Ancestral lines and historic accounts of strong African American female figures are things that Oprah Winfrey connects deeply with. In her latest film, HBO's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Winfrey portrays Debra Lacks who goes on a mission to discover her mother Henrietta Lacks' story, a woman whose cancer cells (HeLa) changed medicine forever. Director George C. Wolfe, no stranger to portraying purgatories in his work, crafts the story to highlight the experiences of African Americans who fell outside of societal norms during 1950s America.
Oprah Winfrey and George C. Wolfe join Elvis Mitchell to share their respective fascinations with Henrietta Lacks as a woman and the way science and faith interlaced to create her story as well as the ways in which Winfrey leaned on Wolfe to guide her through this retelling of history.
Photo: (L-R) Oprah Winfrey, George C. Wolfe and and Rose Byrne (Quantrell D. Colbert/HBO)