By His Own Blood author, John Montandon, had heard about Cleve Jones from his cousin, Pat
Montandon, whom she had met as one of San Francisco's strong supporters of AIDS awareness. John
contacted Cleve to ask him for a meeting so they could discuss his book and an important issue about
John's father dying from AIDS. Just like in the book, they met on April 7, 2011.
Cleve Jones, a long-time San Francisco gay rights activist, conceived the Quilt idea. Since the
1978 assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, Jones
had helped organize the annual candlelight march honoring those men. While planning the 1985
march, he learned that over 1,000 San Franciscans had been lost to AIDS. He asked each marcher
to write the names of friends and loved ones on placards who had died of AIDS. When Jones and others
taped them to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building, the collection of names
looked like a patchwork quilt.
Inspired by this sight, Jones and friends made plans for a larger memorial. A year later, he created the
first panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt in memory of his friend, Marvin Feldman. Pictured here are
John Montandon and Jones holding up the AIDS Quilt panel that Montandon and his brother Gene are
submitting in memory of their father.
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In June of 1987, a small group gathered in a San Francisco storefront to document the
lives they feared history would neglect. The goal was to create a memorial for those who had
died of AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the
disease. This meeting served as the foundation of
the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.
On October 11, 1987, the Quilt was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in
Washington, DC, during the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Today the Quilt
is a powerful visual reminder of the AIDS pandemic. The Quilt is 1,293,300 square feet. Over
18 million people have visited it at locations across the nation.
On July 23, 2012, John Montandon, author of By His Own Blood, was invited by The
NAMES Project Foundation to be a featured guest at a book signing at the Quilt 2012 Storefront
in Washington, DC, as part of the month long International AIDS Conference. In addition, the
6'x3' Doc Montandon Memorial AIDS Quilt patch was displayed for the first time along with
48,000 others at the National Mall.
If you spent one minute for every panel, it would take 33 days to see them all.
The Quilt is made up of over 44,000 panels each 3' high x 6' long.
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt has raised $4 millon for direct help those with AIDS.
18 million people have visited the AIDS Quilt at locations across the nation.
The Quilt was first displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC on October 11, 1987.
The largest community art project in the world, the Quilt, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
