Allen M. Hornblum | |
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Occupation | Author |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Penn State University Villanova University Temple University |
Genre | Non-fiction, history, bioethics |
Notable works |
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Website | |
www |
Allen M. Hornblum is an author, journalist and a former criminal justice official and political organizer based in Philadelphia, US. [1] He has written eight non-fiction books running the gamut from organized crime and Soviet espionage to medical ethics and sports. His first book, Acres of Skin , published in 1998, detailed unethical human medical experiments at Holmesburg Prison. The publication of Acres of Skin attracted considerable international media interest. [2] Subsequently, Hornblum wrote Sentenced to Science, a book about the experience of an African American inmate in Holmesburg prison. [3]
Hornblum's third book on medical ethics, Against Their Will, co-authored with Judith Newman and Gregory Dober was released in 2013. [1] Hornblum's latest book publication is American Colossus: Big Bill Tilden and the Creation of Modern Tennis (University of Nebraska Press, Spring, 2018). [4]
Hornblum graduated Penn State University and earned graduate degrees from Villanova [5] and Temple Universities [6]
After completing his master's degree from Villanova University, Hornblum went to Holmesburg prison to direct an adult literacy program in 1971. There, he noticed scores of inmates with arms covered in gauze pads and adhesive tape. He later learned that medical experiments had been conducted on the inmates for the last 20 years. [5] Hornblum spent 10 years as a literacy instructor and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Prison Society. [5] He was appointed to the Philadelphia Board of Prison Trustees in 1986. [7] While serving as a prison trustee, he actively participated in a proposal to allow prisoners the right to have condoms. [8] However, the proposal was voted down, requiring Mayor Wilson Goode to declare the policy himself. [9] Hornblum also served as the executive director of the Americans for Democratic Action. [10] As executive director of Americans for Democratic Action, Hornblum led or participated in a number of issue and electoral campaigns that ran the gamut from US Senate and City Council races to reproductive rights and right-to-know environmental campaigns. [11] Hornblum was appointed to the Pennsylvania Crime Commission in 1988. Designed to investigate organized crime and public corruption in the commonwealth, Hornblum was a member when the Commission investigated the criminal connections of Pa. Attorney General Ernie Preate. [12] That investigation eventually led to Preate's conviction and imprisonment. [13]
In 1990, he was appointed chief of staff of the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office. [7] Hornblum directed a number of efforts to improve and upgrade the office such as initiating a campaign to improve the dire conditions of the 7th floor cell room in City Hall. [14] He resigned from the Sheriff's Office in 1994 to research and write a book about the history of the Holmesburg medical experiments. [15] The book was released under the title Acres of Skin in 1998. [5]
He has also been lecturer of history and Urban Studies at Temple University. [16] Hornblum has lectured on his research and books at the British Medical Association, the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and numerous universities, including Columbia, Brown, Princeton, [17] Penn State, and St. Joseph's. [18] [ unreliable source? ] [16]
Hornblum has continued to write and lecture on medical and prison issues. He illuminated that the University of Pennsylvania continued to honor Dr. Kligman with professorships and lectureships despite his use of institutionalized children and prisoners as test subjects. [19]
He and Greg Dober wrote a paper on the true origins of the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study. They documented that former Surgeon General Thomas Parran was the actual creative spark behind the idea of a non-treatment study on impoverished African American sharecroppers with syphilis. [20]
Through the efforts of Hornblum and others, Penn finally issued an apology for the decades-long misuse of prisoners by famous dermatologist, Dr. Albert M. Kligman. [21] Officials at the school said they would end all departmental honors in his name. [22]
Shortly thereafter, he and a small coalition of committed activists pressured the City of Philadelphia to issue their own apology for allowing the imprisoned to be used as raw material for medical research. Mayor Jim Kenney issued the apology in 2022. [23] The Inmate Justice Coalition then pressed the College of Physicians for a similar statement shortly thereafter. [24]
The campaign continues to educate the public about this sad chapter in Philadelphia history and currently exploring the question of reparations for the survivors of the prison experiments. Hornblum's efforts have been recognized by many in the media, both domestic and foreign, and he has been featured in numerous electronic and print articles. [25] [26]
In 1998, Hornblum published a book titled Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison. The book documents clinical non-therapeutic medical experiments on prison inmates at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia from 1951 to 1974, conducted under the direction of dermatologist Albert Kligman. These abuses terminated with the scandal surrounding the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the mind control experiments of the CIA. [27] Hornblum is most critical of Kligman, who ran the experiments for two decades. [28] [29] Hornblum, along with George Holmes, also produced a documentary film about the Holmesburg Medical Research Program entitled, Acres of Skin – The Documentary. [30]
