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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Melinda Broman
Oral history interview conducted by Robert Sember
June 20, 1992
Call number: 1993.001.01
0:02 - Interview logistics, nature of memory, introduction to HIV
8:43 - Relationship with husband living with HIV
12:14 - Hemophilia, Factor 8, HIV, and politics
27:13 - Dating, marriage in relation to husband's HIV status
60:06 - Quality of life: work, support groups, medical treatment, marriage
74:55 - Death, funeral
94:27 - Hemophilia, HIV, support groups, and politics
119:58 - Identity after husband's death, hope
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Melinda Broman
Melinda Broman, a White woman, was forty-seven years old when she was interviewed. Her husband Victor Ockey, who was a hemophiliac, died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 1989. He was infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during a routine blood transfusion in the early 1980s. At the time of this interview, Broman had lived in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood since the mid-1980s. Broman's involvement with AIDS was extensive, reaching beyond her relationship with her husband. As a member of the National Hemophiliac Association she has lobbied for increased awareness of the specific plight of HIV+ hemophiliacs. Through her work as a psychologist at Downstate Medical Center and as a member of the Brooklyn Psychological Association she has organized AIDS workshops. She was interviewed primarily because of her personal and professional experience with AIDS issues specific to hemophiliacs.
In the interview, Melinda Broman was able to provide a lot of information about what it was to be a heterosexual woman within a straight relationship dealing with HIV/AIDS. She speaks about the lack of support within the AIDS movement and also the lack of support from the hemophiliac community. While Broman found herself often surrounded by gay men within the AIDS movement, she made friends but was not always getting the support she needed. It was different within the hemophiliac community. She felt that fear of HIV/AIDS made the virus an unwanted topic of discussion. Melinda also speaks about being in a serodiscordant couple, the feelings she had about that, and how it related to her dealing with her own non-HIV-related health issues. Interview conducted by Robert Sember.
The AIDS/Brooklyn Oral History Project collection includes oral histories conducted for an exhibition undertaken by the Brooklyn Historical Society in 1993. The project attempted to document the impact of the AIDS epidemic on Brooklyn communities. Recordings initially made on magnetic tape concerned the epidemic and were with narrators who had firsthand experience with the crisis in their communities, families and personal life. Narrators came from diverse backgrounds within Brooklyn and the New York metropolitan area and had unique experiences which connected them with HIV/AIDS. Substantive topics of hemophilia, sexual behavior, substance abuse, medical practice, social work, homelessness, activism, childhood, relationships and parenting run through at least one, and often several, of the oral histories in the collection.
Citation
Broman, Melinda, Oral history interview conducted by Robert Sember, June 20, 1992, AIDS/Brooklyn Oral History Project collection, 1993.001.01; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Broman, Melinda
- Brooklyn AIDS Task Force
- Gay Men's Health Crisis, Inc.
- Green-Wood Cemetery (New York, N.Y.)
- National Hemophilia Foundation
Topics
- AIDS (Disease)
- AIDS activists
- Blood coagulation factors
- Funeral rites and ceremonies
- Hemophilia
- Hemophiliacs
- HIV infections
- Immunological deficiency syndromes
- Marriage customs and rites
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- New York (N.Y.)
Finding Aid
AIDS/Brooklyn Oral History Project collection