From 1932 to 1972, more than 400 Black Alabama sharecroppers and day
laborers were subjects in a government study designed to determine and
study the effects of untreated syphilis. For forty years these men
were told they were being treated for "bad blood" when, in reality,
they were simply being observed. This experiment continued despite
the availablity of a cure for syphilis. Eventually one reporter
finally broke the story to the national press (the reporter who broke
the story had tried to get the story out a few years before, but no
one was interested).