WASHINGTON (AP) — EDITOR’S NOTE: On May 16, 1997, five elderly black men from Alabama arrived at the White House. Before an audience of dignitaries, then-President Bill Clinton formally apologized for decades of mistreatment the men endured as part of a research project known as the “Tuskegee Syphilis Study.”

The study was revealed in 1972 when The Associated Press reported that the U.S. government had conducted a study involving about 600 unknowing black men to continue for 40 years, even after penicillin was identified as a cure for syphilis. Clinton sought to close that ugly chapter with these words: “What the government did was shameful, and I am sorry.”

In observance of the 20th anniversary of that apology, The AP is making available its coverage of the White House ceremony, as well as the original 1972 story by AP reporter Jean Heller that exposed the study.

For the complete story, visit APNews.com.

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