On October 11, 1987, the new AIDS Memorial Quilt, stitched together with 1,920 panels memorializing people who had died from the disease, goes on display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The unveiling of the quilt, which unfurls over a space larger than a football field, coincides with the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
The quilt was the brainchild of Cleve Jones, a human rights activist and author in San Francisco. In November 1985, Jones was planning the annual candlelight march in memory of political leaders Harvey Milk and George Moscone, who were both assassinated in 1978, when he learned that more than 1,000 San Francisco residents had died from AIDS. Wanting to honor their memory, he asked marchers to write onto placards the names of loved ones who had lost their lives to the disease.
After the march, participants climbed ladders and taped the placards to the outside walls of the San Francisco Federal Building. The sight resembled a patchwork quilt—inspiring an idea.
