know which was more excruciating.
The ground is still moving.
That's just the way I felt. So what do you think of Washington?
It's grand.
We have been most impressed with the work you've been doing
in Tuskegee, Dr. Brodus. Oh yes.
Davis, take the doctor's bag. Good work.
Your syphilis treatment program was a marvel.
Thank you. It's a pity the money dried up.
Not a pity. It's a shame.
I'd call it a crime.
But we may have a solution-- a new study,
which is why we asked you up here,
besides wanting of course to meet you in person.
Would you like a cool drink, Dr. Brodus?
You had a long trip. We've got some soda in the office here.
Sure, thank you.
Are you aware of the Oslo experiment, Dr. Brodus?
Oslo? No.
The venereal disease clinic in Oslo, Norway,
published a very interesting report.
Now they examined several hundred men with syphilis
and they came up with fascinating data.
For example,
how many men died with neurological impairment
as compared to cardiovascular--
fascinating.
Doctor, please, here.
Thank you.
Here's the report.
Take a look at it yourself.
There's an English précis in the back.
Coca-Cola,
root beer, orange Crush, sarsaparilla?
Whatever.
I believe, Dr. Brodus,
that we have in Macon County
an extraordinary opportunity.
They studied only white people.
We believe the Negro people
deserve the same chance to be studied.
Studied?
No, we need money for treatment.
We can get money for this.
The federal government will pick up the whole tab--
not of course the 1400 patients that we've already been treating.
But we can study 400 men with syphilis,
200 non-contagious as a control group.
No more depending on outsiders.
Root beer all right?
Fine, thank you.
We need your help.
We need Tuskegee.
Now you seem skeptical.
No.
Well... ( chuckles )
maybe a little.
Sam, this is for real.
It's important to know whether the Negro
reacts to syphilis the same way as the white man.
Well, suppose that race doesn't make a difference
and that the Negro reacts the same to syphilis as the white man?
Well, we'll want to know that too, wouldn't we?
This is science, after all. We want the truth.
Regardless of race, creed or color.
The stamping out of disease--
that's what this office is dedicated to,
for all the people, Dr. Brodus, all of them.
And you want to repeat the Norwegian study,
except with the Negro male?
That's right. Now we have additional--
But it says here Oslo was done between 1891 and 1910.
That means there was no treatment then.
These men were untreated.
They studied untreated men with syphilis.
Yes, that's right.
No treatment?
How could we do that?
The only way to get a pure result.
Uncontaminated by drugs or other medicine.
That's the beauty of it.
The beauty of it? The beauty of it?
I'm a doctor, for God's sakes, and so are you.
Our patients come before anything else.
Do you think I don't know that, Sam?
I've been agonizing over this.
First, do no harm.
We're not talking forever here.
Six months, maybe a year to get the facts,
then we let the facts speak for themselves.
This study will make medical history.
It will wipe out centuries of ignorance
about the mechanism of disease being related to race.
If we do this right, I tell you,
we will get the money for treatment,
federal money. Do you really believe that?
Sam,
this is more than just an opportunity
to keep our project alive.
Think of it.
We will be federally financed.
We'll have momentum. You know what it's like
with federal programs once they get started-- you can't stop them.
And you can build Tuskegee into a major research center
and finally prove what Negro nurses and doctors are capable of.
Now think of what good you could do
with a program like that.
We've already run out of medicine.
Our patients aren't being treated anyway.
This study is the only chance we have.
And the men would be studied
the same as at Oslo?
Exactly the same-- periodic examinations,
X-rays, bloodwork.
We do a spinal tap to check for neurologic syphilis.
We give them the works, the very best we have.
But this is the only way the results can be pure.
And what would the study be called?
Exactly what it is--
"The Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male."
"The Tuskegee Study
of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male."
Fine.
( sighs )
This will bring us back to treatment, Sam, you'll see.
Sir.
Hey, Janice.
You got the money. Shh.
Honey, you know better than to run in this ward.
That's all right, Nurse Parsons.
Ask them for the results as quickly as possible.
Okay. Thank you.
You got the money. You can start back at work next week.
Oh my. Oh my my.
You actually got those white people to listen.
Dr. Douglas will be back from Washington next week,
so I want you to be ready to help him with whatever he needs.
Doctor, I was born ready.
Now...
about the program--
I can't wait to get started. We'll be just studying them.
I've been studying. I know all about studying.
We've been treating them.
We'll just be studying them.
No treatment?
Not for syphilis. Oh.
Why?
This study will bring the money for treatment
in about six months to a year.
Well, what do we tell the men? What do we do?
Nothing.
I don't understand.
We've been giving them the mercury rubs
and we just don't do that?
Well, we'll continue with the rubs,
but we'll be using liniment instead of mercury.
They won't know the difference.
And with the additional money,
we'll give them aspirin
and tonic and vitamins--
things they've never had before.
