13499 research outputs found
Sort by
Oral History of Alex Pham
No full textAn oral history with Alex Pham, a Vietnamese refugee who came to America in 1975. This interview focuses mainly on Alex Pham’s personal experience of coming and adapting to America. He discusses growing up in Portland, Oregon and how the American culture differs from the Vietnamese culture.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Minh Duc Hong
No full textAn oral history with Mr. Minh Duc Hong, a devoted father and loyal husband, where he discusses the different struggles and memories he carried within Vietnam and America. The interview focuses on his experiences growing up in a war torn country where he documents what he saw, and most importantly, what he learned about politics and government after undergoing this period in his life. Finally, the narrator shares some personal memories of his family and friends, as well as his ultimate dream for the world to one day achieve peace.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Huy Tran
No full textAn oral history with Mr. Huy Tuong Tran, an alumni of the University of California, Irvine where he majored in Political Science. He is a math teacher at Orangeview Junoir High School. This interview focused on his experiences as a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American growing up in Vietnam in his childhood years and after 1975 migration experiences as a boat person and life in the United States.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Tri C. Tran
No full textAn oral history with Mr. Tri C. Tran, a professor of linguistics here at UCI and UCLA. This interview is focused on exploring his overall life during the pre/post-Vietnam War era in Vietnam and in the United States. His life in Vietnam, journey to the United States via boats, and subsequent new life in America are all documented. He is contributing to the Vietnamese American Oral History Project to help preserve his story.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Mai-Phuong T. Nguyen
No full textThis is an oral history describing the life of Dr. Mai Phuong Nguyen who was born in Dalat, Vietnam on February 28, 1969. She currently resides in Fountain Valley, California and is a doctor whose new practice Karuna Healthcare Consultants will launch April 2012. She did her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Irvine where she majored in Premed and minored in Spanish Lit and took a big part in Project Ngoc. She later went on to medical school at the University of Southern California. This interview focused on her story as a Vietnamese American from the Vietnam War to present day.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Tra Van Mai
No full textThis is an oral history interview with Mr. Tra Van Mai, a current machine technician for a Company in Orange County and also my father. This interview focused on his life experiences shortly before, during, and after the Vietnam War, as well as his escape by boat and transition into American society. He speaks of his upbringing in the Gia Định province and how rustic and peaceful his neighborhood was, then transitions to his education and enlistment in the military at the age of 18. Tra remembers being in the navy as a ship repairman and technician during the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 and describes the horrors of war in seeing his friends die around him. Though many escaped the oppression of the Communist government around 1975, Tra remained in Vietnam with his family until around 1987. During his stay, he describes his life as being a farmer was difficult because most of the crop he grew was forced to be given up as tax to the government. His life became more burdened when the Viet Cong forced him and other ranked military officials like him into reeducation camps within the jungles away from Saigon. After roughly four years of surviving off of spoiled food and self-made shelter, Tra returned home, only to realize that he did not want to live life in Vietnam under the Communist regime. He then decided to escape by himself to the U.S. by a small boat whose engine malfunctioned and proceeded to drift upon the sea. The people on his boat were saved by an oil tanker and sent to Malaysia, where he stayed with many other Vietnamese refugees for approximately 6 months. He was then sent to another refugee camp in the Philippines named Pulau Bidong Camp before making the final sponsored migration to the United States. It was during his stay in Pulau Bidong that he met his future wife, my mother, Thai Hang Vu. He describes their separation due to her sponsorship to Norway and the steps he took to keep in touch with her and eventually reunite after their safe escape. After arriving in Buena Park, California, Tra remembers adjusting well to life in America. With help from his sponsor and friends, he found a job and a place to live with little problems or major setbacks. He goes on to describe the beginnings of the current city of Little Saigon in Orange County, mentioning in particular the Hi-Tek incident and how he was among thousands of Vietnamese Americans who protested against the portrait of Ho Chi Minh. He finishes the interview by providing additional detail on some of his previously stated stories
OH # 0025
while escaping by boat, while in the Philippine refugee camp, and while adjusting to American culture and society. He also voices the wishes he has for me and others like me to hold onto and preserve the Vietnamese culture, language, and experience so that future generations will not forget their roots.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Hiep Cao Nguyen
No full textAn oral history with Mr. Hiep Cao Nguyen, an artist, teacher and found of the Circle Painting. He graduated with a BS in fine arts, and a master in Arts Education. The goal of this oral is history is to document his experiences in Vietnam and in America. He is a 1/1.5 generation Vietnamese American. We covered topics of migration, family, culture and assimilation. He currently is involved in circle painting and goes on trips to bring his art and project to different people all around the world.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Giana Nguyen Foster
No full textAn oral history with Giana Nguyen Foster, graduate from California State University, Long Beach with a major in Health Care Administration. This interview focuses on her music career, experiences leaving Vietnam, her relationship with her divided family, and relationship with her non-Vietnamese husband who supports her music.Recorded Digitall
Oral History of Tran Thi Huong
No full textThe document presents an oral history with Ms. Tran Thi Huong, born in 1957, a first-wave Vietnamese refugee who became a hairstylist. The interview focused on her memory of Vietnam during the war, the experience of fleeing the country by a cargo airplane in 1975, and her career path to reconstruct her life in the United States. Ms. Tran owns a hair salon in Orange County, California since 2008.Recorded Digitall
