Historical Studies Journal

Saigon to Denver: Resilience in the Face of the Vietnamese Refugee Crisis During the 1970s

By: Justin Porcelo

Introduction

Qui Nguyen only had a week’s notice to leave his home country of Vietnam in 1975. He had to leave his entire family behind as his involvement in the war made him a target for the North Vietnamese army. When Qui arrived in America, he had a difficult time adjusting to a new environment as he felt his sponsor, the Lutheran church of North Dakota, did not do enough for him. The Church only gave him assistance for the first two months of rent. He had to find his job as an electrician on his own while not understanding how to dress in such a cold environment compared to Vietnam. He eventually found his way to Loveland, Colorado with his American wife by 1981. After six years of hardships after he fled his home country, he finally found himself at a place to call home.^[1]

The Fall of Saigon in 1975 caused the first wave of refugees, like Qui, to start their journey over to America. Thousands of refugees came over in the next couple of years as they sought to escape the new government of Vietnam. In the wake of this event, President Gerald Ford created the Interagency Task Force on Indochinese Refugees (IATF) to help organize evacuation of refugees and their eventual resettlement in America.^[2] Resettlement was spread around the country to help ease the burden of an influx of refugees. One of these states was Colorado where Qui settled after his initial years in North Dakota. The American Government passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975 to assist with the resettlement of the refugees. However, many still struggled.^[3]

A conflicted narrative arose in Denver during this time as millions of dollars were being spent on refugees, but newspapers stated that many refugees struggled with housing and crime. A Denver newspaper interviewed a refugee in 1979 about their living conditions and he said, “Our neighbors give us much trouble. When we call the police, they don’t do anything.”^[4] However, the Indochina Act allocated $455,000,000 to the refugee crisis. These two perspectives shed light to a greater study of Asian refugees and their experiences in adapting to America.

Scholarship of Vietnamese refugees is an emerging field, as is general Asian American studies. However, there are very few histories done in the case of Denver’s relationship with their refugees. Many historians have researched the period of Vietnamese refugees and its effect on both the refugees and America as a whole. Historian Erika Lee describes this period as the product of “multifaceted legacies of war and the immense resilience of the refugees” as their experiences in America is “a story of contradictions and unfinished journeys.” Her analysis contrasts other historians, like Sucheng Chan, who cover the broader aspects of the refugees by only looking at the American Federal response and its political implications. Historians have centered their research in states with large populations of immigrants, such as California and Texas, so other states with lower populations get mentioned only briefly. The study of Vietnamese refugees in Colorado is largely absent in the greater historical narrative of one of America’s largest influx of refugees in the late twentieth century.

Ignoring this population ignores the role Vietnamese refugees had in Colorado’s history. Colorado had similar interactions with the refugees to other states, but its limited scale produced a unique environment between the state and the refugees that continues to affect each other. While not the largest immigrant population, this historical silence ignores thousands of refugees that endured hardships to make a new home.^[5]

To explore this silence, I will study the refugee crisis in Colorado following the conclusion of the Vietnam War. This war resulted in thousands of refugees from Southeast Asia immigrating to America. Since I will be exploring a subject that is not highly studied, I will rely heavily on primary sources from oral histories and newspapers from that time as these sources focus on the individual. To help contextualize the story of the refugees I will use other primary sources like government reports, laws, and censuses. Secondary sources from historians will also help contextualize the broader histories of Vietnamese refugees.

Most of these refugees came during the period of 1975-1982 and had a mixed reception from the United States. National, state, and private organizations sent assistance to these refugees to help accommodate them as they fled to America. Since the start of the influx of refugees, many went to Colorado, with local religious organizations becoming the main sponsors of refugees in the state. However, mishandling of the refugee crisis in all levels of the organizations, from the federal government to local institutions, resulted in self-reliance for many of the refugees. This mentality helped fuel the creation of a Vietnamese American community in Denver. This community aimed for social and economic independence to support each other in face of opposition from the existing local community.