I guarantee you, they'll feel much much better.
Until they don't.
I don't think you heard me.
It won't be forever.
Just six months?
Or a year.
And they'd be first in line for the treatment?
I promise you.
All right, young fellow,
this is gonna kill the germs that are making you sick.
Do you believe me?
Well, you'd better believe me.
I'm the doctor.
Right, Nurse Evers?
Yes, Doctor.
And the doctor knows, doesn't he?
Yes, he does.
And he cares.
Oh, yes.
So you'd better believe me
when I tell you
that everything's gonna be all right.
Right, Nurse?
Right, Doctor.
What are you doing up this time of night?
Remember that job I got offered in Birmingham--
nursing supervisor?
That was a whole year ago.
Well, I'm writing to see if it's still open.
Why are you doing that?
You're going back to work right back here.
I don't know if I want to.
You don't know if you want to?
Eunice, what's the matter?
What's wrong?
It's as new program, Papa. They're not gonna treat the men.
Not for a while anyway, at least six months,
and then they'll start back when they get more money.
So?
They're not gonna treat the men, Papa.
Well, six months ain't all that long.
You jump down, turn around, six months have been gone.
Besides, they're the doctors, ain't they?
You think you know better than the doctors? I think this is different.
Yes, this is different.
You're not gonna be cleaning them toilets anymore.
I seen how it done took all the pride right out of you.
There are worse things than cleaning toilets, Papa!
Eunice.
Each of us has got to bear his burden in the heat of the day.
You got your burden.
I got mine.
We do what the Lord gives us to do.
( band playing )
( crowd exclaims )
Crowd: Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
( song ends ) ( cheering and applause )
Caleb: How are y'all doing?
Let's go on inside.
Men: All right now, we're here. All right.
Here we are. ( chattering )
Ben: We did it.
Hey, Caleb, why don't you and Miss Evers have a seat right here?
I'll go over here and get some shine, be on back, all right?
Okay, sit down, Miss Evers.
I see the joint, but where's the juke?
Oh, the band is likely taking a break.
It'll hot up in a minute.
I see you got trouble on your mind.
Man: Give me five counts.
You a mind-reader, Caleb?
Don't take a whole lot of reading with you.
It's written all over your face.
( quiet music playing )
I'm thinking about leaving here.
Don't you want to know why, or where, or when even?
I figured you want to tell me-- you'll tell me.
There's a supervisor job up in Birmingham.
Mm-hmm. I'm thinking about taking it.
It's a step up the ladder for me.
Cat got your tongue, Caleb?
That ain't your characteristic.
It's just that we done got used to having you back with us.
I was away for months, and y'all did just fine.
But you was around.
We could count on you if need be,
know where to find you.
You just don't understand, huh?
I do. I do, Caleb. I just--
some things you just can't keep on doing, on account of
you might get twisted up in your mind.
What things?
The men gonna drown without you.
Hey.
Look here what we got--
now this here is the best shine in the county.
If this don't clean out bad blood, nothing will.
( men laugh )
Here's to all of us. We did good tonight, boys.
Yes sir. Miss Evers' Boys. All right, all right.
Gillee! ( music stops )
Damn it, gillee!
Gillee gillee gillee.
All: Gillee gillee. Woman: Ooh! Come on!
Gillee gillee gillee
gillee gillee...
Man: Come on, gillee gillee.
I see you. Come on.
Do it. Damn it. Ooh!
Gillee, come on, come on, gillee.
( laughing )
Pick it up, come on, hey hey hey!
Ya-hey!
Dance it out, Willie.
Come on. Come on, Miss Evers.
Go. Go, Eunice.
( all encouraging )
Caleb: Get on up, yeah.
Willie: Gillee gillee. Caleb: There you go.
Oh, look out now. There she goes.
Yeah yeah.
Come on, work it.
Yeah.
Work it, work it.
Oh, yeah.
Caleb: Ooh.
( insects chirping )
Eunice: I knew I wasn't going anywhere.
I knew that night
that I would never leave.
So we picked out 412 men and started over.
This time around the government gave us all the money we needed.
First we'll do some baseline bloodwork
to screen out contagion.
Only the men with nothing but syphilis
will be considered for this study.
Then we'll follow up with spinal taps.
There may be a problem there. A lot of men don't know what a spinal tap is,
and if they think it's not treatment, they won't come in.
Well, they have to come in.
We have to make them believe that nothing has changed.
Are there any ideas?
What about you, Nurse Evers? You always seem to have the answer.
Oh, I don't even know, Doctor.
Well, Nurse Evers, I'm relying on you.
If this program is to be a success,
we must all put our best foot forward.
Back shots.
What's that?
Tell them it's back shots. They know about shots.
We've given them injections. If we call them back shots,
they'll think it's part of the treatment.
Okay, so we'll give them back shots.
