This oral history interview is an intimate conversation between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share this recording with Oral History Summer School, and with you. Please listen in the spirit with which this was shared.
This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please inquire about permissions.
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Victor Mendolia discusses his involvement in HIV/AIDs activism in the 1980s in New York City, moving to Hudson, New York, and his participation in Hudson politics. Victor reflects on tactics of direct action advocacy and ways of influencing politics as well as the importance of the Hudson Pride Parade in shifting Hudson residents’ attitudes toward the LGBTQ community. Additionally, Victor Mendolia discusses an ongoing initiative he is involved in to create equal representation between the wards in Hudson. At the time of the interview Victor Mendolia is the Chairman of the Hudson City Democratic Committee.
This interview is of significance to those interested in Act Up New York, a direct action advocacy group focused around AIDS activism beginning in the 1980s; LGBTQ organizing in Hudson, New York; the history of the Fair and Equal Initiative and concerns over unequal representation in Hudson politics.
Tyler Caughie is a resident of New York City who works in the non-profit sector to address and undo food injustice, inequality, and racism. At the time of the interview Tyler is a participant in Oral History Summer School 2016.
Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”