The U.S. Public Health Service's Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which had deliberately withheld treatment from Black American men with syphilis since 1932, was exposed in 1972, causing a permanent crisis of trust in medical institutions.

The exposure of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1972 became a pivotal moment in African American literature. Poets such as Sonia Sanchez and Cornelius Eady addressed the profound injustices faced by Black individuals, using their work to highlight the state's indifference and the struggle for dignity.