( playing tune on harmonica )
I don't want you to worry, Willie.
Nurse Evers is here to take care of you.
Eunice: Mm-hmm. It's very important
that you don't move,
especially once the needle has entered the spinal canal.
My what?
It's a part of your back. Don't fret.
Okay, now you mustn't move then,
because the needle could damage the nerves that go into your legs.
Oh no, I can't do it. See, I need my legs, Miss Evers.
No no, Willie. No, Miss Evers, I need my legs to dance on.
I can't do this. That's why it's important for you to lay still now.
You'll be up and hopping around in no time. Willie, lay down, come on.
It's gonna be okay, Willie. Just don't move.
I'll be right here with you. Come on, relax.
Here's to clean you up a little bit.
Listen to that music. That is so sweet.
It must be Hodman playing. ( chuckles )
You know, Dr. Douglas, we got the best harmonica player
in the South right here in Alabama.
Now you don't say. Mm-hmm. Ain't that true?
Hey, how come that needle's so big?
I ain't never seen no needle that color, Miss Evers.
That's a gold needle. Lay down. It's real gold?
Yeah.
It's real gold, Willie.
Ain't nothing too good for the colored.
Don't move, Willie.
Okay, now take a deep breath.
( screams ) ( music stops )
Go, gillee gillee gillee gillee.
Go, gillee. Step, turn, jump. Yes, Willie, yes.
Leap.
( screams )
Very important to stay still, Willie.
Willie. ( screams )
( grunts )
( Willie screams )
All right, we got it.
It's okay. That's okay.
Look, there. You did good.
Yes, come on, breathe. Come on, it's over.
It's over.
You're a brave man, Willie Johnson.
You're a champ, you know that?
You're a real champ.
Next.
I guess I scared them all away.
I guess you're gonna have to round them all up again, huh?
I guess I do.
♪ ♪
♪ Steal away ♪
♪ To Jesus ♪
♪ Steal away... ♪
My granddaddy was a slave
and they buried him just like that.
Now slaves are free, and we are still
burying them in bags.
How are we gonna bring them back, Nurse?
I know they're scared and-- and--
they already have enough pain in their lives,
but we have to get them to see that it's for their own good.
Maybe if we trusted enough to tell the truth.
We made a decision, a wise decision.
Now they will get treatment.
( laughs ) But first we have to get them back.
And how are we gonna do that?
Oh, come on now, you always have good ideas.
Sometimes I don't.
Woman: ♪ Steal away home ♪
♪ I ain't got long... ♪
( women sobbing )
♪ To stay ♪
♪ Here. ♪
Money.
What about money?
Give them each some money--
$50.
Bribe them back?
It's life insurance,
so they can be buried in a coffin
instead of a feed bag.
I can always count on you, can't I?
Eunice: The burial money got them back all right,
all but Caleb.
I thought sure he was gonna move north, like he said.
All this belonged to your brother?
Mm-hmm.
Owned it free and clear too.
So are you still thinking about leaving here?
( chuckles )
No, I ain't thinking about leaving here no more.
Well, you can't leave
until you finish your treatment.
I ain't thinking about no treatment either.
Your family is here, I guess.
I ain't thinking about my family neither.
I'm thinking about you and me,
Caleb and Eunice.
Mm, I like that name-- Eunice.
I don't.
Never did.
It's got a "nice" in it.
Eunice--
you-nice.
You nice, Eunice.
Real nice.
Wait.
Wait, now you told me I was all right,
wasn't nothing I couldn't do.
You are.
You didn't just tell me that 'cause of something you don't want me to know, did you?
No, it's not you.
Look here, Eunice, we can't keep teasing
like we're still in school now.
If you don't want me, I can handle it.
I want you, Caleb.
You know that.
I'm on a different road is all.
Ain't no road we can't take together, woman.
See, I can't be with you
and have a lie in my heart.
What lie?
Eunice.
Come on now.
Tell me what lie.
I-- I can't.
You can't?
That's it? That's all you got to say-- you can't?
You fixing to throw us away for something you can't even tell me?
Caleb, I care about you.
No, when you care about somebody,
you're out in the open with them.
Now you call it something else.
I don't know what else to call it.
It sound like you're calling it goodbye.
I'm sorry.
You're sorry.
First you can't, now you're sorry.
You're sorry
because you can't.
Two words.
That's all we are to you-- two words?
I can't tell you any more.
Yeah well,
I hope what you're getting
is better than what you're giving up.
Eunice: And the years went on.
They had said that there would be
treatment in six months.
But the six months became a year,
and a year became two,
and then six,
and we were just waiting.
And all that time, Miss Evers,
you kept the secret?
You never told any of the men what was being done to them?
Oh, I wanted to tell them. I surely did.
I just wanted to tell them straight out,
"You're not being treated, but you have to stick with it,
so when the money comes through, you'll be the first in line."
