A very small section of a large painting done by Van Le's late father, Le Quang Vinh, taken on March 27, 2025. Le and her uncle Allen Luong are coordinating a series of exhibits to showcase her father's paintings.
Steven Tonthat / OPB
This month marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. It’s also the anniversary of many Vietnamese families arriving to start a new life in the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of people fled the country and became refugees in 1975, and many of those people ended up on the West Coast of the United States. According to census data, there are now more than 37,000 Vietnamese Oregonians. We’ll hear from a few of them.
Van Le and Allen Luong are organizing a series of art exhibits featuring paintings by Le’s late father to mark the anniversary and look towards the future. OPB arts and culture producer Steven Tonthat, whose parents emigrated from Vietnam, shares his perspective. And we hear from Thuy Huyen, whose harrowing story of escaping her home country was featured in OPB’s documentary “The Vietnam War Oregon Remembers.”
Listen to all episodes of The Evergreen podcast here.