The Vietnam War and How It Became a Refugee Crisis

The end of World War II signaled a period of decolonization across Asia as power dynamics shifted and European powers weakened their hold on their colonies. France lost control of French Indochina following their defeat in the French-Indochinese War of 1946-1954 As a result, Vietnam was formed by the 1954 Geneva Conventions and split into North and South Vietnam. Other countries that broke off from French Indochina were Laos, Cambodia, and several Chinese colonies that were returned to China. Ideological differences between the two halves of Vietnam caused tensions that led to war. In 1964, America passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to directly intervene on the side of South Vietnam, sending troops to engage the North Vietnamese Army the next year.^[6] Fearful of a communist takeover of Asia, the American government rushed thousands of troops and spent millions of dollars in defense aid to South Vietnam.^[7] However, blunders in the American military and the lack of support from the homefront resulted in the American evacuation of their personnel in April 1975. Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army that same month, ending the Vietnam War.

Many refugees had to endure traumatic experiences just to make it to America. Qui worked for the CIA in Vietnam, so he knew he was a target when the People’s Army of Vietnam took Saigon. He was part of the first wave of refugees, about 130,000, that evacuated in less than a year.^[8] Another refugee, Cai Nguyen recalled her experiences leaving Vietnam in 1978, as part of an oral history project in 1988. She remembered how she had to leave in a boat in the middle of the night, without telling her parents. Stuck in a crowded boat with only her husband and his family, Cai sailed the open ocean for five days until they reached Malaysia. They eventually reached America, but they experienced a traumatic journey.^[9] Bonnie Trinh, part of the same oral history project as Cai, recounted how she had to leave some of her family behind in Vietnam as she left in 1975. She had her husband to support her as she felt she got minimal help from her church sponsor. Bonnie hoped to move to California, where the rest of her family was living.^[10]

Refugees like Cai, Qui, and Bonnie experienced confusion, helplessness, and loneliness as they tried to reach a new home. They had different degrees in their proficiency of English, so some experienced an easier time adapting. Others struggled to even find jobs. Their experience was not an isolated example as many of the refugees faced similar hardships. By 1980, around 433,000 refugees came from Southeast Asia.^[11]

The Ford administration’s initial attempts to respond to this situation took the form of the IATF and the US military to spearhead evacuation efforts. The Indochina Act of 1975 allocated $455 million dollars to support the relocation of refugees.^[12] This act then led into several operations, such as Operation Frequent Wind and New Life, which was launched into Vietnam to help evacuate refugees and American personnel from Vietnam.^[13] The American military was able to evacuate about 130,000 by the end of the year through air evacuations to US Navy ships. While initial evacuation efforts were successful, successive waves of refugees continued as Vietnam underwent a change in government and proceeded to invade neighboring countries.^[14] People like Cai, who was part of the second wave of refugees in 1978, had to find ways to escape on their own. While the US government took steps in assisting the people of South Vietnam, it was not enough to alleviate the entire refugee crisis, and many refugees still struggled to establish themselves in America years after they immigrated.

American Response to the Refugees, Both Federal and Local

Another responsibility of the IATF was to create programs to resettle the refugees into America. In its June 15, 1975, report to congress, the IATF stated their goal in resettlement was to “provide initial support for the refugees through the sponsorship program and to the communities in which the refugees have settled.”^[15] This sponsorship program was the main method of immigration as many had to leave their possessions or had no contact in America.

Over 130,000 initial refugees had to go through different steps during their immigration. After disembarking a ship, most refugees found themselves in a Restaging Center in either Guam or Wake Island. There were other smaller camps on existing American military bases such as Camp Pendleton in California and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.^[16] Refugees would stay in these centers until they received sponsorship, private or public, or obtained their own means of self-sustainability. According to a report by the IATF, a sponsor was expected to provide food, shelter, clothing, money, employment assistance, assistance for school enrollment, and help covering medical costs.^[17] After finding a sponsor, the government then assisted in moving the refugee towards the sponsoring area and helped give funding to the sponsor themselves. Officials also worked to spread the resettlement across different American states so one state would not be overwhelmed by a large influx of refugees.^[18]

The next groups of refugees became known as the “second wave” as they experienced a different set of challenges. By the end of 1975, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare took over responsibilities of the IATF as they were terminated.^[19] The departments handled assistance to refugees, however, it would use funds from its own budget instead of relying on allocated funds like the IATF. While the number of refugees did not rise as high during the initial evacuations, a consistent stream of refugees did come out from Southeast Asia. This second wave of refugees came in 1978 as many Vietnamese people disagreed with the government’s political alignment. Others felt their involvement in the war would result in imprisonment.