But they said that the men wouldn't understand
and then they'd be lost to the program forever,
and none of us wanted that, Senator.
So we-- we rubbed them
with liniment instead of the mercury.
We gave them aspirins
and vitamins and everything.
And, you know,
before you know it, how time passes.
It was-- 10 years had passed
and the men just hadn't had treatment.
But we kept on studying them.
But, Miss Evers, isn't it true
that as early as 1942,
penicillin had become widely available
as an effective treatment for syphilis.
Now wasn't this made known to you in the study?
Yes, we knew it.
But there were other medical concerns, Senator.
Brodus: You mix it with saline solution
and then you give it by injection.
Now tell the men
that it stings.
Actually it hurts like hell...
so maybe we should just go ahead and tell them the truth.
We do that once in a while.
Looks like gold.
Well, it's more precious than gold. It saves lives.
Now I want to use this for the blood poisoning case first,
then the pneumonia case, and then--
When will our men get it?
Doctor?
Well, we're still studying that, but with syphilis
there are potentially some very dangerous side effects.
But they'll get it?
We could mix this with distilled water,
but I prefer saline solution.
Now there are a million units in each bottle,
which means we'll have to work out the dosage for each case.
Okay.
Thank you, Nurse. Thank you.
Excuse me.
Doctor, could you look at these, please?
♪ ♪
( cheering and applause )
Where's Caleb? He ain't been to the clinic all week.
Oh, you know Caleb now. Sometimes-- he just takes off sometimes.
He's gonna be here. He'd better be. We're going on soon.
Ow!
Oh oh man.
What's that? Willie!
Willie, you all right?
Ben: What's wrong with you, Willie? What's wrong?
My legs, man, my legs. What's wrong with them?
Oh oh man.
I'm sorry, Miss Evers. I didn't mean to holler out like that.
You're in pain, it's okay to holler.
Oh man. Just all of a sudden
my legs just give way on me.
Willie, we've got to have you.
I'm scared. I'm scared, Miss Evers.
I'm losing it. I'm losing it. No no.
I know I'm losing it. Don't say that, Willie.
You the star attraction, Willie.
Right, Willie. See, if you lose it, we all gonna lose.
You're okay, Willie. It's going. It's going!
No no, it's not. Come on, Willie. Shh shh.
You can't be thinking like that. Let me work on these legs.
Now what you do is, you drink your quart of that tea
at the beginning of the month-- you'll be just fine.
You'll be double-fly stepping in no time at all. Yes, you will.
He needs some new doctor.
What are you doing in that costume?
Ain't no costume. It's a uniform.
You joined the army?
I figured it's my war just like it is theirs.
I know what you're thinking, Nurse.
You want to know how I got in
with bad blood, huh?
Got me one of them penicillin shots.
You get one of them in you, that Wassermann test don't show nothing bad.
The army couldn't wait to take a fine specimen like me.
You're just gonna get yourself killed.
Well, at least I get killed for something.
Agh! That's what he needs-- one of them penicillin shots.
He's getting the best of care.
( song ends ) ( cheering and applause )
Yeah! Yeah! That's right.
And now, from Macon County, Miss Evers' Boys!
Willie: That's us. You hear me, Nurse?
The way you're talking to her like that, Caleb,
what is wrong with you? 'Cause you got on a uniform?
Miss Evers, you done rubbed all the pain out of me.
Ain't nothing standing between me and my ticket to the Cotton Club.
Hey, Caleb, are you coming with us?
It's what I'm here for. All right.
( cheering and applause )
Watch yourself.
( screams ) ( band stops playing )
Men: That's all right. That's all right.
Come on, Willie. Come on.
( band resumes playing )
( stops playing )
( resumes )
They have to have penicillin.
I'm afraid we can't allow that.
Why not?
How long do these men have to wait around?
First in line, that's what you said.
That's what you told me. That was the promise.
Now there's a drug that can help and--
Penicillin cannot undo the damage that's already been done.
It could keep them from getting worse.
It may also kill them.
Penicillin?
Some chronic syphilitics
suffer a fatal allergic reaction to penicillin.
It's called the Herxheimer reaction. Now that's been proven.
Washington's doing a study right now to determine the degree of risk.
They're giving it all over the county.
Caleb Humphries got it. He's fine.
He's in the goddamn army!
Excuse my language.
Dr. Douglas: Caleb was lucky.
Yes, penicillin is very effective
in primary and secondary cases,
but for those who have entered the tertiary stage,
like the men in our study, it cannot cure
and it may also kill. For those men,
the study needs to go to the endpoint.
We already have 10 years of data.
10 years is not the endpoint.
What is then?
We have to validate our facts
through autopsy, Nurse Evers.
That is the endpoint.
That will make it science, not guesswork.
We-- we're gonna wait for them to die?
