JUNE 5, 1981
The first of three early notices about the illness that will become known as HIV/AIDS appear in the MMWR weekly newsletter of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
AUGUST 11, 1981
Larry Kramer hosts an informal fund-raiser and informational session about the mysterious outbreak at his New York apartment.
DECEMBER 10, 1981
Bobbi Campbell takes on the role of KS Poster Boy in an effort to raise awareness in San Francisco about the mysterious rise of infection among gay men.
JANUARY 4, 1982
Larry Kramer and other gay men found Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) in New York City.
SEPTEMBER 24, 1982
After infections emerge beyond the gay community, the CDC replaces GRID (gay-related immune deficiency) with the term AIDS, acronym for what becomes known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
MARCH 1983
The CDC warns that AIDS may be spreading via sexual intercourse and contact with infected blood and blood products. It asks members of high-risk groups to stop donating blood.
MAY 18, 1983
Congress passes its first AIDS-specific funding allocation, $12 million.
MAY 20, 1983
Researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris report that they have identified a new virus and suggest it could be causing AIDS. The pathogen eventually becomes known as the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
JUNE 1983
Eleven symptomatic gay men form People with AIDS and unveil its eleven founding tenets. These so-called Denver Principles guide the evolving treatment protocol for infected individuals.
MARCH 2, 1985
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a blood-screening test for HIV, prompting blood banks to begin screening the nation’s blood supply.
JULY 25, 1985
The public learns that Rock Hudson has AIDS.
AUGUST 27, 1985
Indiana student Ryan White draws national attention after his local public school bans the HIV-positive hemophiliac from attending classes.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1985
President Ronald Reagan makes his first public reference to AIDS since the syndrome appeared in 1981. More than eighteen months pass before he delivers his first speech about the epidemic.
DECEMBER 1985
By the end of the year, HIV had spread to every region of the planet, making it a worldwide pandemic.
OCTOBER 22, 1986
The surgeon general of the United States calls for increased nationwide public awareness about HIV/AIDS.
FEBRUARY 1987
Cleve Jones and a friend make the first panels for the AIDS memorial quilt. Eight months later the quilt is displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
MARCH 12, 1987
Larry Kramer and others found the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in New York City. They hold their first demonstration twelve days later.
MARCH 19, 1987
The medication known as AZT goes on sale for use in the treatment of AIDS.
MAY 1988
Every household in the United States receives a mailed brochure from the surgeon general as part of his educational campaign about HIV/AIDS.
OCTOBER 11, 1988
ACT UP stages its Seize Control of the FDA protest over the Food and Drug Administration’s slow approval of drugs.
DECEMBER 10, 1989
ACT UP mounts its Stop the Church protest during Sunday service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
MAY 21, 1990
ACT UP holds its Storm the NIH protest over the federal government’s slow response to the AIDS pandemic.
NOVEMBER 1991
A group of members from ACT UP’s Treatment + Data affinity group (T+D) break away to form the Treatment Action Group (TAG).
NOVEMBER 7, 1991
Magic Johnson announces he is HIV-positive and ends his professional basketball career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
OCTOBER 11, 1992
ACT UP protests the presidency of George H. W. Bush through its Ashes Action.
DECEMBER 1995
The first protease inhibitor drug reaches the market, and two more go on sale the following March. These medications usher in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, and later, ART.
1997
Thanks to ART the rate of death from AIDS in America declines for the first time since the emergence of AIDS in 1981.