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Surviving & Thriving: Aids, Politics, & Culture Exhibit at Central Library

On display at Central Library from January 27 – March 8

Learn about the history of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) in this traveling exhibition from the National Library of Medicine.

This exhibit, along with supplemented items from the Spokane Aids Network and our archives, tells the story about a new disease that appeared in the United States in 1981. Reactions to the disease, soon named AIDS, varied. Early responders cared for the sick, fought homophobia, and promoted new practices to keep people healthy. Scientists and public health officials struggled to understand the disease and how it spread. Politicians remained largely silent until the epidemic became too big to ignore. Activists demanded that people with AIDS be part of the solution. Surviving & Thriving illustrates an iconic history of AIDS alongside lesser-known examples of historical figures who changed the course of the pandemic.

This traveling exhibition includes online Spanish and English National Library of Medicine health information resources and a digital gallery.

In October 1990, ACT UP descended upon Washington and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, carrying signs that demanded the formal definition of AIDS change to include women. Excluded from the diagnosis of having AIDS, women could not access potentially lifesaving care and treatment, even as they died of the disease. By 1992, activists succeeded in their efforts: women were officially recognized as people who could have AIDS.

Poster for the Department of Health and Human Services demonstration designed by ACT UP/DC Women’s Committee, 1990.

Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

Dr. Victoria Cargill first encountered AIDS in Boston in 1981, before the term even existed. The experience changed her life, and she has spent her career caring for people with AIDS, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Today, Dr. Cargill is associate director for Interdisciplinary Research at the Office of Research on Women’s Health.

Victoria Cargill, MD with a patient at a Washington, DC community health center, February 2013

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

President Ronald Reagan took five years to publicly address the epidemic. At the end of 1985, he asked Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to write a “special report on AIDS.”

President Ronald Reagan and Dr. C. Everett Koop at White House, ca. 1983

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

In 1982, Michael Callen and Richard Berkowitz, two gay men with AIDS living in New York, invented the practice of safer sex, forever changing the way people dealt with and prevented AIDS.

Michael Callen (at typewriter) and Richard Berkowitz, 1984

Courtesy Richard Dworkin

With chapters across the country, ACT UP held thousands of demonstrations between 1987 and 1996, including one at the Department of Health and Human Services to insist that women with AIDS receive care and treatment. Their actions transformed how scientists and politicians responded to the AIDS crisis.

Protestors in front of the Department of Health and Human Services, during the national campaign to change the definition of AIDS, October 2, 1990

Courtesy Donna Binder

In 1990, ACT UP protesters took over parts of the National Institutes of Health campus, calling on scientists to develop more drugs for people with AIDS and the federal government to disseminate drugs equitably. Their efforts convinced policy makers to change regulations that resulted in a new regimen of drugs used to treat AIDS made available in 1996.

Protestors in front of the James A. Shannon Building, National Institutes of
Health, 1990

Courtesy Donna Bind

We also share a special thanks to the Spokane AIDS Network for their support and generosity in supplementing the exhibit with local information.

SAN began as an informal network of friends, medical caregivers, and concerned citizens in 1985. Dr. Jeff Collins, Dr. Dan Coulston, and Tom Crowe of the Spokane County Health District met to discuss creating an AIDS support group which would include Community Mental Health, Department of Social and Health Services, members of the gay community, and other volunteers to coordinate services for people with AIDS.

Today, SAN still provides services and support for the HIV & and the greater LGBTQ community. These services include Peer Navigation, HOPWA Housing, food pantry, emergency support, peer/social support groups, community events, prevention & holiday bags.  

Local Resources:

Resources from the National Library of Medicine:

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