LeTrisha Cornelious (left), of Shreveport, takes an HIV test at the Caddo Parish Health Unit in Shreveport on Sunday afternoon as public health nurse Yolanda Chandler looks on. The Black AIDS Institute and the Louisiana Office of Public Health have partnered to present the Test 1 Million Louisiana Celebrity Tour.

Sixty-nine percent of new HIV/AIDS cases among American teens every year are African-Americans, a number organizers of the Test 1 Million campaign said they were all too eager to lower.

"We want to break the stigma of HIV and AIDS testing," said Charlie Baran, director of programs for the Black AIDS Institute. "We want to create an atmosphere that isn't one of stigma or fear, but of positivity."

The campaign kicked off in Shreveport on Sunday, which was National HIV Testing Day across America. Baran and company were at the Caddo Parish Public Health Unit in Shreveport to focus on one portion of the population that is disproportionately affected by the HIV virus: African-Americans.

African-Americans comprise 12 percent of the U.S. population but make up half of all new HIV infections, and nearly 20 percent of those infected don't know they have the disease, according to the Black AIDS Institute.

"I was pretty scared," James Norris, 22, an organizer with the Black Aids Institute, said of his first testing experience. "I didn't like realizing that I wasn't so safe."

Norris is a senior at DePauw University in Indiana. He has been writing blogs for the institute, describing his experiences with HIV and AIDS testing and encouraging young African-Americans to get the test to help normalize what he and others say could be a life-saving process.

African-American youth are particularly at risk because black teens report more active sex lives than their peers, meaning they are more likely to have multiple sex partners in their lifetime, have become sexually active by age 13 and have multiple sex partners in their lifetime, according to the institute.

"I think it's important for young people to get tested," Norris said. "They can have a sense of immortality. ... They don't realize AIDS and HIV can affect them, too."

The campaign was started last year by a myriad of organizations, including the Screen Actors Guild, Artists for a New South Africa and the Magic Johnson Foundation. In Louisiana, it is also co-sponsored by the Louisiana Office of Public Health.

Similar to other states, the Louisiana tour will travel through several cities, including Alexandria, Lake Charles, Opelousas and Baton Rouge before ending at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, where Baran said about 600 people received the free HIV/AIDS testing that is available at all stops along the tour.

Several celebrities and artists have joined the Louisiana tour to encourage people to come out and get tested, including actors Rockmond Dunbar of "Prison Break" and Lamman Rucker of "Meet the Browns," as well as Miss Black Louisiana 2009 Tiffany Monique Lloyd and AIDS activist and National Slam Poetry Champion Sonya Renee.

"I'm passionate about building a healthy community," Renee said. "I want to encourage people to make a positive change in their own lives."