Waves of people started leaving the country in any way they could, oftentimes via boats.^[20] Many people risked their lives just to escape from their homeland. Cai had to leave her family in the middle of the night for her to feel safe to leave in a fishing boat.^[21] America did what it could and assisted people like Cai as they made their way out of Vietnam. They followed a similar transition of resettlement as the first wave and found homes across America.

Refugees found additional support as America passed the Refugee Act of 1979, expanding on a series of reforms since the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This expanded what it meant to be a refugee to include a broad range of circumstances and increased the number of refugees allowed into America.^[22] Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, it provided a larger blanket to assist people around the world and created a uniform procedure on how to handle refugees coming into America. Its passage helped streamline refugee processing and became a permanent procedure for the decades to follow. The passing of the Refugee Act came right before the “third wave” in 1982 as more refugees from Southeast Asia came. The newly formed Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978 and assisted Laos during their insurgency against the Hmong people.^[23] What made this wave distinct is the addition of other ethnic groups. Cambodian refugees made up the bulk of the third wave, but Vietnamese people continued to leave as social tensions were still high following the end of the war. According to a census conducted in 1988, by 1980, Colorado was home to around 3,000 Vietnamese refugees.^[24] Compared to states like California and Texas, the population was not as large, but all states were still affected by the same national programs in the resettlement of the refugees. Even as a small minority, these refugees still have important stories to tell on how they made a home in Colorado.

Religious organizations were the dominant sponsor for Vietnamese refugees in Denver. In 1976, a study of 41 refugee households on the manner of their sponsorship found that almost all of them were sponsored by religious groups: 48.6% Catholic, 21.6% Lutheran, and 13.5% Methodist. This was supported by an IATF report in 1975 as they saw large religious organizations offering their support during the initial resettlement efforts.^[25] These religious communities continued to be the primary sponsors for Denver refugees after 1976, serving as the main contact for many refugees as they adapted to a new environment.

For many refugees, religion gave them a piece of mind during this ordeal and gave them a connection to their new environment. Catholic missionaries were active in Vietnam before the war and converted a portion of the Vietnamese population. About 40% of the first wave of refugees identified as Catholics.^[26] Religious organizations were also active during the evacuation as one refugee recollected a memory from a refugee camp in 1978. They remarked that “each time priest came to camp as refugees, we were happy because we could have mass.”^[27] Refugees found community with religious groups, as these groups provided a sense of religious familiarity. This was likely partly why there was a large percentage of religious sponsors directly involved in the refugee process.

While many refugees found comfort with these religious organizations, others encountered groups where refugee assistance was only a secondary goal. Several organizations looked to increase their influence by the act of proselytization. World Relief and the Christian and Missionary Alliance became some of the official organizations that sponsored many refugees during that time. Many in those organizations felt it was their duty to assist other Christians aboard, a fact that on the surface was benevolent, but was intended to spread their faith. Kathleen Vellenga, a member of World Relief, wanted to help Hmong refugees since “most Hmong are Christian they are objects for retaliation by the Communist and for this reason many had to flee.”^[28] However, many Hmong at this time were not Christians, which showed that Kathleen had a specific preference to help certain people only because they were Christians. Another example of this religious preference was found in the “Biblical Mandate” of an Evangelical led effort in Thailand in 1980.^[29] Refugee camps were filled with missionaries that forced participation of religious services, even with refugees who did not practice the faith. These examples show that several faith-based groups had ulterior motives beyond helping refugees. Those refugees were secondary to the main goal of spreading faith to new populations.

As more Vietnamese refugees entered America, they encountered programs that were designed to help them, but many of them still faced economic and social hardship. In Denver, Federal Boulevard became a centralized area for many refugees due to the cheaper housing located there at the time. Sun Valley and Lincoln Park were neighborhoods that had many public housing options for their residents.^[30] Sun Valley was built by the Denver Housing Authority (DHA) in 1958 and was home to many immigrant families. It was mainly home to Chicano families until Vietnamese refugees were placed there during the 1970s. These areas gave refugees a chance to start again. As part of an oral history project by History Colorado in 2024, Tra, Tam, and Homg Nguyen spoke about their experiences living in Sun Valley during the 1990s. When asked about the housing, Homg responded, “I must admit that living in Sun Valley, the staff, from entry-level staff to high-level administrators, were extremely cordial. They always had a very respectful attitude and in no way discriminatory. Not at all.” However, when speaking about the director of housing, their attitudes changed. Homg said, “However, I am very disappointed in the director of housing because he did not keep his promises.”^[31] Homg referred to her family being displaced as an urban renewal project sought to redevelop Sun Valley. Many Vietnamese families lived in Sun Valley and considered it their home. They were placed there in public housing and turned it into a community to support each other. Hong’s words reveal a complex narrative concerning the refugee population of Denver.

