Event

Let Me Be Somebody: Fabian Bridges & Quarantine Proposals During the HIV & AIDS Crisis in America

This article examines efforts to quarantine people with AIDS during the mid-1980s. The campaign started after a PBS documentary aired about Fabian Bridges, a Black gay man, in 1986. Bridges lost his job and home after an AIDS diagnosis. As Bridges grew desperate, PBS producers offered him a deal: they would pay him in exchange for him giving interviews claiming to be a sex worker who continued to have unprotected sex. The ensuing public panic led to more than 40 states considering legislation mandating quarantine of gay men. The article analyzes campaigns to defeat proposals in Texas, Georgia, and California.

The African American History Seminar invites you to join the conversation. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.

Please note, this is a virtual event hosted on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive a confirmation message with attendance information.

Subscribers for the current year may login to view currently available essays.

Register to attend online.