Between 1932 and 1972 the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) infected almost 400 Black people with Syphilis. The purpose of this study was to see how they would react to Syphilis when UNTREATED, even though it can be treated with Penicillin as was discovered in 1947.

The participants agreed to the study because they were never told what was being done to them and were promised free health care. It didn’t end until 1972 after a media leak exposed the study.