Confessions of a Second Story Man: Junior Kripplebauer and the K&A Gang is the second book by Hornblum. The book tells the story of the K&A Gang, an Irish crime group that was in existence from the early 1950s to the late 1970s in Philadelphia. [31] [32]
Sentenced to Science: One Black Man's Story of Imprisonment in America was released in 2007. It is a personal narrative of Edward (Yusef) Anthony's time at Holmesburg. [33] The book discusses the experiments conducted on Anthony and how the experiments affected his life afterwards. [3]
In 2011, Hornblum released The Invisible Harry Gold: The Man Who Gave the Soviets the Atom Bomb, a book about the life of Harry Gold, an American spy in the Soviet underground. In the mid-1940s, Gold took atomic secrets from Klaus Fuchs and gave them to the Soviet Union. Hornblum, in his book, addresses the attacks made upon Gold's character by Rosenberg supporters over the years. [34] Hornblum spent eight years researching and writing the book and interviewed over 50 people as well as obtained recordings of jail house interviews with Gold conducted by his legal team. [35]
The book was published by the Yale University Press [34] and received positive reviews from the critics. [10] [35] [36]
While researching Acres of Skin about medical experiments on inmates in Holmesburg Prison, Hornblum came across documentation about similar experiments conducted on children and infants. He started researching about such experiments in 2008. [37] In 2013, he released Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in Cold War America co-authored with Judith Newman and Gregory Dober. The book provides multiple examples of medical experiments performed on developmentally delayed and physically disabled children at multiple institutions across the US. [38] It was published by Palgrave Macmillan. [1]
Bill Tilden was one of America's greatest athletes during the "Golden Age of Sports." The first American-born player to win the Wimbledon title and the world's most dominant tennis player during the first half of the 20th century, Tilden was also a prolific author – writing over two dozen fiction and non-fiction books, and hundreds of newspaper articles – as well as a performer on stage and screen. Despite his fame and many achievements, however, he was convicted late in life on a morals charge, served time in prison, and his celebrity and lifestyle much reduced. [39]
Hornblum's latest book concerns the gruesome murder of prison inmates who took part in a prison strike in Philadelphia in 1938. He is currently writing a screenplay detailing the cooking alive of prison strike supporters. [40]
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male was a study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a group of nearly 400 African American men with syphilis. The purpose of the study was to observe the effects of the disease when untreated, though by the end of the study medical advancements meant it was entirely treatable. The men were not informed of the nature of the experiment, and more than 100 died as a result.
Tretinoin, also known as all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), is a medication used for the treatment of acne and acute promyelocytic leukemia. For acne, it is applied to the skin as a cream, gel or ointment. For acute promyelocytic leukemia, it is effective only when the RARA-PML fusion mutation is present and is taken by mouth for up to three months. Topical tretinoin is also the most extensively investigated retinoid therapy for photoaging.
Chloracne is an acneiform eruption of blackheads, cysts, and pustules associated with exposure to certain halogenated aromatic compounds, such as chlorinated dioxins and dibenzofurans. The lesions are most frequently found on the cheeks, behind the ears, in the armpits and groin region.
William Tatem Tilden II, nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional by Ray Bowers in 1931 and 1932 and Ellsworth Vines in 1933. He won 14 Major singles titles, including 10 Grand Slam events, one World Hard Court Championships and three professional majors. He was the first American man to win Wimbledon, taking the title in 1920. He also won a joint-record seven U.S. Championships titles.
Elias Victor Seixas Jr. was an American tennis player.
Holmesburg began as a Village within Lower Dublin Township, Pennsylvania. It is now a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Holmesburg was named in Honor of Surveyor General of Pennsylvania Thomas Holme, who was a cartographer.
The Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in Indiana; much of the complex grounds is in Terre Haute, though portions are in unincorporated Vigo County. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and consists of two facilities:
EA-3167 is a potent and long-lasting anticholinergic deliriant drug, related to the chemical warfare agent 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB) and to the bronchodilator drug tiotropium bromide. It was developed under contract to Edgewood Arsenal during the 1960s as part of the US military chemical weapons program, in an attempt to develop non-lethal incapacitating agents. EA-3167 has identical effects to QNB, but is even more potent and longer-lasting, with an effective dose when administered by injection of as little as 2.5 μg/kg, and a duration of 120–240 hours. However unlike QNB, EA-3167 was never weaponized or manufactured in bulk.
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present is a 2007 book by Harriet A. Washington. It is a history of medical experimentation on African Americans. From the era of slavery to the present day, this book presents the first detailed account of black Americans' abuse as unwitting subjects of medical experimentation.
