Black History Month Quilt Displays and Free Community Events Honoring Black and Brown Lives Lost to AIDS
Over 50 sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt honoring Black and Brown lives lost to AIDS will be displayed in Baton Rouge & New Orleans February 7 - 11th, launching on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Join us in Louisiana!
Did you know that Louisiana has the 4th highest HIV diagnoses rate in the country and continues to disproportionately impact the Black community?
It’s time to Change The Pattern and Re-imagine The Fight to End HIV/AIDS in Louisiana.
In partnership with HBCU colleges and universities and colleges in the region – Dillard University & Southern University and A&M College – we are bringing the AIDS Memorial Quilt to Baton Rouge & New Orleans, sharing the stories of loved ones lost with free community events, quilt-making workshops, educational forums, and movie screenings for learning, sharing, and fellowship. The five-day exhibition – one of the largest ever in the state – is part of Change the Pattern, an initiative by the National AIDS Memorial, Southern AIDS Coalition and Gilead Sciences, to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and its continued impact on communities of color and marginalized populations in Louisiana and the South. The displays and events are free to the public.
The National AIDS Memorial, Southern AIDS Coalition and Gilead Sciences are bringing sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to communities throughout the Southern U.S to highlight and honor Black and Brown lives lost to HIV and AIDS as part of Change the Pattern, a new initiative to reimagine the response to the epidemic in the region.
The multi-city initiative will use the power and beauty of the AIDS Memorial Quilt as a teaching tool to reach, engage and share the experiences of marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by HIV and AIDS. Through immersive Quilt displays, educational programming, advocacy and quilt-making, we will CHANGE THE PATTERN together!
Experience more than 500 hand-stitched panels of the AIDS Quilt that honor Black and Brown lives lost to AIDS including many newly made Quilt panels from Mississippi and seen for the first time publicly. Among the Quilt panels you can see include one made by legendary civil rights and justice activist Rosa Parks, a supporter of the AIDS Quilt in its activism and fight for justice. Others include panels made honoring Jackson State University professor Dr. Mark A. Colomb, a beautiful panel for residents who were cared for at Grace House, 14-year-old Hemophiliac Michael Felton, and Lavadious Walker, who was celebrated by the local Trans community.
The Quilt display and accompanying stories are meant to be a call to action to disrupt systemic issues that impact health equity which continue to disproportionately impact communities of color and marginalized populations.
Also, don’t miss free educational forums, health screenings, advocacy, and quilt panel-making workshops. Programming will include conversations on topics of importance to the community: health disparities, rising HIV diagnoses, environmental justice and the stigma that persists today in the long struggle for health and social justice in the South.
SHARING OUR STORIES -- SUPPORTING OUR COMMUNITIES
As is tradition with the AIDS Quilt to support HIV/AIDS service organizations doing important work in their communities, the National AIDS Memorial, Southern AIDS Coalition and Gilead Sciences are inviting interested Southern-based organizations to apply for funding through special grant programs through the Change the Pattern initiative.
JACKSON EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND is providing $100,000 in grants to support Jackson area HIV/AIDS service organizations to support their work and who have been impacted by water crisis that continues in the region.
QUILT PANEL-MAKING WORKSHOPS FUND is supporting local quilt-making workshops throughout the South to help ensure the stories of Black and Brown lives lost to HIV/AIDS are captured through newly-sewn panels on the Quilt through the Memorial’s Call My Name program.
