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Three centuries of Americans’ evolving views on faith and science

A section of the "Discovery and Revelation" exhibition showing the portrait of "Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine" by Kadir Nelson, 2017. This portrait is on loan from Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was originally a gift from Kadir Nelson and JKBN Group, LLC.
Jaclyn Nash/Jaclyn Nash, National Museum of
/
National Museum of American Hist
A section of the "Discovery and Revelation" exhibition showing the portrait of "Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine" by Kadir Nelson, 2017. This portrait is on loan from Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was originally a gift from Kadir Nelson and JKBN Group, LLC.

The exhibit, "Discovery and Revelation," at the Smithsonian examines three centuries of Americans’ evolving views on the relationship between faith and science.

Peter Manseau, who directs the museum’s Center for the Understanding of Religion in American History, talks about the artifacts displayed.

One, a portrait of Henrietta Lacks--a Baltimore woman whose cancer cells were taken for research--depicts her as a religious icon. Manseau says the painting points to one of the exhibit’s themes: ‘What do we owe each other?’

Original air date: June 24, 2022.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.