Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[smarty_pants]

In today's modern society, in what ways have material and scientific advancements come at the expense of poverty, race and human diginity?

[Ouisch]

One example that comes to mind is the Tuskegee experiment:

 

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/tuskegee/

 

In 1932, the Public Health Service launched an experiment using 400 poor (meaning both no money and unsuspecting) African-American men in Alabama.  The men were told they were being observed for "bad blood."  They were promised and given free medical exams, free meals, and free burial insurance.  What the men didn't know was that they were purposely infected with syphillis, which was left untreated, so the scientists could observe the effects the disease had on the human body.