Science is sometimes a hard taskmaster, Nurse Evers.
You think I like not treating them? No.
But we have to finish the study.
We have a chance to make history here.
History?
Let me talk to her.
Once when I was doing my residency
back home, up north,
I had to do two autopsies at the same time--
two young men lying next to one another,
one white, one colored.
And I got the hearts mixed up.
I didn't know which went in where.
And I remember
holding onto those hearts for a long time
and examining every detail.
And then finally I just closed my eyes,
put a heart in each body
and then just sewed them up--
that simple.
Forget about
making history.
Think about making change,
change in the way people think,
pushing past the hate, pushing past the idea
of difference.
We're showing
once and for all,
through the nobility of scientific proof,
that when it comes to disease,
ironically,
we're all the same.
Dr. Brodus, why do I feel like I'm being taken up over the hill?
How's that?
It's when somebody says, "Do you see that hill there?
You just gotta climb that hill."
And when you get up that hill,
you see there's another hill beyond, even higher.
And they they say, "See, that's the top right up there."
And so you climb again.
And sure enough, you get there and there's another hill.
And by then you have just come so far,
you figure you might as well go on the rest of the way.
That's being taken up over the hill, Dr. Brodus.
Well,
you come of your own free will.
I thought I was doing good.
You are. You are doing good.
Don't ever let go of that.
You're doing good for those men
and you are doing good for the Negro people.
Why can't I look them in the face without crying?
We all want to cry, but we have to be strong.
And you are a strong woman.
And I know that you'll do what you are
called to do, Nurse Evers.
Come on, Willie.
Excuse me, Nurse, we're here to get this man a penicillin shot.
Name?
Willie-- Willie Johnson.
Can't help you.
Why not?
Name's on the list.
What list is that, ma'am?
The Tuskegee study-- no penicillin allowed.
How come I can't get a shot like Caleb got a shot?
I want-- I mean, I come--
Never mind, Willie. Come on, we'll just go somewhere else.
Nurse: Won't help.
They sent the list to everybody.
Why they ain't give me no shot?
Don't worry about it now. We're gonna go down here...
I mean, I ain't never done nothing to nobody. But you got a place?
Yeah, I'm gonna carry you over there now.
Willie! What did you do?
They don't want to give me the penicillin in here.
Caleb's gonna take me to a place where I can get it.
Go on up in there. They say I'm on some kind of list.
Don't worry about it. Oh, Willie, that shot could have kill you.
I'm still standing. You're just lucky.
Penicillin could be dangerous for him.
Well, why me and not him?
You're different.
Why? I don't know. Nobody knows.
But we can't take that chance. Listen to me, Willie.
Yes? It could have exploded your heart.
Caleb, you ain't said nothing about my heart exploding.
He don't know. I know.
You go ahead on with her, Willie.
But, Caleb, you said you were gonna take me to get the penici--
Never mind about what I said. Now go ahead on with her.
Willie, it's for your own good.
She's gonna see to it you don't get it nowhere.
Caleb.
Yeah, I know, the doctors know best.
Boy, they got a good one when they found you, Nurse.
I got a train to catch anyhow.
( starts engine )
Don't get yourself shot.
I'll be lucky if they let me near a gun.
Hey, Willie.
Yeah?
You dance them down, you hear?
Bye, Caleb.
He's a good man, Miss Evers.
Yeah, he is.
Miss Evers.
Yeah?
Ben is feeling poorly. I know.
He's got trouble with his eyes
and his legs too.
Now that only leaves me and Hodman for the gillee.
Hey, Miss Evers.
Hmm?
You think I'm still gonna make it to the Cotton Club?
I'm gonna get me a new hat and sit right up on the front row.
You telling me straight?
I'm gonna see you through this, Willie, you hear me?
I ain't left you yet, and I'm not leaving you now.
We're gonna see this through together.
Hey, you know, I've been thinking.
Hmm?
You know about the Cotton Club.
Know what?
They don't allow no coloreds
in the audience, only on the stage.
I guess I'll just get me a chair
and sit up there on the stage.
Eunice: I had heard that Caleb had been sent overseas,
but a long time went by with no word from him,
so I had started to think
that he'd gotten himself killed.
Meanwhile, I did my best,
but the men got steadily worse.
Hodman: Hey now, hey now...
Eunice: The disease took their bodies
and their minds. Hodman: Hey now...
Eunice: Hodman started thinking he could cure himself.
Hodman: We're gonna do this now.
Hey now, hey now.
We're gonna do this now.
Hodman?
Hey now, hey now.
Hodman.
Hey there.
What you doing out here, Miss Evers?
Looking for you.
Where is your family?
They're gone to my mama's.
They say I ain't no good for them like this.
You need to come in for your treatment,
you and them friends of yours.
No.
I gots my own treatment right here, Miss Evers.
See?
