History
The first ribbon that was represented as a meaningful object in history was the yellow ribbon that was mentioned in a marching song, which was sung by the military in the United States. In the year 1917 George A. Norton copyrighted the song for the first time. The title of the song was "Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon". In the 1940s the song was rewritten by several musicians.
In the early 1970s the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree" was released, and based on this song, a wife of a hostage in Iran, Penney Laingen, was the first who used the ribbon as an awareness symbol. She tied yellow ribbons around trees, to illustrate desire for her husband coming home. Her friends and family members followed the trend due to loyalty. As all Americans were able to see this message, the "ribbon became a medium".
In May 1986 the AIDS Faith Alliance, later to be known as Christian Action on AIDS, held an open conference on AIDS at Notting Hill Gate in London, supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other United Kingdom Christian church leaders. Rainbow Ribbons were given to everybody attending. Following the conference, Rainbow Ribbons were widely circulated not only in the United Kingdom, but throughout the Christian world. The purpose of Christian Action on AIDS, an official Church of England charity whose founder/chairman was Barnaby Miln, was to get the worldwide Christian churches involved in the crisis that was AIDS. The churches rapidly got involved allowing Christian Action on AIDS to fold in 1991.
In the 1990s, AIDS activists were inspired by the ribbon medium, and decided to make ribbons for the people that fight against AIDS. The ribbon that represents AIDS became red as this is the color of passion. During the Tony Awards, a photo was taken of the actor Jeremy Irons, who had the bright red ribbon pinned on his chest. As the public followed the awards, the ribbon was an eye catcher and became popular overnight. The year 1992 was declared by The New York Times as "The year of the Ribbon".
Read more about this topic: Awareness Ribbon
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In history the great moment is, when the savage is just ceasing to be a savage, with all his hairy Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of beauty;—and you have Pericles and Phidias,—and not yet passed over into the Corinthian civility. Everything good in nature and in the world is in that moment of transition, when the swarthy juices still flow plentifully from nature, but their astrigency or acridity is got out by ethics and humanity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)