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Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
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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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A. N.
Oral history interview conducted by Robert Rosenberg
May 04, 1992
Call number: 1993.001.11
0:02 - Life after an AIDS diagnosis and a bad breakup, moving back to Brooklyn
29:47 - Life before HIV
39:11 - Ideas, hopes to improve life chances for people with HIV and those at risk
44:12 - Sexuality; personally and within the African American and Caribbean American communities
55:14 - Impacts of HIV on Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn
61:17 - Treatment, life with HIV as a woman, and life with family
68:51 - Quality of life, review of life, relationship with ex, and dealing with questions of transmission
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with A.N.
A woman living with HIV/AIDS, A.N. was forty-three years old at the time of the interview in 1992. Originally from Grenada, she moved with her family to Brooklyn when she was ten months old. After a break up with her partner of seventeen years, she moved to California where, within a few years, she found out she was living with what she called "full blown AIDS." The interview took place in the house she grew up in, where she lives with her family who help care for her.
In this interview, A.N. discusses the life of a single Black woman living with HIV/AIDS in Brooklyn. The narrator speaks clearly throughout about her health challenges, weaving together her time in California and her time in Brooklyn. She speaks specifically about the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights in relation to people's ideas of who has HIV, and who doesn't. She also speaks at some length about sexuality, race, and HIV. Towards the end of the recording, an unidentified second interviewer comes in. Interview conducted by Robert Rosenberg.
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 Brookyn 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
N., A., Oral history interview conducted by Robert Rosenberg, May 04, 1992, AIDS/Brooklyn Oral History Project collection, 1993.001.11; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- N., A.
Topics
- AIDS (Disease)
- AZT (Drug)
- Family life
- HIV infections
- HIV-positive persons
- Sexual health
- Social group work
- Stigma (Social psychology)
- Women's health services
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- California
- Crown Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- New York (N.Y.)
Finding Aid
AIDS/Brooklyn Oral History Project collection