Speaker: Dr. Aishah Scott
Lecture Title: “Respectability and Representation: Gender, Class, and the Politics of the Black AIDS Epidemic”

📅 Date & Time: Wednesday, April 15th, 2026, at Noon
📍 Location: Library room 424

This presentation examines the intersection of race, gender, and respectability politics during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Black communities from the 1980s to 2010. By juxtaposing the experiences of AIDS activists Ruselle Miller-Hill and Rae Lewis Thornton, it explores how internal community dynamics and broader structural forces shaped whose stories became visible within public narratives of the epidemic. Miller-Hill, a formerly incarcerated Black American woman living with AIDS, and Thornton, a widely recognized middle-class AIDS activist and survivor, represent two distinct experiences that reveal how class, gender norms, and respectability politics influenced representation within Black HIV/AIDS advocacy.

The presentation also situates these dynamics within the broader context of state policy, incarceration, and public health institutions, examining how these structures shaped the lives of Black women living with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, it explores how narratives surrounding HIV in Black communities often framed Black women as victims of duplicitous bisexual men, reinforcing gendered respectability while limiting discussions of sexual autonomy. Drawing on archival materials and community-based sources, including the work of organizations such as Gay Men of African Descent and barbershop outreach initiatives in high-prevalence neighborhoods, this research highlights how competing ideas about Black masculinity, sexuality, and respectability shaped community responses to the AIDS epidemic.