ACT UP Rhode Island (Organization)

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The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS (PWAs) and the AIDS pandemic to bring about legislation, medical research and treatment and policies to ultimately bring an end to the disease by mitigating loss of health and lives.

ACT UP was effectively formed in March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York. Larry Kramer was asked to speak as part of a rotating speaker series, and his well-attended speech focused on action to fight AIDS. Kramer spoke out against the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), which he perceived as politically impotent. Kramer had co-founded the GMHC but had resigned from its board of directors in 1983. According to Douglas Crimp, Kramer posed a question to the audience: "Do we want to start a new organization devoted to political action?" The answer was "a resounding yes." Approximately 300 people met two days later to form ACT UP.

ActUp/ RI, the Rhode Island chapter of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was formed in the spring of 1987, largely through the energies of Stephen Gendin, and continued as an active organization until 1993. Frequent targets of the groups demonstrations included the RI Department of Health, RI Project AIDS, and the Providence Journal.

From the guide to the ACT UP Rhode Island records, ACT UP Rhode Island Records, 1987-1995, (John Hay Library Special Collections)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf ACT UP Rhode Island Records, 1987-1995. Brown University Archives, John Hay Library
creatorOf ACT UP Rhode Island records, ACT UP Rhode Island Records, 1987-1995 John Hay Library, Special Collections
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associatedWith ACT UP New York (Organization) corporateBody
associatedWith ACT UP San Francisco (Organization). corporateBody
associatedWith American Association for World Health. corporateBody
associatedWith American Association of Physicians for Human Rights. corporateBody
associatedWith American Foundation for AIDS Research. corporateBody
associatedWith AS220 (Providence, R.I.). corporateBody
associatedWith Coulter, Harris L. (Harris Livermore), 1932- person
associatedWith Gendin, Stephen person
associatedWith Jesdale, William person
associatedWith Kramer, Larry person
associatedWith Quinonez, Angel person
associatedWith Rhode Island. Dept. of Health. corporateBody
associatedWith Rhode Island Project/AIDS. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
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