Cathy J. Cohen. The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics

What the publisher says:

The Boundaries of Blackness is the first full-scale exploration of the social, political, and cultural impact of AIDS on the African American community.  Cathy Cohen, an African American and assistant professor at Yale University, unflinchingly brings to light how the AIDS epidemic fractured, rather than united the black community.  More broadly, she analyzes how other cross-cutting issues – of class, gender and sexuality – challenge accepted ideas of who belongs in the community. 

What Angela Y. Davis says:

In this provocative study of the impact of AIDS on U.S. black communities, Cathy Cohen persuasively argues that a black political agenda constructed on the basis of race alone will inevitably promote social conservatism and exclusionary practices.  As she critically examines the reluctance of established black institutions to offer political leadership in the campaign against HIV and AIDS, she reveals the crucial, but largely hidden achievements of black gay and lesbian activists.  This path-breaking and unsettling book will be extremely useful to scholars and activists who want to embrace new ways of thinking about race.

• Angela Y. Davis is the author of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday

The book:

Cathy J. Cohen.  The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999; 393 pp.