Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights "Demand Your Rights! March on Washington"

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09866.02 Author/Creator: National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Poster Date: 11 October 1987 Pagination: 1 poster ; 70.7 x 55.9 cm. Order a Copy

One poster entitled, "National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights," dated October 11, 1987. Artwork consists of the dome of Capitol Hill and various inverted pink triangles. Poster is for the second march which first took place in 1979.

The pink triangle is the symbol of LGBTQ identities. Originally, the triangle was used in Nazi concentration camps to identify homosexual men, bisexual men and transgendered women. This icon was reclaimed during the 1970s-1980s as a positive symbol for self-identity.

The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights took place in 1987 propelled by rising AIDS pandemic and the ruling of Bowers v. Hardwick (see GLC09868 ). About 200,000 people attended this march.

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