AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power/ Los Angeles also-known-as ACT UP/LA was a Los Angeles based AIDS grassroots organization to help combat the disease during the 1980s epidemic from 1897 to 1995. They used peaceful demonstrations to help create positive changes around AIDS from stigma to government legislation. Some of their main accomplishments were improving improve healthcare services to those affected by AIDS and transforming FDA policies medication trial and approval policies.
The collection contains minutes, press releases, membership materials, and a lot of their planning materials to help them carry out their goals whatever they may have been such as peaceful protests, marches and lobbying proposals. The organization’s main goal in its operations was to create media buzz behind everything they did to further spread their message to those not in the location of protest.. ACT UP/LA educated its members on civil disobedience along with other peaceful practices to ensure that AIDS efforts stayed positive and didn’t get too out of hand.
Based on these documents, one would be able to learn strategies on how to create positive and meaningful demonstrations: Something that is especially crucial today in learning in trying to get a passionate message across. One will also be able to understand the dedication that members had in preparing for various demonstrations. There are some documents that share discussions with congressmen and governors. This information is useful to learn about conversation strategies to help get these government officials on board with their agenda but also hear about possible push back that ACT UP/LA received and how they adjusted their strategy accordingly.
What is lost in all of these documents is the tangible, medical impact the organization had on those affected by AIDS and vice versa either through written accounts or statistics suggesting numerical impact of various medical initiatives. Written accounts, statistics, and medical records would give this finding aid a more comprehensive analysis on the impact and success of ACT UP/LA. We also do not know much about the relationships that were cultivated between those helping and those receiving help. In addition, we do not how what percentage of members in the organization were and were not affected by AIDS. It is a fact that would be interesting to know because that could have a different affect on how members interact with others how and how seriously some may or may not have been taken. Finally, while there was an emphasis on peaceful demonstrating, there must have been issues where hostility built up due to the stigma surrounding AIDS, so it would be interesting to know about those conversations and how they may have been resolved.
HI! I think overall this blog was really easy to follow. you explained the detail about the site in the very beginning which is very helpful for me to understand more clearly about this organization. In addition, the analysis about the lack of conversation about the stigma issues of aids, I thought the idea of exposing these conversations, how they are resolved, is very interesting.
Hi there,
I think you have done a very nice job in summarizing what the archival collection is about, as well as the history of it. In addition, I think you raise an interesting point on what is missing in the archive, and I agree that it would be interesting to know how many of the members actually had HIV/AIDS versus how many members had HIV, and how many members had neither. I was a little confused by some of your wording, and I think a quick editing before posting might be beneficial in the future. Overall, I think you’ve done a nice job of explaining what the collection is all about.