Miss Henderson Lit The Spark

Shout-out to Miss Henderson: You lit the spark that led to Frank E. Brady versifying for a worldwide audience to mark an historic moment.

“Miss Henderson”— aka Leonora Henderson — was Frank E. Brady’s English teacher at Hamden High. She saw that Frank had talent. He liked to rap. She encouraged him to try his hand at poetry — a craft at which Frank’s mother, Louise May Brady, was already accomplished. Frank wrote a poem for Miss Henderson about jazz’s cultural impact for a Black History Month celebration. And he never stopped.

“Poetry and rap,” Brady recalled discovering, ​“are cousins.”

Brady, now 34, built a career as an award-winning poet, educator, and ​“youth engagement specialist” known as ​“The Hope Dealer” (a play on dope dealer). He built enough of a reputation that he was invited to write a poem this fall for another historic commemoration: the unveiling of a statue in England of the late Henrietta Lacks. Lacks’ cells revolutionized modern medicine, contributing to the development of genetic mapping and in-vitro fertilization and polio and Covid-19 vaccines, thanks to tissues harvested without her permission or knowledge in 1951 as she was dying of cervical cancer.

Brady wrote a poem for the occasion and recited it from his downtown New Haven studio as part of a worldwide online ceremony on Oct. 4.

Brady’s poem claims Lacks’ proper place in history, recognizes the wrongs done to her, and places her story in the larger context of racial inequities and the de-valuing of Black women’s lives and contributions.

Brady spoke about the path Miss Henderson set him on, the process of writing and then reciting ​“Say Her Name” at the ceremony, and his career path during an appearance on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. Click on the video to watch his interview and hear his recite the poem; and read the poem below:

Henrietta lacks
Give me a moment, I’ll read you a lifetime
Give me a second and let’s stop time
Let’s acknowledge the truth,
Do you know what it feels like for your name to silenced Its violence
Your contributions to be a MYTH, when it should be a LEGACY SAY HER NAME
Henrietta Lacks
No longer will we let it be
These are the FACTS
Hela cells been helping heal the world well , Key components in treatments and vaccines
● Polio
● Gene mapping
● Covid 19
For every vaccine created,
impact that can’t be replicated
SAY HER NAME
Louder then the silence has been for the last 70 years Immortalize it,
Say her name!
Among the scientific breakthroughs that have been accredited SAY HER NAME
Louder then the history that’s been edited
Say Her name
A gift that keeps on giving !
FROM Baltimore to Bristol
Equity is a black woman her cells given there roses without the thorns long after she’s here to receive them
The immortal life of Henrietta lacks is a timeless turntable that keeps the world spinning
Though its been an Odyssey of acknowledgement and disavowment ​“Her Legacy Lives On“
Her name is an often overlooked detail in medical history
Her impact is an unaccredited scientific miracle
Do you believe in miracles?
They are running through your veins by the name of HeLa cells They’ve been pushing forward medical breakthroughs since 1951
You want to know what legacy looks like
A 5 foot giant fly and well put together go getter with hair done nails done everything there
​“Her Legacy Lives On“
October 4th is day that heaven received eternal HeLa cells
Yet the world is still spinning to the soundtrack of Henrietta lacks
responsible for some of the greatest scientific advancements of the last century and continue to benefit all of humanity.
It’s been
70 years since her HeLa cells changed the world
SAY HER NAME
Henrietta Lacks
an ongoing chapter of legacy , not a forgotten footnote in history ! How will you honor her?
What will you do?
You got a love song running through your veins
and you are the instrument
that plays her melody,
every time you breathe SAY HER NAME,

SO HER LEGACY LIVES ON! Henrietta Lacks