BALTIMORE — People in Baltimore are coming together this weekend to put the final touches on a mural honoring the legacy of Henrietta Lacks, known as the "mother of modern medicine."
Loretta Pleasant, known to the world as Henrietta Lacks, has a legacy that continues beyond her life.
Cancer cells biopsied from her cervix still contribute to discoveries in biomedical research today.
Hear from Ariana Parish, executive director of Nosreme Baltimore, as she speaks on bring the community together to honor Henrietta Lacks
Unfortunately, neither Lacks nor her family knew testing was being done on her cells.
"Unfortunately it was done without her consent, but we want to make sure we just celebrate her first," said Ariana Parish.
Parish, executive director of Nosreme Baltimore, has been working on creating a mural just outside Johns Hopkins Medicine's campus in Baltimore City to honor Lacks' life.
"How can we do something that honors Henrietta Lacks in this neighborhood because we're in the medical campus area," said Parish.
She first began planning this project in 2017.
"It's been a long time coming, but the process overall, we started maybe a year and a half ago with the organizations that we all worked with including the owner, he's been super supportive, which is nice," Parish said.
On Saturday, Nosreme Baltimore is hosting a mural community paint day from noon to 4 p.m. to finish the work artist Sean Perkins started, adding the final touches to complete the mural.
"It's the first time that we're having a mural that's for the community, so that's really exciting getting everyone to come out and paint," said Parish.
Parish says it was important to involve the community in the painting phase because they had a role in planning the mural, and it gives people a chance to be a part of history.
"Tomorrow is going to be about fun and getting everyone together and getting everyone to paint and just like to have the initial excitement about what's going to happen here," Parish said.
While the community plans to complete the mural this weekend, the grand reveal of the Henrietta Lacks mural will be September 20th.
To learn more about how you can support the legacy of Henrietta Lacks and the ongoing work of Henrietta Lacks House, click here.
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