Oral histories from residents of Sun Valley also revealed a dynamic environment that many immigrants shared. Phoung remembered her experiences in Sun Valley as her family moved to Colorado in 1975 as being cold and scary. She recalled, “When it gets dark, you don’t want to go outside. Our windows were constantly being broken. The house got broken into. Several times and it was just, you know, couldn’t do anything about it.”^[32] It wasn’t until the 80s that her family moved but she remembered that many Vietnamese families were there. Memories of Sun Valley were mixed as Homg remembered that her family was treated well when they lived there in the 1990s.^[33] Phoung’s bleaker experience in Sun Valley showed that some families continued to struggle after they moved to a familiar community. They continued to experience violence and had to tolerate it until they got enough money to move. For some immigrants that struggled to find jobs, that wasn’t an option.

Other historical accounts revealed that racial tensions existed in refugees’ communities and at times led to violence. Before the refugees came over to Denver, the population of the Sun Valley and Lincoln Park area was predominantly Hispanic.^[34] Due to the proximity to each other and how fast the demographics changed, tensions flared up between both populations. The Denver Post reported of an incident on July 7, 1979, when a pipe bomb exploded near a Vietnamese family, injuring two of them. During another incident, “Hispanic youths” committed a targeted robbery of a Vietnamese woman. Bernie Velasquez, of Denver Housing Authority, the managing company of Lincoln Park and Sun Valley, commented that a series of miscommunications surrounding whether refugees received preferred treatment in housing priorities fueled the racial tensions. Captain Robert Shaughnessy of the Denver Police also commented that this was part of a national trend of an increasing show of violence towards refugees. Many refugees reported that they were at a high risk of experiencing violence and by the time this article came out, several families had moved out of the area. Though they did not state their reasons for doing so, it was likely that targeted violence towards refugees in the community helped convince them to leave.^[35]

A different narrative arose about these racial tensions when Juan Nieto wrote to the Denver Post in 1979 and spoke about the possible skewed perspective on the violence occurring between refugees and the Hispanic community. He claimed that there was a negative bias in news coverage of the Hispanic community and that it was masking the underlying conditions that were causing the tensions between the two groups. Nieto saw that America gave many minorities, including the refugees, sub-par homes and environments to deny them a chance to uplift themselves.^[36] The Rocky Mountain News interviewed a prominent member of the refugee community on September 23, 1979 that showed the refugee perspective of the tensions. Binh Tran worked with government officials at the White House before he came to Denver and became a community leader. He shared his viewpoint on the violence coming from the Chicano community. Tran recognized and condemned the violence committed towards the Vietnamese refugees. He also recognized that the people who perpetrated this violence were a small minority and didn’t represent the community at-large. His views worked to bridge the gap between the two groups to help his fellow refugees experience less hardships in Colorado.

Years later, tensions did ease between the two groups as the violence was more of a byproduct of the environment that they lived in–Sun Valley. Currently, this area is home to many minority groups, and it was not the racial battlefield that government officials described during the 1970s. Edith Wilson spoke to the Denver Post in 2010 and described how one could hear “English, Spanish, several African languages, Arabic, French, and Vietnamese” by just walking down the streets. She described a community that tried hard to support each other. Their reputation of being a crime riddled area was a negative stereotype imparted to them from the wealthier residents of Denver. By 2008, the income levels were drastically lower in Sun Valley compared to Denver. The median annual household income was $8,600 compared to Denver’s $45,000. This lack of income limited economic opportunities for a diverse population in Denver and likely caused tensions between residents to flare at times. Most homes consisted of single families that struggled to make ends meet. The Colorado state government did little to ease residents’ economic hardship even though this area continued to hold high rates of poverty over the years.^[37]

