A&移动商务 and National AIDS Memorial Partner to Display AIDS Memorial Quilt Sections in 商务

Four quilt panels will be displayed at A&11月起实施移动商务. 29日至12月. 3 to commemorate the more than 700,000 U.S. lives lost to AIDS since the first cases were reported 40 years ago.

皇冠体育365赌博&M University-商务 and the National AIDS Memorial are partnering to bring four panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to 商务 as part of World AIDS Day observances on Wednesday, 12月. 1.

The quilt panels will be on display on the first-floor atrium of the A&移动商务 护理 and 健康 Sciences Building from Nov. 29日至12月. 3. The display is free and open to the public. An opening reception will be hosted by the Office of 跨文化交往 and 领导 in collaboration with the College of 教育及公共服务 on 12月. 从11点到11点.m. 到12点.m.

The quilt was created nearly 35 years ago during the darkest days of the AIDS pandemic by gay rights activist Cleve Jones.

在1985年的一次游行中, Jones was devastated by the thousands of lives that had been lost to AIDS in San Francisco. He asked each of his fellow marchers to write on placards the names of friends and loved ones who had died. He and others stood on ladders taping these placards to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building.

The wall of names looked like a patchwork quilt, 受到这一景象的启发, Jones and friends made plans for a larger memorial. In 1987, a group of strangers began gathering in a San Francisco storefront to document the lives they feared history would neglect. Their goal was to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. This served as the foundation of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and later that year, 近2,000 of its panels were displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

今天, the quilt has grown to more than 50,000板, 有110多个,000 names stitched into its fabric. 它重54吨, stretches more than 50 miles in length, and is the largest community arts project in the world.

The quilt is now part of the National AIDS Memorial, 监督其保存, 护理, storytelling programs and community displays.

“We are honored to work together with the National AIDS Memorial to bring the quilt to our community for World AIDS Day and share its stories of hope, 激进主义, 治愈与记忆,杰森·道格拉斯说, director of 跨文化交往 and 领导.

He continued: “The quilt sections on display connect the story of AIDS directly to the work we do to provide services, educate and raise greater awareness about HIV today. The quilt prompts important reflections about the tremendous loss of life, helping us to remember those we've lost, ensure their lives are never forgotten, and provide a sense of hope for the future.”

This year marks 40 years since the first cases of AIDS were reported in the United States. During the four decades since, more than 700,000 U.S. lives have been lost to AIDS, and there is still no cure. 今天, 艾滋病毒呈上升趋势, 尤其是在年轻人中, communities of color and in Southern states. Quilt displays are used to raise awareness about the story of AIDS, 预防, treatment and resources available within the community.

John Cunningham is CEO of the National AIDS Memorial.

“The issues our nation has faced in the past two years—a raging pandemic with hundreds of thousands of lives lost, 社会不公, 健康不平等, 耻辱, bigotry and fear—are also the issues faced throughout four decades of the AIDS pandemic,坎宁安说. “The quilt is a powerful teaching tool that shares the story of HIV and AIDS, 逝去的生命, 还有希望, 疗愈, 激进主义 and remembrance that it inspires.”

A&移动商务 worked together with the National AIDS Memorial to curate the selection of quilt panels for display, which feature panels from the region—including the 达拉斯 and Fort Worth metroplex—made to honor and remember the names of friends and loved ones lost to AIDS.

View the AIDS Memorial Quilt in its entirety and search for names on the quilt at www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt.

(Photo courtesy of National Institutes of 健康)