Members of Students in Defeat of AIDS dedicated a panel of the AIDS Quilt in memory of former English professor Edward Hill at a Tuesday afternoon ceremony in the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture.
Hill, who directed the center from its inception, died last October at the age of 46 after an extended battle with AIDS. In addition to his work there, Hill was known for taking an active role in teaching students, often inviting them to his home and spending extensive amounts of time with them outside of class.
Fifteen students, teachers and administrators gathered in the softly lit Mary Lou Williams Center to see the colorful panel hanging on the back wall. The quilt's main feature is a pair of theater masks, representing comedy and tragedy, sewn in silver and gold lamZ next to white lettering which reads, "We will remember you, Professor Ed Hill."
The quilt is bordered by patches of various materials representing the many memorable aspects of Hill's personality. The images include teacups symbolizing Hill's china collection; hearts representing love; and African prints, said Trinity senior Jess Erdmann-Sager, SIDA co-leader, explaining the quilt to members of the audience.
"When I see the colors in this quilt, I am reminded of what a colorful man he was in terms of his character and in terms of his personality," said Caroline Lattimore, assistant dean of Arts & Sciences. "He was articulate, personable, and had a lot of color, and that's what the colors on this quilt help me to remember," she said.
People who worked closely with Hill said that the quilt evoked memories of their time with Hill. "I think it is a wonderful tribute to a wonderful scholar," said RichZ Richardson, a third-year graduate student in English and Hill's former teaching assistant. "From my engagement with him, I think that the quilt does a remarkable job of representing him," she said.
Godfrey Herndon, one of Hill's closest friends, said he was prepared to be very emotional at the ceremony. When he walked into the Center, however, Herndon said he was overwhelmed by the positive atmosphere of the dedication. "I came in here, and this room has nothing but great memories for me, lots of laughter, lots of food, young people, the whole bit, and I think that truly is, to me, what Ed was all about," he said. "He loved this place, not only the Williams Center, but I'm talking about the whole University."
Members of SIDA met every Thursday night in the Craft Center for five weeks to work on the panel, which Erdmann-Sager said will hopefully remain at the University to raise on-campus awareness about the disease. Group members are also trying to bring a small display of other Quilt panels to the University as part of their campaign.
Trinity sophomore Rachel Clingenpeel, co-leader of SIDA, described the construction of the panel as an moving experience that made her realize the importance of the project. "The process of constructing a Quilt panel is putting in concrete for the stuff you want to remember and memorialize about this person," she said. "This is a grieving process and it's also a celebration process."
Creating the panel for Hill was an all-encompassing affair, said LouAnn Martin-Rogers, who served as SIDA's technical director in the art of quilting. "So many times in the AIDS Quilt, you get to see what a person was all about, and that's what these students chose to do," she said.
The AIDS Quilt is maintained by the Names Project, a caretaker organization founded by Keith Jones in 1987. Jones made the first panel in memory of his best friend, Marvin Feldman, and continued his activism as co-founder of the Names Project until his retirement a few years ago.
The Names Project works to raise awareness about the personal effects of AIDS, Clingenpeel said. "The Names Project was created because the whole issue has become so politicized. Whether you're a researcher, activist or doctor, people don't take time to mourn the loss and realize all these people are dying, and they're dying at a young age, too," she said.
Consisting of almost 33,000 panels, the Quilt's panels commemorate only about 11 percent of all AIDS deaths in the United States. Based in San Francisco, the Names Project displays the Quilt in more than 300 nationwide exhibits each year. More than five million people have seen the Quilt, which now spans nearly 20 acres.
Each panel is three feet wide and six feet long, the size of a human grave. More than fifty panels are added to the Quilt each week. Materials for the panels have included such extravagances as mink, leather, condoms, corsets, cremation ashes and wedding rings.
Thirty-nine countries have contributed panels to the Quilt, including Ireland and Suriname. Prominent names in the Quilt include tennis star Arthur Ashe; actor Rock Hudson and pianist Liberace.
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