Sheryl Lee Ralph Founds The DIVA Foundation (1990)
Sheryl Lee Ralph was starring as Deena Jones in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls in 1982, around the same time that "there was this silent disease going around called GRID (Gay Related Immune Disorder). And you know, nobody wanted to talk about it," she told TheBody.com. In 1990, she founded The DIVA (Divinely Inspired Victoriously AWARE) Foundation to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS for men, women and children around the globe. For more than 20 years, The DIVA Foundation has presented "DIVAS Simply Singing!" each year to raise funds for HIV/AIDS awareness.
The DIVA Foundation's awareness campaigns include town hall meetings, prevention seminars, free HIV testing and counseling -- and Sometimes I Cry, a one-woman show written and performed by Sheryl Lee Ralph. Still a committed advocate, in 2008 Ralph launched a website called testtogether.org along with her husband, Pennsylvania Sen. Vincent Hughes. The site encourages couples to accompany one another to get tested for HIV.
Comment by: AnAppealToCommonSense
(USA)
Fri., Feb. 15, 2013 at 4:06 am EST
Hi. I don't think Nelson Mandela should be included in this list. While his struggle against apartheid was admirable and he had an enormous task of uniting the nation once elected, one of the biggest problems of his presidency was ignoring the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. If you're going to include a former or current African president, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia is a better choice, as he was the first to publicly admit to his son having died of AIDS and has been involved in HIV/AIDS work since. I'd say Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, too, but his recent stances on condoms and homosexuality are negating his past leadership (Kaunda, along with Festus Mogae, back gay rights). And I'd also say that 46664 is nowhere near as important as the work Zachie Achmat with Treatment Action Campaign (I know he's considered "colored" in SA, so I'm thinking he must have some black ancestry) or the late Winston Zulu in Zambia, both widely known HIV/AIDS activists. If this is only about Black Americans, then why is Nelson Mandela included? Again, I admire the man for much of his work, but he's already received enough accolades, and his inclusion comes at the expense of others who are more deserving of praise in this topic.
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