Art is a storyteller of a people's collective consciousness and memory. Throughout history, it has been used to document the tales of human existence. In his book, Ancestral Voices Rising Up: A Collage Series on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Obiora N. Anekwe chronicles the American tragedy of an unethical human experiment conducted on African American men. He gives the viewer a perspective of this human atrocity through the voice of art. As such, his collages speak to the ancestors of our past and transform the blues of an everyday people into a hope for human renewal. Obiora vividly reminds us all that the story of Tuskegee is one of remembrance, healing, and reconciliation.
About the Author: Obiora N. Anekwe was born in Tuskegee Institute, Alabama on the campus of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital. Reared in Lagos, Nigeria, he attended the University of Lagos Staff School as a child. He is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University (B.A, Mass Media Arts with Honors), Tuskegee University (M.Ed, Counseling and Student Development), Auburn University (Ed.D, Educational Leadership), and Columbia University in the City of New York (M.S, Bioethics with High Honors and Distinction). His early educational experiences influenced his commitment to learning, presenting, and conducting research in international education in Germany, Italy, Poland and Scotland. Before moving to New York, Obiora previously worked as a counselor, instructor, and educational coordinator in the Office of the Provost at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. In addition, he has taught undergraduate teacher education students as an adjunct instructor in Educational Foundations at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Obiora has received additional training in bioethics, healthcare, and clinical ethics from the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, Union Graduate College, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and the New York Academy of Sciences. Obiora has published in the fields of education and bioethics. His first book, Celebrating Life at 24 Hampton Place, documented the Igbo traditional life and home going celebrations of his great aunt, Catherine N. Anekwe. His second book, Chronicling the Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Essays, Research Writings, Commentaries, and Other Documented Works was co-written with his brother, Ejinkonye C. Anekwe, Ph.D. Obiora's third book, Ancestral Voices Rising Up: A Collage Series on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, was published in 2014. As a founding contributing editor and writer for the Columbia University online bioethics journal, Voices in Bioethics, Obiora has written art reviews on public health and bioethics related issues, in addition to his writings on race, gender, and vulnerable populations in human subjects research.