People
Lana Co
Lana Co lived in Vietnam until she was twenty-one, in April 1996 she and her family left Vietnam to move to the United States. Her father’s family was living in the United States, and they wanted to…Lana Co was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the US with her family in 1996, when she was twenty years old. In Portland, she attended Mt. Hood Community College as well as Portland State University,…
Oral History 1st Interview | Oral History 2nd Interview | Digital Objects
Thuy Dam
Thuy Dam was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States in the 1980s, after moving through refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines. Sponsored by her sister, Dam initially settled in…
Khoi Dinh
Khoi Dinh was born in October 1982 in Hanoi and lived there until he decided to attend a university abroad in the United States. He attended Cameron University in Oklahoma and majored in business…
Vinh The Do
Vinh The Do was born outside of Hanoi, Vietnam in 1946. He attended elementary school in Hanoi until 1954 after the battle of Dien Bien Phu. He and his family decided to leave and go to Saigon, which…
Phil Duong
Phil Duong is a Lewis & Clark College graduate who has lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of his life. Currently a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Manzama, Duong has also worked as a…
Bình Huỳnh
Bình Huỳnh was born in Bac Lieu Province in Vietnam. In 1979, when he was twenty-four years old, he escaped Vietnam by boat. After spending eighteen months in two refugee camps in Malaysia, Huỳnh…
Chau Huynh
Chau Huynh was born in Binh Thuan Vietnam and moved to Portland in June 1997. In Vietnam Huynh worked as an English teacher. Her father was in the South Vietnamese army, which allowed Huynh and her…
Eliza Lê
Eliza Lê was born in Portland, Oregon, one year after her parents immigrated from Vietnam in 1985. As a young child, Lê lived in Southeast Portland and attended Creston Elementary. In middle school,…
Hang Le
In this oral history, Portland State University student Rio Le interviews his father, Hang Le. Hang Le was born in 1967 in La Lang, Vietnam. In Vietnam, he met his wife, who qualified for a green card…
Huong Le
Huong Le was born in Ninh Binh province in North Vietnam. In 1954, he and his family migrated to South Vietnam to flee the communist camps. After being imprisoned in the war as a member of the South…
Jennifer Le
In this oral history, Portland State University student Rio Le interviews his sister Jennifer Le. Jennifer Le was born in 1992 in Eugene, Oregon. The family moved to the greater Portland area after…
Khuong Le
Khuong Le graduated from high school in 1945. In 1947 he moved to Hue City where he worked for a French company for a year. In 1948 he was recruited by the South Vietnamese military first as a…
Nhu Le
Nhu Le was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and is currently a student at Portland State University. She is majoring in business information technology and analytics. Growing up in Portland, Le…
Truy Le
Truy Le was born in Quang Binh, Vietnam in 1939. He attended the Saigon University of Pedagogy as well as the Saigon Law School before becoming an elementary and middle school teacher. In 1968, Le…
Tuân Lê
Tuân Lê was born in Gia Dinh, Vietnam, and evacuated to the United States with his family in 1975 as a refugee. He came to Portland in 1977 after spending time in Syracuse, New York. Lê worked for…
Hiếu Liên
Monk Hiếu Liên, her spiritual name, is a buddhist monk at the Tinh Xa Ngoc Chau. She was born in Saigon in 1965 and moved to America in 1992. Her father was a major in the Army of the Republic of…
Thi Luong
Thi Luong was born and raised in Vietnam, where she has a background in both English and computer software. She moved to Portland in 2004 with the hope of providing her son with more opportunities.…
Diana Ly
Diana Ly was born in Saigon in the early 1970s and left Vietnam with her family in the late 1970s. She and her family spent nine months in a refugee camp before coming to the United States in 1978.…
Tatiana Mac
Tatiana Mac was born in Portland and is a first-generation Vietnamese American. Growing up, they attended schools in Portland’s suburbs and went to high school in Hillsboro. After obtaining degrees in…
Dinh Mai
Dinh Mai was born in 1941 in Thu Thanh Kien Song Ninh Vietnam. His family left North Vietnam in 1954 to avoid religious and political persecution and settled in South Vietnam. They stayed in South…
Trang Morgan
Trang Morgan was born in 1987 and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. As a child, Morgan wanted a diverse experience, which encouraged her to travel later on in life. When it was time for Morgan to…
Joanna Nga Hoang
Joanna Nga Hoàng was born in Binh Duong, Vietnam, in 1972. In 1994, when Hoàng was twenty-two years old, she and her family left Vietnam and came to the United States. While her family settled in…
Stephen Nghiem
Stephen Nghiem, a pastor at the Vietnamese Christian Community Church, was born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1951. After moving to South Vietnam at age three, Nghiem spent his early life in Saigon, where he…Stephen Nghiem, a pastor at the Vietnamese Christian Community Church, was born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1951. After moving to South Vietnam at age three, Nghiem spent his early life in Saigon, where he…
David Ngo
David Ngo is a psychology student at Oregon State University. He is the son of Cuong Ngo, who also participated in this oral history project. His parents and extended family immigrated from Vietnam to…
Tommy Ngo
Tommy Ngo was born in 1999 in Portland, Oregon and is currently a student at Portland State University, majoring in computer science. He grew up outside of Portland, attending Rock Creek Elementary,…
Connie Nguyen-Truong
Connie Kim Yen Nguyen-Truong, (PhD, RN, PCCN) was born in Portland in 1976 and is an assistant professor at Washington State University College of Nursing – Vancouver. A nurse scientist with expertise…
Chi Nguyen
Chi Nguyen was born in Saigon in 1982. Nguyen and her family left Vietnam as political refugees in 1990 because of her grandfather’s involvement in the South Vietnamese army. Growing up in Oregon,…
Christine Nguyen
Christine Nguyen was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She attended college in Hillsboro. Currently, Nguyen lives in Coos Bay and works as a pharmacist.