Just burn these spiderwebs
and look hard into the smoke.
It's good for the eyesight too.
That sounds fine to me.
But seems like it'd be twice as powerful
if you do that and the treatment.
They work together,
kind of feeding one another.
You think so, huh?
I know so.
Twice as powerful?
Mm-hmm.
Come on.
Come on back with me now.
You done blown enough smoke for today.
Eunice: As bad as Hodman was,
Ben was the first to fall.
( coughing )
( wheezing )
Hello, Ben.
Miss Evers?
Now don't tell me you don't recognize
your old girlfriend. How are you doing?
Hi.
( hoarsely ) I guess I'm dying, Miss Evers,
the way these people
are all tiptoeing all around me all the time.
You ain't dead yet, Ben. You're a tough customer.
I just feel
all wore down all the time, Miss Evers.
Well, I got something to raise you right up.
It's from the United States government.
It's for me?
Mm-hmm, you and all the other men.
It is a certificate
of appreciation
and 10 whole dollars.
A dollar for every year
you've been in the program.
They paying us for having the bad blood?
They're showing their appreciation for what you boys done.
I ain't done nothing, Miss Evers,
except get sick.
You know, I ain't had this much cash money
since we got that $50 for the burial.
( wheezing )
I'm going blind too.
Ain't that a treat?
Nothing more you can do for me, is there?
We tried everything we can.
I know you have.
There ain't a day that go by--
We all know, Miss Evers.
Hey, you see,
you didn't make us sick.
And you done all that you can
to make us well.
You can't do no more than that, Miss Evers.
You're gonna be okay, Ben.
No.
No, I ain't, Miss Evers.
But I appreciate you saying it.
Miss Evers.
Hmm?
You wait till you see that coffin
old Ben done picked out for hisself.
Oh, it's red,
it's blue,
it's green, it's yellow.
It's a doozy, Miss Evers. ( sobs )
You're gonna be real proud.
You're gonna be so proud.
What are you doing now?
What does it look like I'm doing?
Do you know what time it is?
You're keeping me awake with all that chopping.
You always say you can't sleep anyway.
Well, tonight I was sleeping, sleeping good.
Eunice.
If you're mad about something,
don't take it out on the wood.
Go after what you're mad about.
Ben's dead, Papa.
Hodman's going insane.
I'm mad at the world.
Well, you ain't gonna fix it chopping wood.
All you're gonna do is keep me up all night.
Suppose there's nothing else you can do.
If you believed that,
you'd never become a nurse in the first place.
I'm gonna get me some milk.
You want some?
Be sure to warm it.
( man moaning )
( knocks )
Hello, Hodman.
What you got there?
Turpentine?
You gonna peel the paint off of something?
I'm making me some new medicine.
Yeah? I hear turps is good for moles,
but I got something new.
Penicillin.
For me?
I thought you didn't want us taking that stuff.
Well, I think you need it now, Hodman.
I do think you need it.
Why?
Them haints you've been seeing--
I don't want them bothering you.
You think they ain't there.
I think you need penicillin.
But now I gotta warn you, you could have a bad reaction.
Chances are you won't,
but you gotta know that going in.
You think I should do it?
As long as you know what you're doing.
You know what you're doing, Hodman?
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Yeah yeah.
How bad that bad reaction?
It's bad enough.
But I'm gonna stay right here with you.
If you're okay after 12 hours,
you're free and clear.
All right.
Just tell me what I gotta do.
( rooster crows )
Hodman.
Hodman!
( Hodman chanting )
( trilling )
( barking )
No, Hodman, don't drink it! It's poison!
( screams )
No!
Hodman, come on. Come on.
Oh God. Come on.
It's good medicine, Miss Evers,
Come on. It's all gone now.
Yeah, baby skipped on home.
I told you. ( laughing )
Come on, Hodman.
Yes, Miss Evers.
( gasping breaths ) Come on, Hodman!
Stand up. Come on.
Stand up, come on.
( screaming )
Come on, come on, Hodman.
Oh my God.
I'm gonna get you some help.
Come on, just hang on. I'm gonna get you some help.
Hang on.
I killed him.
What you might expect--
he died from swallowing 32 ounces of turpentine.
But there were
certain other elements
consistent with the Herxheimer reaction.
What other elements? Nothing you could prove out for sure.
But the penicillin could have killed him.
Well, there's no real proof,
just an indication.
Officially I'm calling it death by self-inflicted poisoning.
But you know what you did.
Stealing medicine--
you go to jail for that.
Giving that man that injection
violated the protocol of the study.
It could have disgraced the institute. I wasn't thinking about the study.
Well, I have to, Nurse Evers!
I know that there are people just waiting out there for us to fail,
hoping that we will fail, so they can keep saying
that Negroes are stupid, incompetent,
good for nothing, inferior.
But I'm willing to forget what you did.
The man was in a state of dementia.
