Participants
In 1932, Dr. Clark sent Dr. Raymond Vonderlehr to Tuskegee, Alabama to find a group of men with syphilis for the upcoming study. Their main target was African-American males from the age of twenty-five through sixty. Selecting the group of men was very difficult in the beginning because there were very few people that were interested. Also, the rate of people with syphilis was below than expected; USPHS estimated 35% instead 20% of the people tested contained the disease (Brandt). The study included 399 African men with syphilis and 201 African men with no disease. The researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood” and the participants were bribed with free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance.