View Inventory

In this episode Tracey Nguyen Mang introduces the Vietnamese Boat People podcast, and shares that she was under four years old when her Mom organized an escaped from the Vietnamese Communist regime in 1981. With nothing but clothes on their backs, her family left everything behind and took three girls under the age of 10, deep into the jungle in the middle of the night, and eventually out into the treacherous seas. Thirty-seven years later, she is on a mission to document every part of that escape and the events and turmoil that led her family and many others to choose the possibility of death if it meant freedom and safety on the other side.

This episode focuses on one family's experiences attempting to escape from Vietnam. In March 30, 1975, a Saigon government spokesman said that radio contact with South Vietnamese port of Da Nang had been lost, indicating that the city had fallen to the North Vietnamese. Just days before, a mother wrapped her three-day old baby in a hand-knit sweater as she prepared to evacuate the city of Da Nang. The family, with five other children and a newborn, fought their way through the flooded streets of rampant panic would later get separated, including losing their newborn baby.

This episode continues the story of JoAnh who was just three days old when her family had to flee the city of Da Nang Vietnam, just 30 days before the Fall of Saigon. After the war ended, families were stripped of any wealth and personal possessions and many were separated and sent to reeducation camps under the Communist regime. JoAnh's family escaped Vietnam in phases, eventually reuniting in America in 1981. She shares her earliest memory of what life was like as a refugee child and the importance of having family during the challenges and transitions. Photographs for this episode are available in Episode 2.

This episode focuses on Steve, born in 1961 in Vietnam, who was only 14 years old when the South had lost the war to the North Vietnamese. The eldest son of a socialite family, Steve's childhood was filled with whatever he wanted. All of that disappeared overnight. A wealthy boy who had never had to do anything for himself but enjoy life, was suddenly forced to become a man. As the oldest child of seven, he quickly felt the burden of having to provide for the family.

This episode focuses on Chris, the third child out of seven kids. He remembers vivdily the drastic change overnight of going from riches to rags, from pampered baby to slumdog in a war-torn country. He did whatever it took to survive and make money to care for his younger siblings. He was 13 when he made his first attempt to flee the country with his brothers. This is a story about brotherhood and the sacrifices a mother makes, so her children could have a better life.

In this episode, VBP Student Beatrice Bui, a student from University of California Berkley, shares how her family came to America and how the stories of the Vietnamese diaspora has influenced her as a designer. She won the VBP Design People's Choice Award for her original design that portrays the struggles of the Vietnamese boat people refugees and the inner-generations that connect to form the community and the resiliency.

In this episode, VBP Student Tuan Pham, a graduate student from Yale School of Art, talks about living in a liminal space as an immigrant in America. As a child transitioning and navigating the "unknown" he was constantly trying to bridge the "what was" and "what next." An introspective journey over the years from rediscovering Vietnam and himself, to studying Vietnamese artists, has enabled him to appreciate that ambiguity can give you the freedom to explore and create. And how that inspired his winning logo design for the Vietnamese Boat People which portrays the arduous journeys and the stories of the human spirit.

This episode focuses on Meredith, who couldn't bare to sit back and watch the boat people crisis unfold in the news. In 1979, she was among one of the first to volunteer at a makeshift refugee camp at 25 Hawkins Road, Sembawang, Singapore; the site of a former British barrack. She started the language program at the camp, and touched the lives of over 30,000 refugees. Including one young man, with Meredith's help, was able to hear the sound of freedom for the first time.

This episode focuses on Nesta, who in 1980 arrived at the Singapore Refugee camp for the first time, looking to do something meaningful with her time and skills. At first, she was overwhelmed by the chaos and traumatic experiences that the refugees had just gone through. Using a combination of her training, pure instincts and cultural understanding, Nesta became instrumental in helping the refugees transition into new lives and resettlement countries. The experiences at the camp also had a profound effect on her professional and personal life.

