The Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and Rosenwald School is a historic Missionary Baptist Church and

Rosenwald School The Rosenwald School project built more than 5,000 schools, shops, and teacher homes in the United States primarily for the education of African-American children in the South during the early 20th century. The project was the product of the part ...

located near 7794 Highway 81,

Notasulga, Alabama Notasulga is a town in Lee and Macon counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 914. The portion in Lee County is part of the Auburn Metropolitan Area. According to the 1910 U.S. Census, it incorp ...

in Macon County,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. The property contains two buildings that are both associated with the

Tuskegee Syphilis Study The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (informally referred to as the Tuskegee Experiment or Tuskegee Syphilis Study) was a study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Cente ...

. The church building is a gable-front frame building with a frame

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

serving as a prominent landmark along the highway. The building has been sided in vinyl, c. 1990, but the interior of the building retains its c. 1916 appearance, complete with decorative painted graining on doors, pews, wainscoting, and other defining features of the building. The Rosenwald School, built c. 1922 and remodeled c. 1936, retains its historical and architectural integrity from the 1930s when a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

agency expanded the industrial room and made other interior and exterior changes. The

is undergoing renovation as of February 2011. Both buildings have been listed in the Alabama State Historic Register. One of the most infamous incidents in the

medical history The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other peo ...

of the United States is the study of syphilis, sponsored by the U. S. Public Health Service (USPHS) in

Macon County, Alabama Macon County is a county located in the east central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,532. Its county seat is Tuskegee. Its name is in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a member of the United States Senat ...

, from 1932 to 1973. It is often called "The Tuskegee Study" because the Macon County seat is Tuskegee and a former hospital at

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

(now university) and the Veterans’ Hospital at Tuskegee were used for some of the medical procedures. The Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church is located about 8 miles north of

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...

. Notices would be sent to subject of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. They were instructed to meet at a central location to be picked up for testing. A memo from the USPHS details where these roundups between test doctors and USPHS official took place. The memo stated "The Government will be here next week. Be sure to meet him at the time a place listed below that is nearest your home." The rural location were a combination of churches, schools, and crossroads stores. The Shiloah Missionary Baptist Church was one gathering location. The buildings and adjacent

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

were added to the

Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage The Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, commonly referred to as the Alabama Register, is an official listing of buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts deemed worthy of preservation in the U.S. state of Alabama. These properties ...

on September 20, 2006. They were subsequently added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on August 6, 2010.

References

Notes

*Public Health Service to

Dear Sir ''Dear Sir'' is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power, released in October 1995 on Runt Records. Recorded in New York City in December 1994 during studio sessions with Tim Foljahn and Stev ...

, October 18, 1955, CDC Papers, Tuskegee Syphilis Study Administrative Records, 1930–80, Box 16, Folder Alabama-Misc., National Archives, Southeast Region. *James J. Jones, ''Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment'' (New York:

Basic Books Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history. H ...

, 1993). *Reberby, ''Tuskegee Truths'' *The National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/research/arc/index.html All of the digitized materials can be pulled up using search term "Tuskegee Syphilis Study". Individual items of interest can be pulled up by ID number: 956091, 956107, 824600, 956126, 956102, 824607 {{National Register of Historic Places School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Macon County, Alabama Buildings and structures in Macon County, Alabama Baptist churches in Alabama Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage Rosenwald schools in Alabama Historically segregated African-American schools in Alabama