G. Derrick Hodge papers

G. Derrick Hodge was a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power Boston (ACT UP/Boston) and Queer Nation/Boston in the early 1990's. Hodge served on ACT UP/Boston's discrimination, benefits, and finance working groups. ACT UP/Boston was founded in 1987 by activists Raymond Schmidt, Stephen Skuce, Donald Smith, and Paul Wychules to focus local efforts to speed up the development of AIDS treatments, educational programs, and prevention strategies. The membership was a diverse, nonpartisan group of people united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis. The organization negotiated with government officials, public health policymakers, medical personnel, researchers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and others to bring about changes to meet the demands of the AIDS crisis. When negotiations failed, they held dramatic demonstrations, sometimes employing civil disobedience, to effect changes to save lives. The organization's motto was "Silence = Death." Queer Nation was an offshoot of ACT UP, created in response to elevated anti-gay and lesbian violence in the early 1990's.