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Discover the curated images, videos, and primary sources featured throughout Foundations and Futures

History is more than just text on a page; it is the photographs, voices, and artifacts of the people who lived it. The images and recordings featured across Foundations and Futures are part of a meticulously curated media repository. Whether you are building a lesson plan or investigating an artifact, you can use this database to trace the provenance of our media: discover who created an asset, the historical context behind it, and how it can be used to bring Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences into your classroom.

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  • This excerpt from a Viet refugee's diary details the beginnings of their escape a on boat.
    Text
    Pocket diary of a Vietnamese Refugee (Pages 5-6)

    These dairy pages are excerpts from Pocket Diary of a Vietnamese Boat Person Refugee, housed at the University of California, Irvine Libraries Southeast Asian Archive. The diary details an anonymous refugee’s boat journey beginning at 8:00 p.m. on June 17, 1979, from Cà Mau. This rare primary source object captures the experiences and feelings of an individual, but also sheds light on some of the first asylum countries’ roles in the refugee exodus.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • This excerpt from a Viet refugee's diary details the beginnings of their escape a on boat.
    Text
    Pocket diary of a Vietnamese Refugee (Pages 3-4)

    These dairy pages are excerpts from Pocket Diary of a Vietnamese Boat Person Refugee, housed at the University of California, Irvine Libraries Southeast Asian Archive. The diary details an anonymous refugee’s boat journey beginning at 8:00 p.m. on June 17, 1979, from Cà Mau. This rare primary source object captures the experiences and feelings of an individual, but also sheds light on some of the first asylum countries’ roles in the refugee exodus.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • This excerpt from a Viet refugee's diary details the beginnings of their escape a on boat.
    Text
    Pocket Diary of a Vietnamese Refugee (Pages 1-2)

    These dairy pages are excerpts from Pocket Diary of a Vietnamese Boat Person Refugee, housed at the University of California, Irvine Libraries Southeast Asian Archive. The diary details an anonymous refugee’s boat journey beginning at 8:00 p.m. on June 17, 1979, from Cà Mau. This rare primary source object captures the experiences and feelings of an individual, but also sheds light on some of the first asylum countries’ roles in the refugee exodus.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • A refugee families crowded on a small wooden boat waves and smiles to the camera. A larger ship is seen in the background.
    Image
    Huy Tran on a boat

    In the years following the Fall of Saigon, many refugees left Vietnam secretly in unseaworthy and overcrowded boats. This second wave of refugees became known as the “boat people.”

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Vietnamese American Quynh-Trang Nguyen dressed in a gray shirt sits to the left of a large grandfather clock.
    Image
    Quynh-Trang Nguyen

    Quynh-Trang Nguyen was thirteen years old in 1975 when she and her family were temporarily housed at Camp Pendleton. This photo was taken in 2012 by Brandon Nguyen as part of the Vietnamese American Oral History Project.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Children play inside of an airplane as flight attendants dressed in red sit, chat, and assist them.
    Image
    Operation Babylift

    Operation Babylift was the evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other Western countries. An estimated 3,000+ children were airlifted through this program in April 1975 and adopted by families around the world.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Operation New Life in the United States. Vietnamese refugees carrying their personal belongings wait in a line for processing. Civilians and navy personnel serve refreshments to the refugees waiting in the line. Vietnamese men, women and children walk wearing shower slippers provided by U.S. personnel.
    Video
    Operation New Life

    Operation New Life (April 23–November 1, 1975) was a US government operation that processed over 111,000 refugees on Guam (Guåhan) before and after South Vietnam’s collapse.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Black-and-white photo of a dirt road lined with houses. Three children crossing the road turn to face the camera.
    Image
    Vietnamese Refugee Housing

    Refugees from Vietnam were housed in temporary resettlement homes, such as these homes pictured at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas (c. 1970s).

