The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is designed to be a creative environment for remembering those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to demonstrate the enormity of the AIDS pandemic. Since 1987, the AIDS Quilt has been displayed throughout the United States in order to raise awareness for HIV and AIDS
History of the AIDS Quilt
The AIDS Quilt was the invention of Cleve Jones, a gay rights activist in San Francisco. In 1985, Jones came up with the idea of the AIDS Memorial Quilt while planning a march for AIDS. Prior to the march, he asked each of the marchers to write the names of their loved ones who had died of AIDS on a placard. At the end of the march, the placards were hung on the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building.
Moved by this image, a group of people in San Francisco gathered together in 1987, to start the AIDS Quilt. The group hoped to create a memorial for those who had died from AIDS. Almost immediately, the quilt drew attention from the cities in the United States who had been most affected by the epidemic: Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. People quickly began sending panels to the workshop in San Francisco where volunteers used donated equipment to sew the pieces together.
The First AIDS Memorial Quilt Display
The Quilt was displayed for the first time on October 11, 1987, at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. At that time, the quilt consisted of more than 1,920 panels and covered an area larger than a football field.
The success of the first display led to a national tour. For four months, the quilt toured the United States, stopping in twenty cities. In each city, locally made panels were added to the quilt. By the end of the tour, the Quilt had tripled in size and had more than 6,000 panels.
The Current AIDS Memorial Quilt
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is broken up into sections called blocks. Each block is about twelve square feet and is made up of eight panels. There are about 5,748 blocks and over 46,000 panels that make up the current quilt. If all the panels were laid end to end, the quilt would stretch for more than 52.25 miles. Almost every one of the panels in the quilt is a memorial to a person who died of AIDS.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is displayed around the United States. Each display consists of at least one panel. The quilt has rarely been displayed as a whole, especially in recent years as it becomes larger.
Information on how to contribute to the AIDS Memorial Quilt can be found here.
Reference:
The NAMES Project. Official Website
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