A similar story (gifted), no pay out though.
I read that earlier today. It's really tragic, on so many levels. I'm not certain how pertinent it is to this particular issue re: the HeLa cells and their origins and the controversy over whether or not her descendants deserve any compensation for having their rights to privacy violated.
It'd be the part about the Smithsonian removing a portion of her brain.
I think that today, we are finding that we are more and more asked to look beyond our own comfortable (or not) or at least familiar perspective of How the World Is to How the World Is For People Not Like Me.
I think since the 1960s, there has been a very slowly expanding sense of self-awareness, from wondering whether rivers should burn, if we can breather the air, to whether African Americans are people too. These days, we have questioned zoos and animal based theme parks. We are even slowly coming around to the issue of stolen antiquities. Those that had no voice are starting to have one, and our awareness shifts as a result. Of course, we also have to drag other people who are clawing their fingers in the dirt to stop from moving forward.