Today is World AIDS Day
The 2017 theme for World AIDS day is “Increasing Impact through Transparency, Accountability, and Partnerships” which is a theme resonant with Milwaukee’s own long-standing history in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Milwaukee activists organized quickly as panic spread in the early 1980s, driven first by the efforts of the Brady East STD clinic and the Milwaukee Aids Project. By 1985 the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) was established followed by a local ACT UP-Milwaukee chapter in 1990.
As you can see from the photographs and campaigns above, Milwaukee activists have been vocal in calling for government accountability and transparency since the beginning while UWM students wrote numerous articles in the UWM Post about how the crisis was affecting student behaviour and awareness. Interested in learning more about Milwaukee’s response to the crisis?
The archives also holds the physical records of these organizations, some of which have been digitized. Take a look through the archive’s finding aids or the digital collections page to see what’s available. We also highly suggest exploring our digital exhibit, “History of the ARCW and AIDS in Wisconsin.” This exhibit was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ARCW and synthesizes a lot of these related materials into an accessible and comprehensive history of Milwaukee’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis,