In this interview, Nguyen shares about…
Jacques Nguyen
Jacques Nguyen was born in 1974 in Saigon, Vietnam. He and his family moved to Portland in 1992 through the H.O. Program. Immediately after arriving in Oregon, Nguyen attended Grant High School and…
James Nguyen
James Nguyen was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He grew up in Southeast Portland and attended Whitman Elementary School, Lane Middle School, and Grover Cleveland High School. He currently…
Lynn Nguyễn
Lynn Nguyễn is a high school student and second generation immigrant living in Portland. She is very involved with her church, Our Lady of Lavang Parish, and does many extracurriculars involving…
Mary Nguyen
Mary was born in 1954 in Hai Phong, Vietnam. She moved to Portland in 1985. After arriving in Oregon, Nguyen worked for over twenty-five years providing important Vietnamese language translation…
Michelle Nguyen
Michelle Nguyen is a mixed-race Vietnamese American comic illustrator based in Portland, Oregon. Nguyen grew up in Southern California, splitting her time between Riverside and Garden Grove before…
Pauline Bich Lieu Nguyen
Pauline Bich Lieu Nguyen is a nun at the Adorers of the Holy Cross Sisters in Portland, Oregon and is currently travelling across the US on a convent mission. She was born in 1972 and her family left…
Phu Nguyen
Phu Nguyen was born on October 13, 1940, in Vietnam. He grew up in Vietnam, and in 1962 was drafted into the South Vietnamese army. Nguyen served for six years and then decided to work for the US…
Teresa Nguyen
Teresa Nguyen was born in South Vietnam in 1964. Her father was a captain in the South Vietnamese army, as such she moved frequently during her childhood. After the war her father had to go into…
Thai Tien Nguyen
Thai Tien Nguyen was born and raised in Dat La, which is located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. In Vietnam Nguyen obtained an education in English and Business. In 2009, Nguyen decided to move…
Thanh Tâm Nguyễn
Thanh Tâm Nguyễn is the manager of a hair salon in Portland and the mother of one son. Her family came to the United States through the HO (Humanitarian Program for Former Political Detainees)…
Man Ninh
Man Ninh was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1960. After the Fall of Saigon, Ninh was unable to enroll in university in Vietnam. He and his family escaped Vietnam by boat in 1981. For the next three years…
Hieu Pham
Hieu Pham, dentist and co-founder of Atlas Dental, grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Portland State University and OHSU. In addition to founding his own private practice with his wife in 2018,…
Hoang Pham
Hoang Pham is a Research and Policy Fellow at the Stanford Center for Racial Justice at Stanford Law School, where his work focuses on education equity, public safety and policing. He is also a…
Khanh Pham
Khanh Pham, Organizing Director of OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, was born in Edmond, Oklahoma but moved with her family to Irvine, California at age eleven. Pham enjoys moving between the worlds…Khanh Pham, the Oregon State House Representative for District 46, was born in Edmond, Oklahoma but moved with her family to Irvine, California at age eleven. After receiving her undergraduate degree…
Lan Pham
Lan Phạm was born in 1973 in Bến Tre, Vietnam. Before coming to the United States, she worked as a registered nurse at a children’s hospital. After moving to Portland with her husband, Phạm went to…
Tot Van Pham
Tot Van Pham was born in 1936 in Saigon. He worked as a manager of over 200 people in Vietnam and when he came to the United States he found work at the Epson company. He is a poet in his spare time…
Vu Pham
Vu Pham is a Portland based writer, director, producer, and actor. He is a refugee from Vietnam whose work has been significantly influenced by personal and historical trauma, existential philosophy,…
Thúy Phan
Thúy Phan came to Portland in 1985 from Quang Nam, Vietnam. Many members of Phan’s family were already established in Portland, including her grandfather, who sponsored her family’s transition. Phan…
Van Phan
Van Phan is an employee of Multnomah County, where she has worked for over nineteen years. Phan immigrated to the United States with her family in December of 1994. She was born in Saigon, where she…
Susan Quang
Susan Quang was born in Saigon and grew up there until 1982 when she left Vietnam at the age of twenty-one. After the war, she and her family decided to leave Vietnam to avoid political prosecution.…
Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel: Sister Christine Rausch
Sister Christine Rausch is a Benedictine Nun who has been at Mount Angel Abbey for about 70 years. She decided to become a nun at Mt. Angel because the majority of her family decided to join other…
Jacqueline Saporiti
Jacqueline Saporiti, a painter and recent Portlander, was born and raised in Saigon. In 1965, she came to the United States through a program with the American Field Service and was an exchange…
Julian Saporiti
Julian Saporiti is a musician, scholar, and recent Portlander. He was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee before going to music school, joining a rock band, and touring throughout North America…
Dao Strom
Dao Strom is a Vietnamese American writer, artist, and musician who has been living in Portland since 2010. Strom was originally born in Saigon, Vietnam, and immigrated to the United States with her…
Nga To
Nga To was born in 1950 in Hanoi, Vietnam, but moved to Saigon when he was four years old. In 2007, he was sponsored by his son and came to the United States, where he settled in Portland, Oregon.…
Minh Tran
Minh Tran was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1964 and is a professional choreographer, contemporary dancer, and an educator at Reed College. He began training in dance as a child with the Peking Opera…
Thu Thuy Tran
Thu Thuy Tran was born and raised in South Vietnam, where she and her family lived near the Mekong River. She and her daughter left Vietnam in 1980 to avoid persecution from the communist government.…
Vân Truong
Dr. Van Truong was born in South Vietnam and began her migration to the United States in April of 1975, the last day of the fall of Saigon. Truong in her time in Portland has become an influential…
Davis Truong
Davis Truong was born in 1973 in Phan Thiet, Vietnam. He came to Portland, Oregon in 1978, after leaving Vietnam by boat with his family. Truong grew up in North Portland, attending Roosevelt High…
Kathy Truong
Kathy Truong immigrated from Vietnam to the United States in 1979 and has lived in and around Portland, Oregon for most of her life. She attended Portland Public Schools while growing up and later…
Tai Tu
Tai Tu was born in 1938 in Vietnam and moved to the United States in the late twentieth century. When Tu finished his schooling he became a school teacher for math and science, and when the Vietnam…
Thao Tu
Thao Tu is the president of the Vietnamese Community of Oregon (VNCO.) He was born in Vietnam in 1962 as the son of two teachers. Tu and his family were persecuted by Vietnam’s communist government…
Thuy Tu
Thuy Tu was born in Phan Thiet, Vietnam. Soon after the Fall of Saigon, she and her immediate family sought refuge in Hong Kong. They were then sponsored to come to Portland, Oregon when Tu was three…
Agnes Vu
Agnes Vu was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1971. She immigrated to Portland, Oregon with her parents and three siblings in 1992 because of her father’s status in the South Vietnamese military. Vu…
Margret Vu
Margret Vu was born in Hanoi, Vietnam during the 1950s. After the 1954 Geneva Conference, Vu and her family moved South to the city of Da-Lat. In 1972, Vu enrolled in Laval University in Quebec City,…
Benji Vuong
Benji Vuong is a park ranger and freelance photographer. At five years old, his family left Vietnam as one of the last families to come to the United States through the Humanitarian Operation. Growing…
Hanh (William) Vuong
William Vuong was born in central Vietnam, but moved to Saigon in 1953. In 1962, he joined the South Vietnamese Special Forces, serving as an interpreter and office manager. After the Fall of Saigon,…
Húng Si Vuong
Húng Si Vương was born in Kontum, Vietnam, one of six siblings. He fled the country by boat in 1988 with the hope of making it to the United States and eventually sponsoring the rest of his family.…
Vananh Nguyen Vuong
Vananh Nguyen Vuong was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and moved to the United States in 2003 when she was sixteen. Vuong and her family first settled in Westminster California because they were sponsored…
Vinh Wong
Vinh Wong was born in Bao Loc, Vietnam in 1969, and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1978. Although Wong’s parents were born in Vietnam, his grandparents on both his mother’s and his…
Loan Ziehl
Loan Ziehl was born in Hue Vietnam and is currently residing in Lake Oswego, Oregon. She works as a Vietnamese immersion teacher at the Portland Public School. She teaches early elementary school…