Poster, Silence = Death

Activists directed much of their rage at the Reagan administration; the president remained largely silent about the epidemic until 1987 when he declared AIDS “public health enemy number one.” The SILENCE=DEATH emblem, adopted that same year by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), was a call to change tactics, since neither silence nor community self-reliance had stopped the deaths. The pink triangle was a symbol of the gay rights movement.

This poster is part of the political and military collections at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. It was designed for specific political purposes, and accordingly it may contain sensitive or offensive imagery specific to its historical function and period.