"A Better Way": The Evolution of Community-Based AIDS Health Services in Birmingham, Alabama, 1985-2000.

Abstract

In 1992, the AIDS Task Force of Alabama (AFTA) secured a $1.8 million federal grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to open Agape House, Birmingham, Alabama's first community-maintained AIDS boarding house for adults. Although AIDS boarding houses existed all over the country throughout the 1980s and 1990s, they have received little attention from scholars. The goal of this project is to understand the rise of Agape House and resources that were wielded to make it possible. Beyond help from a federal institution, Agape House received considerable support from local religious organizations. This analysis of AIDS boarding houses offers a local look at how the AIDS epidemic was thwarted. Popular queer history often emphasizes the work of national organizations, like AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) to explain queer resistance to AIDS and responses to the lack of federal intervention. While important, the centrality of larger organizations to our understanding of AIDS resistance has obfuscated the work of local grassroots organizations. Ultimately, this project aims to answer the following, how did changes in knowledge surrounding AIDS impact the evolution of care? What motivated groups, specifically religious ones, to participate? And how did Agape House survive while similar houses closed?