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The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, or the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, was a United States Public Health Service (USPHS) study that ran from 1932-1972. This study was less of an experiment and more of an observation, or “study in nature,” on the course of untreated, latent syphilis in Black men. This study is highly controversial—and not just based on historical hindsight.  Racist assumptions about Black men, Black sexuality, and Blackness in general paved the way for these predominantly white scientists and social scientists to conduct their experiments without spending too much time on the moral or ethical quandaries involved—which included: misinformation, lying, sitting back and watching the spread of a communicable disease, denial of treatment when one became available, and even prohibiting others from providing treatment when or if these patients sought it out on their own.