AP national writer and visual journalist Allen Breed and intern Alyse Martin provided the first behind-the-scenes look at one of American journalism’s biggest scoops: how the AP's Jean Heller, then a 29-year-old reporter and the only woman on the wire service’s fledgling investigative team, broke the story of a notorious government experiment on Black men in rural Alabama.
For the 50th anniversary of the AP exclusive on the Tuskegee syphilis study — where 600 Black men were left untreated for venereal disease for more than 40 years — Breed was assigned to interview Heller on camera for a video that would accompany a republication of the original story that AP broke on July 25, 1972.
But after spending hours with Heller and learning the story behind the story, global investigations editor Ron Nixon decided that a separate piece on Heller was warranted. Breed assembled his video, text reporting and photos, then worked quickly to write an engaging narrative of how a federal whistleblower passed documents to AP’s Edie Lederer, who then shared them with Heller. Investigative intern Alyse Marin coproduced the compelling video featuring archival material and Breed’s interviews, including Heller and a descendant of one of the men in the study.
In photo at left, former AP investigative reporter Jean Heller works on a novel at her home in Southport, N.C., July 9, 2022. Fifty years ago Heller broke the story about the U.S. Public Health Service study in which Black men in Alabama went untreated for syphilis so researchers could document the disease’s effects. At right, a portrait of Heller while she was working for AP is displayed at her home.
AP Photo / Allen G. Breed
Although other news outlets had stories marking the 50th anniversary of the AP disclosure of the “Tuskegee Study,” no one had the key interview with Heller. The behind-the-scenes piece was one of the most-read stories on AP News for July 25, and the video drew more than 100,000 views on social media.
A copy of former Associated Press investigative reporter Jean Heller's 1972 story breaking news of the notorious “Tuskegee Study,” printed on the front page of The New York Times, hangs on a wall of her home in Southport, N.C., July 9, 2022.
AP Photo / Allen G. Breed
A man included in the “Tuskegee Study” has blood drawn by a doctor in Tuskegee, Ala., in a 1950s photo released by the National Archives.
National Archives via AP
A nurse in Alabama writes on a vial of blood taken from a participant in the “Tuskegee Study,” in a 1950s photo released by the National Archives.
National Archives via AP
President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, background, help Herman Shaw, 94, a “Tuskegee Study” victim, during a news conference in Washington, May 16, 1997. Making amends for the shameful U.S. experiment, Clinton apologized to Black men who went untreated for syphilis so researchers could document the disease’s effects.
AP Photo / Doug Mills