February 7th is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is observed annually to highlight the disproportionate burden of HIV among African-Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), African-Americans accounted for 47% of persons who received an HIV diagnosis in 2012. A recent report published by the CDC found that the mortality rate among American Americans with HIV declined 28% between 2009-2012. Despite this progress, African American communities have higher HIV infection and mortality rates than any other groups. The 2012 rate is 47% higher than Latinos, and 13% higher than whites.

Here are resources, including many freely available factsheets, that you can use to learn about HIV/AIDS and its impact on Black communities.

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IN THE AIDS LIBRARY

Here are some titles we have in the Library (for more titles, search our catalog here)

BOOKS

• AIDS and African Americans: A Guide for Substance Abuse, Sexuality, and Care, Pamela Blackwell Johnson
• Ashamed to Die: Silence, Denial, and the AIDS Epidemic in the South, Andrew Skerritt
• Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America, Keith Boykin
• Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men, Joseph Beam; Essex Hemphill
• Does Your House Have Lions?, Sonia Sanchez
• Health First!: The Black Woman’s Wellness Guide, Hilary Beard; Eleanor Hinton Hoytt
• Health Issues in the Black Community, Ronald Braithwaite; Sandra Taylor
• In the Life: a Black Gay Anthology, Joseph Beam
• Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and their Loved Ones, Hill Harper
• Living with HIV/AIDS: The Black Person’s Guide to Survival, Eric Goosby
• Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Examination on Black Americans from Colonial Times to Present, Harriet Washington
• My Brother, Jamaica Kincaid
• Not in My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community, Gil L. Robertson IV
• Push, Sapphire
• Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, Janet Mock
• The Kid, Sapphire
• The Black Women’s Health Book: Speaking for Ourselves, Evelyn White
• The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Blackness, Cathy Cohen
• The Secret Epidemic: The Story of AIDS in Black America, Jacob Levenson

DVDS

• All of Us
• Black is — Black Ain’t
• Broken on All Sides: Race, Mass Incarceration & New Visions for Criminal Justice in the U.S.
• Cover
• End Game: AIDS in Black America
• For Colored Girls
• Holiday Heart
• Life Support
• Living Life to the Fullest: a Guide for HIV Positive African Americans
• Marlon T. Rigg’s Tongues Untied
• One Week
• Out of Control: AIDS in Black America
• Paris is Burning
• The Announcement
• Yesterday

THE BASICS

For a brief introduction to this issue, see the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Black Americans and HIV/AIDS

For a longer introduction, see:

• The Body’s HIV/AIDS Resource Center for African Americans
• Avert’s HIV & AIDS Among African Americans
• The Body’s HIV and Me: An African American’s Guide to Living with HIV

For statistical introductions, see:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s webpage on HIV among African Americans – for basic factsheets, podcasts, and other resources
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, HIV/AIDS Bureau’s factsheet about HIV/AIDS and African Americans

Specific Issues

For considerations of HIV/AIDS among African American Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM), see:

• Back of the Line: The State of AIDS among Black Gay Men in America, a report by the Black AIDS Institute
• HIV/AIDS Among African American Gay and Bisexual Men, factsheets by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Myths of Black MSM, an article featured in Poz Magazine

For considerations of HIV/AIDS among African American Women and other intersecting issues including pregnancy, see:

• Reproductive Justice and HIV, a factsheet by the Positive Women’s Network-USA
• Unspoken: Sexuality, Romance, and Reproductive Freedom for Women Living with HIV in the United States, a report by Positive Women’s Network-USA
• Black* Women and HIV/AIDS: Findings from Southeast Regional Consumer and Provider Focus Group Interviews, an issue brief by the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors
• Ryan White Providers Address HIV/AIDS among African American Women, a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration
• Women and HIV/AIDS, review this page by Avert featuring information about HIV/AIDS among African American women
• Transgender People and HIV/AIDS, review this page by Avert featuring information about HIV/AIDS among African American transgender women
• Women and HIV/AIDS in the United States, a comprehensive fact-sheet by the Kaiser Family Foundation

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NEWS AND PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

For personal accounts, see:

• The Body’s Up Close & Personal, first-person narratives from African Americans living with HIV
• Greater Than AIDS’ Speak Out campaign, first-person stories aimed at confronting the silence and stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS
• Justin’s HIV Journey, Justin shares his experiences as a gay man living with HIV
• Rae Lewis-Thorton’s Diva Living with HIV, Rae shares her experiences as a woman living with AIDS

For additional resources, contact the AIDS Library.