This episode focuses on Leo, who was only 26 years old, one of the youngest crewmen on the US Navy chartered military vessel, the SS Trans Colorado. On August 11, 1980 in the midst of a storm, Leo was on watch to steer the ship, when he spotted a small fishing boat far away with two men holding up a red flag in distress. Little did he know that his crew was about to change the fate of 67 refugee lives on that boat.

This episode focuses on the prevalence of nail salons often owned by Vietnamese entrepreneurs, and how the community came to dominate the $8 billion dollar nail salon industry. Director Adele Free Pham set out to explore the history of Vietnamese nail salons and discovered it all began with 20 Vietnamese refugee women and a chance encounter with famed Alfred Hitchcock actress and humanitarian Tippi Hedren. The "first 20" Vietnamese manicurists sought a way to support their children and families, unknowingly sparking a cultural phenomenon. Transferred files did not include photographs for this episode.

This episode focuses on the story behind and the making of Duc Nguyen's 2008 documentary Bolinao 52. In 1988, a group of Vietnamese boat people attempted to flee their country in search of freedom. Once at sea, the boat's engine died, leaving over 100 people stranded in the ocean. What happens next is an unbelievable story of perseverance that changed the lives of 52 survivors forever. Award winning documentarian Duc Nguyen, shares his journey in unraveling this story and making this regional Emmy award-winning film.

In this episode VBP Student Vivian discusses her experiences growing up in Brooklyn New York. Vivian was not surrounded by many Vietnamese people. Her parents fled Vietnam by boat as refugees in 1978. And while she grew up in the largest melting pot in America, Vietnamese-Americans don't even come close to 1% of the entire population in New York City. She never connected with her heritage until college, when she met a group of passionate and supportive students who recruited her to join the Vietnamese Student Association (VSA). For the first time, she felt proud about her background and a sense of belonging.

This episode focuses on Tom Pham, who was born in 1971 in Saigon as Hung Quoc Pham. At the end of the Vietnam War, his father Quoc Pham, a former South Vietnam Naval officer was sent away for many years in re-education camp. His mom was left with young children to care for in a war-torn country. Tom was sent to live with his grandparents at age four until one day, a father he barely knew started to appear again. And the two of them would escape Vietnam in 1980 when Tom was just eight years old. Tom shares what it was like growing up in America, separated from the rest of his family and the emotional distance they felt when they were finally reunited in America. In 2014, Tom played an instrumental role in helping to get his father and mother's story of survival documented in the book The World Looked Away.

This episode focuses on Thanhhà Lại, who was born in Vietnam in the middle of the war. She wrote about growing up there and leaving on a navy ship two days before the war ended in her first novel Inside Out and Back Again, which won a Newbery Honor and a National Book Award and eight years later is still a New York Times bestseller. She is the youngest of nine children raised by a single mother. Her father went missing during the war when she was just one years old. Her life in America would begin in Alabama and despite the trauma that was going on, Thanhhà grew up in a household full of humor. Many years later as a writer, she would discover that balancing trauma with humor is what makes her voice unique. The contrast is beautifully reflected in her latest novel, Butterfly Yellow.

This episode focuses on Thanh, the oldest of six children who was just eight years old at the Fall of Saigon. She was living in Tân Châu, just six miles from the Cambodia border and she remembers vividly the blood bath from the continued warfare between Vietnam and Cambodia. With Communism breathing down their backs and their wealth and freedom wiped out, Thanh's parents had to make an agonizing decision. Without enough gold to pay for a family of eight to flee Vietnam, they had to choose whether to stay together and face whatever came in the new Communist regime, or risk separating the family. In 1979, Thanh's parents found an opportunity for her to leave Vietnam, but they did not know that their 12 year old daughter, would embark on a journey fighting for her life.

This episode focuses on Gene Binh Nguyen, the youngest of two children, who grew up with a widowed mom. His father died in the Vietnam War when he was just two months old. Because Gene's father fought on the South Vietnamese side, his family was ostracized in the new government regime. When Gene and his family finally escaped from Vietnam, they were put in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California, where he faced racism, violence, and gang life daily, and his mom tried to make ends meet. But despite all the challenges, he turned adversity into opportunity and opportunity into advocacy for the Vietnamese community. Gene became a successful entrepreneur and went on to help thousands of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants thrive in the booming nail salon industry.

