comprised eight quilted panels measuring 3 feet by 6
feet. Made by friends, families, partners, or acquain-
tances, virtually all the panels honored the memory
of an individual claimed by AIDS. They were gener-
ally displayed separately, with discrete groups of pan-
els traveling simultaneously to different locations
across the country.
On October 11, 1987, the quilt was first displayed
to the public in its entirety, on the National Mall in
the District of Columbia. At the time, it comprised
1,920 panels and covered an area the size of a foot-
ball field. This spectacular display, to be followed by
larger Washington, D.C., displays in 1988, 1989,
1992, and 1996, effectively demonstrated on both an
emotional and an intellectual level the magnitude of
the global AIDS pandemic. The 1987 display was
viewed by more than 500,000 people during a sin-
gle weekend. Its popularity dramatically highlighted
the official indifference of the Ronald Reagan ad-
ministration to AIDS awareness, research, and treat-
ment. Other large displays at various locations in the
United States and Canada followed, supported by
numerous affiliated chapters of the NAMES Project,
including the Blue Light Candle Project in San An-
tonio, Texas, and many others, although Washing-
ton, D.C., remains the only place the quilt has been
displayed in its entirety.
Impact Administered by the NAMES Project Foun-
dation in Atlanta, Georgia, the AIDS Memorial Quilt
was recognized as the world’s largest community art
project. Through its public displays, the quilt has
been effectively used to memorialize the deceased
victims of AIDS while globally focusing attention
and awareness for the living regarding AIDS, HIV,
intolerance, human rights, and medical services.
Nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1989, the quilt was
the subject of a major film,Common Threads: Stories
from the Quilt(1989) that was awarded the Academy
Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1990.
Further Reading
Brown, Joe, ed.A Promise to Remember: The NAMES
Project Book of Letters. New York: Avon Books, 1992.
Jones, Cleve, and Jeff Dawson.Stitching a Revolution:
The Making of an Activist.San Francisco, Calif.:
HarperSanFrancisco, 2000.
Remember Their Names: The NAMES Project Quilt, Wash-
ington, D.C., October 7-10, 1988.San Francisco,
Calif.: NAMES Project, 1988.
Hayes K. Galitski
See also ACT UP; AIDS epidemic; Health care in
the United States; Homosexuality and gay rights;
Reagan, Ronald;Torch Song Trilogy; White, Ryan.Air India Flight 182 bombing
The Event Terrorist attack on a civilian airliner
Date June 23, 1985The bombing of Air India Flight 182, from Canada to In-
dia, killed all 329 people on board. The event caused Can-
ada to tighten airport security and reevaluate prevention
policies on terrorism.Air India Flight 182 bombing
religious and political power struggle between In-
dia’s government and a religion known as Sikhism.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Indian Sikhs had appealed
unsuccessfully to their government to create an in-
dependent state in Punjab, India, which would be
called Khalistan. Later, in 1984, the Golden Temple
of Amritsar, the Sikhs’ holiest temple, was raided.
Four months later, Sikh bodyguards retaliated by as-
sassinating Indira Gandhi, India’s prime minister.
The movement for succession of an independent
state was supported by Sikhs around the world, espe-
cially in Canada, the United States, the United King-
dom, and Germany.Air India Flight 182 bombing
place on June 23, 1985. The conspirators were also
responsible for bombing Canadian Pacific Flight
003 to Tokyo on the same day. On June 20, 1985,
two airline reservations were made in the names of
M. Singh and L. Singh. M. Singh was ticketed on Ca-
nadian Pacific Flight 060, departing Vancouver for
Toronto. He was wait-listed on Air India Flight 181/
182 from Toronto to Delhi via Montreal. L. Singh
was to board Canadian Pacific Flight 003 from Van-
couver to Tokyo and to connect with Air India Flight
301 to Bangkok. On the morning of June 22, 1985,
a Canadian Pacific Airlines reservation agent re-
ceived a phone call from an individual claiming to
be M. Singh, who wanted to know if his flight was
confirmed and if his luggage could be sent to Delhi
on Flight 182 even if he remained on the waiting list.
The reservation agent informed the caller that ac-
cording to airline regulations, luggage could only be
sent on confirmed flights.
Around 7:50a.m. Pacific daylight time, an individ-The Eighties in America Air India Flight 182 bombing 43