Cleve Jones

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Cleve Jones, the founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, will give a lecture at Monmouth College on March 29 at 4 p.m. in the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium.

Sponsored by nine campus organizations, the talk is free and open to the public.

A dynamic and inspiring public speaker, Jones travels extensively throughout the United States and around the world, lecturing at high schools, colleges and universities. He has met with heads of state, including presidents Bush and Clinton and former South African president Nelson Mandela.

The quilt, which is called “the largest on-going community arts project in the world,” was conceived by Jones in 1985 during an annual candlelight vigil march honoring Harvey Milk and George Moscone, the San Francisco politicians assassinated in 1978. In the process of taping the names of the scores of San Franciscans who had died of AIDS to a wall, Jones was struck by the idea that it looked like a patchwork quilt.

Inspired by his vision, Jones formulated plans for a larger memorial, and the quilt continues today as an ever-growing memorial and tribute to those who have died of AIDS. It now includes panels from every U.S. state and more than two dozen foreign countries and memorializes the lives of more than 85,000 Americans killed by AIDS.

“The story most people want to hear is how the quilt began,” said Jones. “Somehow, hearing that story seems to give comfort and a continuance to what is beyond understanding.”

The quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1988 and, two years later, “Common Threads,” a documentary film about the quilt, won an Oscar.

Jones lives in California and is executive director of the Los Angeles Shanti Foundation.

Released by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330