AIDS Memorial Quilt Honoring Black and Brown Lives Lost to AIDS Coming to Jackson Sep. 28 – Oct. 4

Sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt honoring Black and Brown lives lost to AIDS are coming to Jackson and surrounding communities for a week of free Quilt displays, quilt-making workshops, and awareness programs.

All the displays and events are FREE to the public from Sept. 28 – Oct. 4 with the Quilt being featured at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Jackson Medical Mall, Jackson State University Student Center, and other locations across Jackson and the Delta. It will be the largest display of the Quilt ever in Mississippi.

The Quilt displays are part of Change the Pattern, a new initiative of the National AIDS Memorial, Southern AIDS Coalition and Gilead Sciences to use the power and beauty of the AIDS Memorial Quilt as a call to action to disrupt systemic issues that impact health equity and continue to disproportionately impact communities of color and marginalized populations. In Mississippi, new HIV diagnoses have remained high year after year with the state having the sixth-highest rate of HIV in the country.

Many of the Quilt panels on display honor and celebrate lives lost to HIV/AIDS from the Jackson and the South to connect their stories to the crisis that persists today. They include: a panel made for Jackson State University professor Dr. Mark A. Colomb; a panel for 14-year-old Hemophiliac Michael Felton; a panel for Lavadious Walker, celebrated in the local Trans community; a panel made by Grace House for their residents. Quilt made by legendary civil rights and justice activist Rosa Parks, a supporter of the AIDS Quilt as well Emmy Award winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph will also be featured.

Accompanying the Quilt displays will be powerfully curated stories that share the love, remembrance, and celebration sewn into each panel of lives lost from within the Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Transgender and other marginalized communities. During the week, there will be free events – with educational forums, health resources, advocacy, film screenings, and quilt-making workshops.

Exhibit locations will include:

Main Exhibits: Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Jackson Medical Mall. Smaller Exhibits: JSU Student Center, Craftsmen’s Guild of MS, Jackson City Hall, Capitol City PRIDE, JXN Welcome Center, Greenville City Hall, Hattiesburg AIDS Services Coalition

Wed. Sept. 28 (2-3 pm): Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, 222 N. Jackson St.

Emmy-Award actress Sheryl Lee Ralph will attend the opening ceremony for Change the Pattern Mississippi. Ralph will be announced as a celebrity ambassador for the new Change the Pattern initiative of the National AIDS Memorial, Southern AIDS Coalition and Gilead Sciences that is taking sections of the iconic AIDS Quilt to twelve Southern states as a call to action to disrupt systemic issues that impact health equity and continue to disproportionately impact communities of color and marginalized populations. See the Quilt displays featuring Mississippi & Southern stories, newly made Quilt panels from Jackson and surrounding areas, local residents making Quilt, and hear leaders in the community discuss issues around how to Change the Pattern and end HIV in the South.

Thurs. Sept. 29 (9-11am): Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, 222 N. Jackson St.

Change the Pattern with Love & Activism forum with HIV/AIDS community leaders on efforts to advocate and educate.

Friday, Sept. 30 (1-4pm): Jackson Medical Mall, 350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.

Community forum - Fight Like Fannie Lou: The Legacy of Mississippi Civil Rights in the HIV Justice Movement.

Sat./Sun. Oct. 1 (11am-7pm) Capital City Pride, Two Mississippi Museums, 222 N. Jackson St.

Special reading of Names of MS lives lost to AIDS remembered on the Quilt throughout the day. Free Museum passes for the public.

All Week

Community Quilt-Making Workshops and Film Screenings. Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (Wed-Sun, 10am – 4pm) & Jackson Medical Mall (Wed-Fri, 1-4pm)