ACT UP 1988 Wall Street Demonstration

On March 24, 1988, ACT UP held their second demonstration on Broadway and Wall Street, to mark the one-year anniversary of its first action. The group, having grown in size since it first formed, was able to organize a much larger demonstration of over 1,000 people to protest pharmaceutical companies and government inaction. Demonstrators also gathered on Trinity Place and Rector Street. People chanted “No more business as usual” as 111 people were arrested. Gran Fury photocopied thousands of dollar bills with messages on the back that they then scattered on the streets for passersby to pick up. ACT UP’s website notes that “AIDS activism” as a concept had gained credibility by this time. (info courtesy NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project) (All photographs ©2025 Clay Walker and cannot be used without written permission)