Last year, more African Americans were reported with AIDS than any other racial or ethnic group. And while African
Americans make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for more than 55 percent of all newly diagnosed
HIV infections. These alarming developments have caused reactions ranging from profound grief to extreme anger
in African-American communities, yet the organized political reaction has remained remarkably restrained.
The Boundaries of Blackness is the first full-scale exploration of the social, political, and cultural impact of
AIDS on the African-American community. Informed by interviews with activists, ministers, public officials, and
people with AIDS, Cathy Cohen unflinchingly brings to light how the epidemic fractured, rather than united, the
black community. She traces how the disease separated blacks along different fault lines and analyzes the ensuing
struggles and debates. More broadly, Cohen analyzes how other cross-cutting issues--of class, gender, and sexuality--challenge
accepted ideas of who belongs in the community. Such issues, she predicts, will increasingly occupy the political
agendas of black organizations and institutions and can lead to either greater inclusiveness or further divisiveness.
The Boundaries of Blackness, by examining the response of a changing community to an issue laced with stigma, has
much to teach us about oppression, resistance, and marginalization. It also offers valuable insight into how the
politics of the African-American community--and other marginal groups--will evolve in the twenty-first century.