As part of the Humanities Institute’s Science Studies Workshop Series on Race, Health, and Science, Dr. Antoine Johnson will be presenting from his research “More than Pushing Pills: Black AIDS Activism in the Bay Area” at two events on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.

12:00 – 1:30 – Workshop on a pre-circulated draft book chapter in 545 Park Hall and by Zoom.

Dr. Johnson will workshop a pre-circulated draft book chapter on a Black gay AIDS activist who founded or participated in multiple organizations in the mid- 1980s that practiced what today we would call “structural competency,” creating effective educational, awareness, and prevention programs in poor and working- class Black and Latinx communities disproportionately impacted by the AIDS epidemic.

Please register at https://forms.gle/wzASner4fPvi925WA

5:30 – 7:00 – Public talk at Fitz Books (431 Ellicott St., downtown Buffalo)

Dr. Johnson will provide insight into his research on Black AIDS activism in the Bay Area, while also confronting ways in which the Black AIDS experience has been overlooked. Focusing primarily on Black sex workers, Dr. Johnson argues that AIDS is exacerbated by structural and medical racism that has led to the erasure and stigma of African Americans experiencing what Cathy J. Cohen calls “secondary marginalization,” including not only sex workers but also Black gay men, lesbians, and people who use drugs. Their contributions to the history of AIDS activism challenges how we remember the Bay Area’s AIDS epidemic.

Please register at https://forms.gle/a4CA6YgztKvStGdMA

For questions about either event email David Herzberg at herzberg@buffalo.edu

UB SPONSORS: Humanities Institute Science Studies Workshop; Drugs, Health and Society Program; Departments of History, Sociology, Global Gender and Sexuality Studies; the Gender Institute; Community Health Equity Research Institute; Department of Community Health and Health Behaviors; School of Social Work