It was just a matter of time.
You are their nurse, Miss Evers.
Doctor, we're sacrificing them for something I can't even stand up for.
Yes! Yes, we are. I can't keep looking in their faces.
For reasons they will never understand,
for reasons that are greater than any one of them,
the greater good for the race!
I am not going up over that next hill.
Oh yeah? Where are you gonna go?
They don't just let us go where it's nice and flat.
It's all hills for us. We either climb or we stay at the bottom.
That's the only choice they give us!
Now you knew that when you became part of the program.
Now if you want to leave, that's your privilege.
But the men will miss you.
( door slams )
Eunice: I stayed. I didn't back out.
I went up over that next hill.
And sure enough, there was another hill after that,
and another.
You see, Senator,
they still needed my help.
I couldn't save them,
but there were things that I could do for them,
things that I owed them--
simple comforts,
like knowing that somebody cared.
The war ended
and we went right on taking care of them.
Lying, yes, but taking care.
Willie: Hey, Miss Evers. Hmm?
Come on, Doc, tell her where you've been.
You know where he's been?
I know. He's been up north.
He went back to the Cotton Club.
Men: The Cotton Club?
Yeah.
I had to go to a meeting in New York,
so I thought I'd stop in and get old Willie a report.
Say he saw Ruby Blue.
Ruby Blue? He saw him?
Say he was scatting and leaping
and doing the stair dance.
( scatting )
( men murmuring )
Isn't that right, Doc? Like that?
Well, sort of.
What do you mean, sort of?
What was he doing that was different?
Well, he was moving both feet
in different rhythms
at the same time, kind of like this.
( men laugh )
That's all right.
So he was like two different people
dancing on the same legs?
Yeah.
Man, that's nice.
That's new.
Hey, I could use that.
Where do they got stairs around here?
Oh, I know.
Yeah. Excuse me, Doc.
That was nice of you.
But he shouldn't be doing stairs. He might hurt hisself.
( Willie scatting )
Willie. I'm okay, Doc.
I'm all right. I'm all right.
Just... here.
Are you okay?
I just need time, Doc.
I understand.
I just need a little more time. I'll get it, you know.
I understand. Why don't you take a little rest now?
Come on.
Hey, Doc.
What did you say--
that he was dancing
on different rhythms
on different legs at the same time?
That's right. Well, you just about had it there.
Oh, come on now, Doc, I ain't have it like that.
Hey, but you know, you didn't dance too bad.
Oh, go on.
Hey, let me see you cut a step.
Go on, cut one.
Go ahead.
( laughs )
How was that?
( laughing loudly )
You're a better doctor than you are a dancer.
( dogs barking ) ( chickens clucking )
( children chattering ) ( gate opens )
You need some new tires on your car.
There's a war on.
Yeah, I heard.
I see you got yourself some medals.
They ain't really medals.
They just tell where I've been.
Africa,
Sicily, Italy.
You know, they got colored folks in Africa.
You're joshing me.
No, colored all over.
You're looking good, Eunice.
You look good too, Caleb.
You back here for good now?
No. Corinna's kids grown enough
to look after the place their own self now.
You just come back to see them?
I come back for you.
You know, most folks think
that the war is fighting
and shooting, carrying on.
It really ain't nothing but a whole bunch
of sitting around, waiting.
I did a whole lot of thinking while I was over there, see.
They say thinking's good for the soul.
I thought a lot about you and me
and how we messed it up, how I let you get away.
No, you didn't let me. I did it, Caleb.
It was a mistake is what it was. We all make mistakes.
Come on now, Eunice. Don't go skating around on me now. Listen.
I don't want us to make the same mistake again.
Caleb, we haven't seen each other for five years.
I haven't heard from you in five years.
I'm back now. That's all that counts.
I got a job up north, soon as I get discharged,
a steel-making plant outside of Chicago.
A platoon buddy of mine got me in the unit.
Now they got hospitals all around Chicago.
You could get a job. They always need nurses.
We could have a real nice life, Eunice.
Give me a minute here.
I'll say one thing for you, Caleb Humphries,
you know how to lay it on a girl.
Here, feel this.
I got the palpitations.
You want to sit down?
Hmm?
No.
I can't.
What, you can't? You still saying that to me?
I can't leave here.
You could stay.
No, I can't.
Not even for you.
My life here is over, Eunice.
I got to go somewhere where I got a chance.
Now I want you to come with me.
How long has it been now?
10, 12 years?
You've done all you could. Eunice, nobody could do
more than what you've done. You've been there for them day and night.
The program's not finished. There's a lot of work-- What more can you do?
I can be here for them.
And watch them die, is that it?
Holding their hands till they go blind, purple or crazy?
Put your hat on for funerals?
Remember what you said once? You said that the men would drown without me.
They're dying with you.
Ain't no more Miss Evers' Boys.