Throughout history, prisoners have been frequent participants in scientific, medical and social human subject research. Some of the research involving prisoners has been exploitative and cruel. Many of the modern protections for human subjects evolved in response to the abuses in prisoner research. Research involving prisoners is still conducted today, but prisoners are now one of the most highly protected groups of human subjects
Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison is a 1998 book by Allen Hornblum. The book documents clinical non-therapeutic medical experiments on prison inmates at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia from 1951 to 1974, conducted under the direction of dermatologist Albert Kligman. The title of the book is a reference to Kligman's reaction on seeing hundreds of prisoners when he entered the prison: "All I saw before me were acres of skin"; "It was like a farmer seeing a fertile field for the first time".
Holmesburg Prison, given the nickname "The Terrordome," was a prison operated by the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Prisons (PDP) from 1896 to 1995. The facility is located at 8215 Torresdale Avenue in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia. It was decommissioned in 1995 when it closed. As of today, the structure still stands and is occasionally used for prisoner overflow and work programs.
Numerous experiments which were performed on human test subjects in the United States in the past are now considered to have been unethical, because they were performed without the knowledge or informed consent of the test subjects. Such tests have been performed throughout American history, but have become significantly less frequent with the advent and adoption of various safeguarding efforts. Despite these safeguards, unethical experimentation involving human subjects is still occasionally uncovered.
Albert Montgomery Kligman was an American dermatologist who co-invented Retin-A, the acne medication, with James Fulton in 1969. Kligman performed human experiments on inmates at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, which led to a well-documented scandal years later. The experiments intentionally exposed humans to pathogens and dioxin, and later became a textbook example of unethical experimenting on humans. He and others involved were sued for alleged injuries, but the lawsuit was dismissed due to the statute of limitations expiring.
Prison healthcare is the medical specialty in which healthcare providers care for people in prisons and jails. Prison healthcare is a relatively new specialty that developed alongside the adaption of prisons into modern disciplinary institutions. Enclosed prison populations are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases, including arthritis, asthma, hypertension, cervical cancer, hepatitis, tuberculosis, AIDS, and HIV, and mental health issues, such as Depression, mania, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These conditions link prison healthcare to issues of public health, preventive healthcare, and hygiene. Prisoner dependency on provided healthcare raises unique problems in medical ethics.
The Guatemala syphilis experiments were United States-led human experiments conducted in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948. The experiments were led by physician John Charles Cutler, who also participated in the late stages of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Doctors infected 1,300 people, including at least 600 soldiers and people from various impoverished groups with syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid, without the informed consent of the subjects. Only 700 of them received treatment. In total, 5,500 people were involved in all research experiments, of whom 83 died by the end of 1953, though it is unknown whether or not the injections were responsible for all these deaths. Serology studies continued through 1953 involving the same vulnerable populations in addition to children from state-run schools, an orphanage, and rural towns. However, the intentional infection of patients ended with the original study.
John Charles Cutler was a senior surgeon, and the acting chief of the venereal disease program in the United States Public Health Service. He is known for leading several controversial and unethical human experiments of syphilis, done under the auspices of the Public Health Service. He willfully spread syphilis and gonorrhea to unwitting patients including soldiers, prisoners, adults with leprosy, mental patients and orphan children as young as nine in the Guatemala syphilis experiments. He also conducted the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, in which African American men, not informed of the nature of the experiment, were deliberately denied treatment for syphilis.
Prison plastic surgery is plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery offered and performed to people who are incarcerated, as a means of social rehabilitation. These services were normally provided as part of a larger package of care that may include work training, psychological services, and more. Popular surgeries included rhinoplasties, blepharoplasty, facelifts, scar removal and tattoo removal. These programs began in the early 20th century and were commonplace up till the early 1990s. They took place across the US, the UK, Canada, and Mexico.
American Colossus: Big Bill Tilden and the Creation of Modern Tennis is a 2018 hardcover biography of American tennis athlete Bill Tilden written by Allen M. Hornblum, a journalist who considered Tilden a great athlete and wrongly forgotten by history. The book mostly focuses on Tilden's life as a very successful athlete who won the Wimbledon Championships, Davis Cup, and U. S. Open all multiple times. American Colossus credits Tilden with tennis's popularization and attributes his consignment to obscurity to Tilden being shunned for his sexual behavior. The Telegraph called the book "excellent", and the Northeast Times praised its narration of tennis matches. The Times Literary Supplement thought Tilden "remains in shadow" in American Colossus.