HIV/AIDS in the African-American Community: Personal Accounts & Perspectives

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HIV/AIDS in the African-American Community: Personal Accounts & Perspectives

Personal Accounts | Interviews and Perspectives

Greg says his addiction to drugs and alcohol has been transformed into a passion for exercise.

Personal Accounts

The Little Voice Within: A Youth With HIV Learns to Trust Life (July/August 2006)
Keith Green, now 30, recalls the two days that changed his life 12 years ago: the day he was tested for HIV, and the day the results came back positive.
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
One-on-One With Tim'm West (July/August 2005)
Keith Green interviews the HIV-positive poet, rapper, author, HIV educator and lover of men and (sometimes) "womyn".
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Greg Braxton: A Long Journey to Recovery (January 2005)
With a 27-year history of drinking, using drugs and sleeping with hundreds of women, Greg Braxton's AIDS diagnosis in 1994 came as no surprise.
In A Guide to Fuzeon: The First Fusion Inhibitor, from The Body
The Past, the Present and the Future (July/August 2004)
A reflective essay written in 2001 by Charles Clifton, the Chicago AIDS advocate who passed away in August 2004.
In GMHC Treatment Issues, from Gay Men's Health Crisis
Moving Forward (Summer 2004)
Harlem native Yolanda Birthwright, 54, wonders: If I'd never been diagnosed with HIV, would I be enjoying my life as much as I do now?.
To read PDF, click here
In ACRIA Update, from AIDS Community Research Initiative of America
Ain't I a Woman? Change (July/August 2003)
Deneen Robinson, an HIV-positive African-American woman, has been an HIV educator for seven years.
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
One Day in the Life of Patricia Shelton (October 2002)
A 49-year-old black woman and mother of three grown daughters talks about her life.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
One on One: Personal Story (Spring 2002)
An interview with Margaret Shepard, a black woman who has lived with HIV for more than 10 years.
In STEP Perspective, from Seattle Treatment Education Project
Positive Empowerment (November/December 2001)
After years of hiding from HIV in drug use, Tyrone Pittman is now positive about being positive.
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In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Disproportionately Affected: The Impact of HIV in African-American Lives (Summer 2001)
Short interviews with African Americans whose lives have been affected by HIV.
In STEP Perspective, from Seattle Treatment Education Project
One-on-One With Earlene Hayden (May/June 2001)
An HIV-positive woman and former injection drug user herself, Earlene now works as a prevention specialist in Chicago.
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In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Rituals and Regimens 2001: Life After Diagnosis (January/February 2001)
Sanford Gaylord deals with diagnosis and beginning meds.
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In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
The Evolution of African American Awareness About HIV/AIDS (November/December 2000)
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
To Be Young, Black and a One-Man AIDS Epidemic (January 1998)
Dennis Levy recounts his night in the Bronx with Ricky, an HIV-positive crack addict who knowingly spreads HIV around the drug community.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Girls in "The Hood" Get It Too! (Summer 1996)
"I'm not gay, I'm not white and I'm not a man ... I didn't fit the profile of someone with HIV".
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive

Interviews and Perspectives

It's Time to Demand Respect for Black People With HIV, Actress Declares (August 4, 2008)
In an impassioned speech, Sheryl Lee Ralph implores the media to "do something different."
In The XVII International AIDS Conference, from The Body
"HIV Does Not Define Me": How One Woman Came to Accept Her Diagnosis (July 2007)
Diagnosed -- much to her surprise -- at the age of 19 in 2003, Marvelyn Brown needed to first accept her own status before she could begin to educate others .
From Savvy Miss
Homosexuality in the Black Church (April 2, 2007)
Bishop Harry Jackson, a fervent opponent of gay rights, discusses how black churches should respond to the AIDS epidemic.
From National Public Radio
Leaders of African-American Organization Discuss Developing an AIDS Action Plan (April 2, 2007)
From National Public Radio
Overwhelming Problems Overshadow the "Big Picture" in African-American Community (March/April 2007)
HIV activist Keith Green takes a look at a violent act in which two gunmen randomly fired into a crowd of gay partygoers in a predominantly black Chicago neighborhood.
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Meditations at Sundown: Race Relations (March/April 2006)
"How will we ever achieve social justice for all in this country and abroad if ... we don't have trust for people who are not of the same race or nationality as we are?" asks HIV-positive, African-American AIDS activist Keith Green.
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
HIV Helped Me Rediscover Life: A Gay Man of Color Tells His Story (Winter 2005/2006)
Victor R. Pond explains what it felt like to live through the first 15 years of the U.S. HIV epidemic -- and how it shaped the self-perception of HIV-negative gay men of color.
To read PDF, click here
In ACRIA Update, from AIDS Community Research Initiative of America
Nearly Half of Us May Already Be Infected -- Who Gives a Damn? An Open Letter to Black Gay and Bisexual Men (November/December 2005)
The Black AIDS Institute asks: Why are so many African-American MSM remaining silent, despite stratospheric HIV infection rates?.
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
One-on-One With Phill Wilson: The Director of Black AIDS Institute Talks About Moving Forward (November/December 2005)
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In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Oye, Cuidate and Take Care of Your Comunidad Tambien! (November/December 2005)
All people of color need to start accepting that unprotected sex, drugs and HIV are a part of their communities, and start teaching love and scientific facts, Carlos A. Perez says.
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Promoting Unity and Love in the Black Gay Community: A Challenging But Not Impossible Task (November/December 2005)
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In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
The Wholistic Picture: Power or Not? It's About Finding the Truth and Purpose of Your Life (November/December 2005)
To fight the factors that drive the HIV epidemic among people of color in the U.S., begin by recognizing your own inner power, Sue Saltmarsh says.
To read PDF, click here
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
LeRoy Whitfield, 36; African-American AIDS Journalist Who Decided Against Treatment (October 10, 2005)
From Black AIDS Institute
Remembering LeRoy Whitfield (October 9, 2005)
This page, created by activist and author Keith Boykin, includes links to a number of LeRoy's articles.
From keithboykin.com
NPR's "Tavis Smiley Show" Interviews POZ Magazine Editor About Special Issue on HIV/AIDS in Black Community (August 6, 2003)
In Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, from Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
AIDS and Black Community Leadership (RealAudio) (October 9, 2002)
Tavis Smiley talks to Cornel West about the crisis of AIDS in the black community.
From National Public Radio

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