Miss Evers' Boys is through.
Ain't nothing holding you here, woman.
You just don't know what it's like.
What I got to know?
I know I want you with me.
I know you want to be with me.
Known it all these years.
Eunice, we've been foolish to stay apart.
Caleb. Why? 'Cause your daddy's looking?
No. All he's gonna see is that his little girl's
a grown woman.
Mm-- hmm-mm.
What did you prove, Caleb?
That you want me.
I have always wanted you.
Then come north with me and let's make a life together.
I can't. I owe them, Caleb.
You paid already. You don't owe--
No, I could never pay them enough.
We missed something real good, didn't we?
All right.
Best go see what time my train is leaving.
Caleb.
I am so happy
you didn't get yourself killed.
Me too.
How come we didn't get it, Eunice--
the penicillin?
You were a part of a government study.
That ain't no answer.
No, the study was the proof that--
the doctors-- they needed the pr--
the doctors are dedicated
and they know what's best.
The best was penicillin.
( sobs )
Go after him, Eunice.
Go on.
What are you hanging around here for?
Taking care of an old man is no life for you.
You're still a young woman.
And don't tell me you're staying back here because you're a nurse.
They have nursing up north too.
You've got a chance here, Eunice.
He's a good man.
All those medals on his chest.
And you're still soft for him.
I can see it. I can-- Leave me alone, Papa.
I ain't left you alone since you was a baby.
How do you expect me to start now?
You got a lot of life left, Eunice.
Don't let it all get away. I can't. I can't, Papa.
You can if you will. I can't. I can't. I cannot.
You always tell me to do what's right, don't you?
Well, what I'm doing is right.
It's--
it's got to be right, Papa.
It was right.
It had to be right.
The men kept dying.
But they would have died anyway, wouldn't they?
I prepared a report every spring
on the number of them remaining.
412 in 1946,
360 ten years later.
And then last year
when the papers got ahold to the story,
it was 127 left.
( crowd murmuring )
Of the 412 that we started with,
127 were left.
And of Miss Evers' Boys,
it was just two.
That's Willie and...
Caleb.
I had heard
that he got the job up north.
He never married.
So that brings us to Washington, DC.
I guess none of us ended up where we thought we would.
Senator: I simply don't understand, Miss Evers.
Much as we may appreciate your personal sacrifice,
the fact remains that patients
with a potentially fatal disease
went untreated
when treatment was available.
It was for the greater good.
Whose good, Miss Evers?
Who has benefited?
We proved that there's no difference
between how black and whites respond to syphilis.
The benefit of the--
If they were white, Miss Evers,
if they were white,
would these men have been treated as they were?
You should know better than anyone.
Yes, I do, Senator. If they had been white,
your Public Health Service would never have agreed
to do this study in the first place. They wouldn't have dared.
If they had been white, you congressmen
wouldn't have voted every year for 40 years.
If they had been white, somebody would have said something before now,
because everybody knew what was going on. It wasn't no secret.
But because they were black, nobody cared.
Because they were black, you,
the U.S. government, thought that they were expendable.
Now you're trying to push the blame off on me
and the fine doctors who did the best we could
for the choice you gave us to make--
whether to leave those men in neglect
or to give them the best care that was within our power to give them.
Nursing them men was my life, mister.
We're not trying to blame you, Miss Evers.
We understand you were acting under orders--
orders from Dr. Brodus
and the others.
I went up that hill on my own.
I can carry the weight of the burden by myself.
But, Miss Evers, what in the world
did you think you were doing?
Honoring my oath as a nurse, Senator.
I loved those men.
They were susceptible to kindness.
And I gave them all that I had.
Willie: Gillee gillee gillee gillee.
Gillee gillee. Oh, gillee gillee.
Oh. Gillee gillee gillee.
You sure could dance.
( continues muttering )
Your feet went faster than the music.
( chuckles )
Gillee gillee gillee.
Oh, come on.
Dancing's over.
Come on.
Willie: I was dancing on the stairs
just like Ruby Blue. Mm-hmm.
( Willie scatting )
( woman vocalizing )
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Show me ♪
♪ Lord ♪
♪ Mm ♪
♪ If there's a way ♪
♪ Show me ♪
♪ Lord ♪
♪ I can't see ♪
♪ Tomorrow ♪
♪ And I can't hide ♪
♪ My sorrow ♪
♪ If there's a way out ♪
♪ Won't you show me ♪
♪ Lord? ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
♪ And if there's a heaven ♪
♪ Would you take me ♪
♪ Lord? ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ If there's a heaven ♪
♪ Don't forsake me ♪
♪ Lord ♪
♪ Oh, there's no place ♪
♪ To run ♪
♪ You know everything ♪
♪ That I've done ♪
♪ If there's a heaven ♪
♪ Would you still take me ♪
♪ Lord? ♪