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DU Home > News & Events > Media Releases > November 2003

MEDIA RELEASES

Contact
Jessica Mackinnon
jmack@dom.edu
(708) 524-6289

DU Hosts Notable AIDS Activist Rae Lewis Thornton

As part of AIDS Awareness Week, Dominican University will host a free lecture by notable AIDS activist Rae Lewis Thornton on Monday, December 1 at 6:00 p.m. in the Social Hall, 7900 W. Division Street, River Forest.

Named by Ebony Magazine as one of “America’s 57 Most Intriguing People of 2002,” Thornton has consistently used her life to shatter the common myths and stereotypes surrounding who and how one can become infected with the HIV virus that most often results in AIDS (Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome) and death.

In 1986, during a routine blood drive in her hometown of Washington, DC, Thornton was diagnosed HIV positive. At the age of 23, she was forced to make changes in her life that ultimately ended a promising career in politics. She served as Senator Carol Mosley Braun’s 1992 senatorial campaign advance coordinator, national youth director of Reverend Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns and Illinois State youth coordinator for Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign before being forced to retire in 1993 as a result of her failing health.

Since retiring she has used her oratory skills and personal experiences to bring attention to the AIDS crisis in the United States and the world. She has been featured on the cover of Essence Magazine and in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Dayton Daily News. She has appeared on television’s Nightline with Ted Koppel and on the Oprah Winfrey Show. In addition, Thornton received an Emmy Award for a WBBM-TV series of first-person stories on living with AIDS.

Thornton received a master of divinity degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in June 2003 and is currently a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

For more information about Rae Lewis Thornton’s lecture at Dominican University, please call Melissa Williams, assistant director of campus activities, at (708) 524-6458.