This episode focuses on Yen Ngo, number eleven of twelve children, and born in Da Lat Vietnam. Her parents were both orphans and even though they did not receive a formal education themselves, they raised their kids to excel in school. After 1975, Yen's oldest sister made the decision that the family needed to flee Vietnam in phases, and that the youngest children should go first. Yen arrived in America at the age of 13 and shares the loneliness she felt going from having a large family surrounding to feeling isolated in a new country. She studied engineering but stumbled into the restaurant industry and found completeness in serving food and bringing friends and communities together. She is the owner of an award-winning catering company Real Food Catering and Van Da restaurant in New York City.

This episode focuses on Bao Nguyen, an award-winning Vietnamese American filmmaker whose work has been seen on the New York Times, HBO, NBC, PBS, and more. He has directed, produced, and shot a number of short films, which have played internationally in festivals and museums. His feature documentary directorial debut Live from New York opened the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. His latest film is Be Water, a documentary about Bruce Lee, airing on ESPN on June 7, 2020. Bao is a child of refugees and grew up working in his parents' fabric shop. From childhood to high school, Bao was a studious student. He was on his way to becoming a lawyer until one day, in a split second decision, he decided to chase after his passion for visual arts. Bao talks about his parents' experiences as "boat people" and what it was like putting his personal life in front of the camera for the first time in his 2019 documentary short Where are You Really From.

In this episode, ten Storytellers from across America selected from a nationwide open-call for submissions share their Vietnamese-American experiences in celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month. Each Storyteller shares their very personal experiences in the form of monologues, music, poetry, art, and more. Speakers include Lynn Kim Do, Julian Saporiti, Hop Nguyen, Kavi Vu, Lauren Nguyen, Trammy Lai, Cindy Nguyen, David Kaizen, Dieu Ngoc Nguyen, and Quentin Nguyen-Duy.

This episode focuses on Cô Loan, who was born in Saigon and left Vietnam with her family on April 30 1975, the exact day when the South Vietnamese Army surrendered, bringing an end to the civil war in Vietnam. She was 11 years old and would face many new challenges as her family tried to adjust to a new country. But her greatest challenge came much later in her life, when she learned about her daughter with transgender experience, a term she knew nothing about. She shares her journey of trying to understand and accept, during a time when she felt her life had hit rock bottom. This is a story of a mother's love and determination and her passion to help other families through PFLAG NYC, a family-based organization committed to the civil rights of the LGBTQ community.

This episode fcouses on Amy Le, who was born in Tra Vinh Vietnam in 1974 with a severe heart condition. The doctors predicted that she would not live past her childhood. Desperate to find the right medical care, her mom decided they needed to escape the post-war conditions of Vietnam. In 1980 they arrived in Kent, Washington. Growing up, her relationship with her mom had its ups and downs and her Dad was in and out of her life. In 2017, when Amy's mom passed away, her world shattered. To honor her mom's legacy and sacrifices, she left her job in corporate America to write her mom's story. But she didn't have all the details so she began a journey of piecing it together through other people and fictionalized what life must have been like for her mom in Vietnam. In this episode, Amy shares her journey of discovery, healing, and forgiveness. Her debut historical fiction Snow in Vietnam is a tribute to her mother and the hundreds of thousands of boat people for their bravery.

The last episode of season three explores perspectives from the American born Vietnamese, those who are categorized as second generation. For most second generation Vietnamese children, their childhood looked nothing like that of their parents. They did not grow up during the Vietnam War era, nor do they have memories of the life threatening escapes from the country. Even so, this generation still internalizes the experiences, some through stories told by their parents, while others can feel the effects of the trauma, even if those stories were never told. The episode explores how this generation manages to understand their families' histories and trauma while also grappling with their own identities as Asian-Americans. Interviews include actress An Phan, podcast host Randy Kim, and visual storyteller Vi Son Trinh.