All the young men : a memior of love, AIDS, and chosen family in the American South
Burks, Ruth Coker2020
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This is a is a gripping and triumphant tale of human compassion, telling the true story of a young single mother who finds herself driven to the forefront of the AIDS crisis, and who risks everything to give victims back their humanity. In 1986, 26-year-old Ruth Coker Burks visits a friend in hospital when she notices that the door to one of the patient's rooms is painted red. The nurses are reluctant to enter, drawing straws to decide who will tend to the sick person inside. Out of impulse, Ruth herself enters the quarantined space and begins to care for the young man who cries for his mother in the last moments of his life. And in doing so, Ruth's own life changes forever. As word spreads in the community that she is the only person willing to help the young men afflicted by the growing AIDS crisis, Ruth goes from being an ordinary young mother to an accidental activist. Forging deep friendships with the men she helps, Ruth works to find them housing and jobs, and then funeral homes willing to take their bodies - often in the middle of the night. She prepares and delivers meals to 'her guys,' supplementing her own income with discarded food found in the dumpsters behind supermarkets. She defies local pastors and the medical community to store rare medications for her most urgent patients, and teaches sex education to drag queens after hours at secret bars. Emboldened by the weight of their collective pain, she fervently advocates for their safety and visibility, ultimately advising Governor Bill Clinton on the national HIV-AIDS crisis, and in doing so becomes a beacon of hope to an otherwise spurned group of ailing gay men on the fringes of society.
All the young men : a memior of love, AIDS, and chosen family in the American South / Ruth Coker Burks & Kevin Carr O'Leary.
Burks, Ruth Coker, authorO'Leary, Kevin Carr, author
London : Trapeze, 2020.London : Trapeze, 2020.©2020.
355 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : colour illustrations, colour portraits ; 24 cm.
97814091891149781409189114 (paperback)
362.19697920092923.6
English
Burks, Ruth CokerSingle mothers -- BiographyAIDS activists -- United States -- BiographyAIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- CareAIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- United StatesGay men -- United States -- Social conditionsAIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Medical care -- United StatesGay men -- United States -- BiographySouthern States -- Social conditions -- 20th century
384032
Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
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Brighton Library | Adult Non Fiction - Biography | 923.6 BUR | Available |