ACT UP Demands Action on HIV / AIDS Crisis
ACT UP, an organization devoted to militant action regarding the HIV/AIDS crisis, on this day held a demonstration to demand action on the medical emergency.
ACT UP, founded on March 10, 1987, is an AIDS awareness group that engaged in direct action, and was organized by activists disenchanted with the moderate approach of other AIDS awareness groups. The acronym stands for AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. The first of many ACT UP demonstrations had occurred on March 24, 1987.
Playwright Larry Kramer was the principal founder of ACT UP. For more on Kramer, go to August 11, 1981, January 4, 1982, and April 21, 1985.
One of the most important LGBT activists of his time, Larry Kramer died on May 27, 2020.
Read the important new book on the history of ACT UP: Sarah Schulman, Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP in New York City, 1987-1993 (2021)
Don’t miss: David France, How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS (2016)
Learn more at the ACT UP NY web site: http://www.actupny.org/
Watch the ACT UP 25th Anniversary demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14D5UIy6JMk
Read: Lawrence Mass, ed., We Must Love One Another or Die: The Life and Legacies of Larry Kramer (1997)
Watch an interview with Larry Kramer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avITb-TZWOQ
Read about the early AIDS crisis: Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic (1987)
Learn more at a timeline on HIV/AIDS: http://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/aids-timeline/