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Black-and-white photo showing many individuals climbing a wall and breaking a barbed fence. A soldier with a rifle stands amongst them.
    Image
    Fall of Saigon

    On April 29, 1975, South Vietnamese civilians scale the fourteen-foot wall of the US embassy in Saigon in a rush to reach evacuation helicopters. These civilians would become part of the first wave of refugees.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Vietnamese author Le Ly Hayslip squats with a young girl in a rice field in Ky La, in the Quang Nam-Da Nang Province.
    Image
    Le Ly Hayslip

    Le Ly Hayslip (left), humanitarian and author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (1989) and Child of War, Woman of Peace (1992) Her writings re-center narratives about the Vietnam-American War with stories by and about Vietnamese people.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • This cartoon shows a group of sad African American soldiers. A white soldier gestures and tells them "We put you right up front!"
    Image
    Muhammad Speaks

    This cartoon highlights the contradiction of Black soldiers sent overseas to fight for a country that continued to deny their civil rights back home. The term “Negro” was commonly used in the 1960s. It is not an acceptable term today.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • Edwin Starr poses in the beginning for the music video for "War" (1969).
    Video
    Edwin Starr “War”

    American singer Edwin Starr’s version of “War” captured the anxieties that many Americans were experiencing as they watched the Vietnam-American War unfolding on their home television screens. Starr’s “War” continues to be a popular protest song.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • A drawing on the cover of Gidra that shows a Vietnamese woman with a rifle in a standoff with two U.S. soldiers.
    Image
    Gidra Cover, May 1972

    This May 1972 cover art of Gidra, an Asian American Movement publication, critiques how people are turned into enemies during wartime. The word “gook” is a derogatory term and was used to dehumanize Asian people during the Vietnam-American War.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • A black and white map of Vietnam with reeducation camps and prisons marked.
    Image
    Map of Reeducation Prisons in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

    Due to her involvement in the South Vietnamese armed forces, Nguyễn Thị Hạnh Nhơn was imprisoned after the war ended. This map locates sites of reeducation camps and prisons in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • Oral History of Nguyen Thi Hanh Nhon conducted at the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation and Viatnemese American Oral History Project at UC Irvine.
    Video
    Oral History of Nguyễn Thị Hạnh Nhơn

    Nguyễn Thị Hạnh Nhơn describes her life through periods of French colonial rule, Japanese occupation, and the Vietnam-American War.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • Statue of revolutionary leader Lê Lợi with a sword in one hand and pointing two fingers on the other. Label reads "Anh Hung Dan Toc Le Loi 1395-1433".
    Image
    Lê Lợi Statue

    This large statue of Lê Lợi reflects the lasting impact of the revolutionary leader on the Vietnamese people. A bowl of incense at the base of the statue is another marker of the ongoing reverence for Lê Lợi in Vietnam’s national memory.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 1
    View multimedia
  • A poster showing three children of varying nationalities holding hands and dancing in a circle. The flags of France, Japan, and Vietnam are visible.
    Image
    1942 Propaganda Poster

    A 1942 Japanese propaganda poster celebrating colonialism framed as “collaboration” between France, Japan, and Vietnam.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 1
    View multimedia
  • This French map shows the territory of Indochina. On the right is a graphic of a pathway leading to Angkor Wat against an orange background.
    Image
    Map of Indochina

    This French publication (c. 1910) depicts a map of Indochina, formerly known as French Indochina or Indochine Française until 1950. The term “Indochina” refers to the blending of Indian and Chinese cultural influences in the region.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 1
    View multimedia
  • This wood panel shows Hai Bà Trưng, or The Trưng sisters leading an army. They sit atop elephants holding swords and a banner along a mountain.
    Image
    Hai Bà Trưng Leading Army

    This panel depicts Hai Bà Trưng (the common name of two sisters, Trưng Trắc (徵側) and Trưng Nhị (徵貳)) leading an army of foot soldiers. The attention to detail in this lacquered panel reflects the significance of these revolutionary leaders.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 1
    View multimedia
  • The story of Vietnamese legends Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ.
    Video
    The Legend of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ

    “The Legend of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ” by the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose illustrates the widely told origin story of Vietnam.

    Featured in:
    Vietnamese American Experiences, Module 1
    View multimedia
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