Thank you to our Quilt partners for hosting this statewide display. Click on the organization name to visit its display or scroll down to view all the Quilt displays. Each Quilt display has the corresponding block numbers and the thumbnail images can be enlarged by clicking on them for a closer look at the details of the panels. A curated story is provided by each Quilt host, linking to their organization website to learn more about their work in the community. See the full list of displays by state and territory.
Display Hosts: AIDS Memorial Quilt • Whitman-Walker Health • Library of Congress • National Minority AIDS Council • Human Rights Campaign
Display Host: AIDS Memorial Quilt - The first display of 1,920 Quilt panels was held in the National Mall on October 11, 1987 during the March on Washington for Gay & Lesbian Rights. The 1988 and 1989 Quilt displays (8,000 panels and then 12,000) were on the Ellipse across from the White House. Despite being in their backyards, Presidents Reagan and Bush refused to visit. The 1992 showing of more than 24,000 Quilt panels filled the grounds of the Washington Monument, keeping AIDS in the national spotlight during a hotly contested election. During the 1993 March on Washington, organizers brought only walkway sections, and marchers pinned in new panels they had brought with them – adding over 2,000 new panels in a single afternoon. The 1996 display of more than 40,000 panels filled the Mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Attended by the Clintons and the Gores, the display was visited by 1.1 million people.
Display Host: Whitman-Walker Health - Established in 1978, Whitman-Walker operates a community-centered nonprofit that specialties in LGBTQ+ and HIV care, and provides care to more than 20,000 individuals annually in the greater Washington, DC region. We help people live healthy, love openly and achieve equality and inclusion. For this virtual AIDS Quilt display, we chose quilt panels that honor the DC community, our earliest organizational leaders, Whitman-Walker programs like the Austin Day Treatment Center, and events that still go on today like AIDS Walk Washington – now called the Walk & 5K to End HIV. Whitman-Walker believes all people deserve accessible, affordable, high-quality healthcare in a safe environment and free of bias, judgment, and discrimination. COVID-19 has further illuminated this need. We hope you will visit our website to learn more about Whitman-Walker’s impact in the community.
Display Host: Library of Congress - In 2020 the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress (AFC) became the home of the AIDS Memorial Quilt records, consisting of the biographical records, correspondence, photographs, tributes, epitaphs, news clippings and artifacts submitted by panel makers that add context about the lives memorialized on the Quilt panels. AFC, which preserves the archives and makes them available to the public, chose blocks which communicate the direct impact the AIDS crisis had on the Library of Congress and the GLAM (gallery, library, archives, and museum) industry. Block 2388 includes a panel made by the Library of Congress Professional Association in memory of our colleagues lost to AIDS. Block 0919 contains the panel for Joseph F. Lomax, the grandson of John A. Lomax and the nephew of Alan Lomax, both of whom are integral figures in the history of American folklore and ethnomusicology archives, including AFC. Blocks 2793 (New York Public Library Guild), 3227 (Pasadena Public Library), 5431 (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), and 5796 (Indianapolis Museum of Art) contain panels made by GLAM organizations in memory of their colleagues. Block 0625 has a panel memorializing Harvard archivist Rick Haas, which features the logo of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA). The panel for James Byron Smith in block 0040 was made by a San Francisco bookstore employee and features a book motif. The Library of Congress, as the largest library in the world, celebrates the memory of our colleagues and peers, and of every reader lost to AIDS
Display Host: National Minority AIDS Council - NMAC leads with race to urgently fight for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic in America. NMAC represents over 3,000 community- and faith-based organizations nationwide. The agency advances its mission by providing minority and minority-serving faith and community-based organizations a variety of capacity building assistance programs, online and classroom-based trainings, printed and electronic resources, grassroots organization and political advocacy. These activities help these agencies deliver HIV/AIDS services more efficiently and effectively, ultimately helping to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in underserved and marginalized communities
Display Host: Human Rights Campaign - The HRC Foundation’s HIV and Health Equity Program is relentless in its work to combat HIV-related stigma and end the HIV epidemic once and for all. Through a range of guides, videos, publications and images — in English and Spanish — the team educates LGBTQ people and allies about the current realities of HIV as well as the effects of stigma on the very communities most in need. Among many public education efforts, the team has led national campaigns endorsing the use of PrEP as an effective prevention tool, the need to end laws criminalizing people living with HIV, and the unique challenges facing gay and bisexual men and transgender women — especially those of color — in the South. We are grateful to have the opportunity to participate in this event with the National AIDS Memorial.
INTERACTIVE AIDS QUILT
Search the AIDS Memorial Quilt, view each panel, search for a friend or loved one and share
your story through our social media channels - learn more
HISTORY OF THE QUILT
Conceived in 1985 by long-time San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones - learn more
REFLECTIONS FROM CLEVE
Conceived in 1985 by long-time San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones- watch the video
2020/40 STORIES
Memories of individuals who died of AIDS, stories of survivors and caregivers and advocates, and the broader story of the AIDS epidemic - learn more
SUPPORT THE MEMORIAL
Our vision is that never again will a community be harmed because of fear, silence, discrimination, or stigma. - Donate now
WORLD AIDS DAY
Powerful voices from AIDS and Covid-19 pandemics. Remembering lost loved ones and celebrating their lives - event details