The Ph.D. Program in History

at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

GC Events

9/23 – Sarah Schulman on “LET THE RECORD SHOW: A Political History of ACT UP, NY 1987-1993”

 Sarah Schulman will discuss her book, Let the Record Show: A Political History of Act Up, NY 1987-1993. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, founded in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis, was a grassroots movement of people without rights that forced enormous change in government, private sector, media and everyday American culture during their first six years. Sarah Schulman, a participant witness, interviewed 188 of her fellow ACT UPers over 18 years and cohered an understanding of their strategies and tactics in a way that can be helpful to today’s activists.

Sarah Schulman is the author of more than twenty works of fiction (including The CosmopolitansRat Bohemia, and Maggie Terry), nonfiction (including StagestruckConflict is Not Abuse, and The Gentrification of the Mind), and theater (Carson McCullersManic Flight Reaction, and more), and the producer and screenwriter of several feature films (The OwlsMommy Is Coming, and United in Anger, among others). Her writing has appeared in The New YorkerThe New York Times, Slate, and many other outlets. She is a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at College of Staten Island, a Fellow at the New York Institute of Humanities, the recipient of multiple fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was presented in 2018 with Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Award. She is also the co-founder of the MIX New York LGBT Experimental Film and Video Festival, and the co-director of the groundbreaking ACT UP Oral History Project. A lifelong New Yorker, she is a longtime activist for queer rights and female empowerment, and serves on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

September 23 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, BUT PLEASE REGISTER HERE TO ACCESS THE ZOOM LINK AND ATTEND.

Co-sponsored with The Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS), The Center for Humanities, The Graduate Center PhD Programs in English and History, The Feminist Press, The Gotham Center for New York City History, The Graduate Center Library, and the PublicsLab.

Please reach out to us at csws@gc.cuny.edu with questions