Sun Valley was home to many of the Vietnamese refugees when they first came to Denver but highlighted the limitation of Colorado aid for refugees. Before DHA forced all the residents to move out in 2020 due to an urban renewal project, Sun Valley had one of the highest poverty rates in Denver, reaching up to 80%. The grounds were not maintained, and buildings were left without proper maintenance. Public services were sparse as many residents struggled with poor health care, high crime, and few educational opportunities. These were the conditions that Homg and other refugees had to endure while they struggled to adjust to a new home. As Sun Valley was a low-income area, many immigrants found this place as a new home but, like Homg and her family, then had to watch their homes be taken down due to “redevelopment” by the DHA. This is an example of urban renewal that promoted gentrification and drove out local residents. Homg may never return to her home that finally gave her family a sense of place.^[38]

Federal Failures and Local Resilience in Denver

America achieved its goal of moving thousands of refugees into communities around the country, but it struggled to integrate them into said communities. “Nobody knew what to do with these kids,” said the director of secondary education at Jefferson County School District in 1975.^[39] Reported by the Denver Post, a group of concerned educational professionals spoke about the needs of Vietnamese children in the Denver public school system. Newspaper articles printed in Denver during this time painted a picture of a struggling population of refugees. Rocky Mountain News interviewed a Laotian refugee in 1978 about his prospects for life in America. The refugee, Xaydang, was concerned that he would run out of food stamps for his family as he had a tough time finding a job due to having difficulty speaking English. He expressed, “There is no future for us anymore.” Xaydang was aware of his aid being cut due to decreased government funding for refugees.^[40] These articles spoke to a greater problem of the resettlement of refugees, that on the surface, was successful in moving many people to America who wanted to leave. However, it failed overall to provide a space to be supported by both private and public institutions. Government programs provided some help initially through the help of sponsors and government aid. But these didn’t account for the long-term assistance that was needed for adapting to a new environment such as community building, English classes, and opportunities for socioeconomic advancement. The fact that Xaydang was facing the possibility of not being able to feed his family due to his inability to speak English showed the necessity of such assistance.

Colorado mishandled the refugee resettlement during the initial years following the end of the Vietnam War. This failure was a result of a series of mistakes by both the national and state governments as well as private local organizations in Denver. On the national level, initial goals from the IATF and other government institutions only looked at short-term assistance and did not foresee the longer consequences of introducing a large group of refugees. For the Colorado government, their placement of refugees in Sun Valley and Federal Boulevard provoked racial tensions and limited economic opportunities. The dominant private organization in Colorado supporting refugees were religious organizations. While these organizations did the most help at the local level, their help was inconsistent for many refugees. Some found them very useful and other refugees, like Bonnie, felt their assistance was not enough to support them at all.^[41]

For many refugees, there was a lack of preparation given to them as they came over to America. As per the 1975 IATF report, the role of providing employment counseling, language training, and cultural orientation fell under the restaging center.^[42] This was vital in the resettlement process as that same report shows that almost half of the people processed that year were under the age of seventeen. However, refugees recalled having to spend time in America to acclimate and learn the customs, something the IATF reported doing already. Qui stated that he had to learn how to be an electrician while he was in America and was not prepared for the winters of North Dakota.^[43] Phuong Do recalled her experiences living in these resettlement camps during History Colorado’s 2024 oral history project. There were some English classes for adults and some general ones for kids but none of them took them.^[44] They did not take part in the classes, but Phuong and Qui had limited or no options of learning skills before they were shipped over to America.

As refugees started to settle in and find jobs, many of them found unequal job practices that limited their socioeconomic opportunities. A study conducted in 1978 found that 15% of refugees were managers in Vietnam, but only 2% were managers in America after immigration. They found that most refugees worked in craft, operating, and service industries. This is further supported by the IATF report in 1975 that found that 39% of refugees that year were in the professional, technical, or managerial position. About 34% had a university or postgraduate type of education. Many refugees had the proper training and education to be productive workers but were just never given a chance.^[45]

As more refugees arrived in America, support for the refugees waned. Initial attitudes were very positive as the Indochina Act of 1975 was passed by most bipartisan members of the US government.³⁹ President Ford urged Americans that they had a “moral obligation” to help the refugees as he signed the act into law.^[46] However, support for the refugees declined over time. The American government dissolved the IATF by the end of 1975 and the Indochina Act only lasted for a single year. The implications of the lack of support from the IATF worried many people in the American government. In an interview from the New York Times, Charles Sternberg, the executive director of the International Rescue Committee and one of the agencies working with the IATF, stated that the resettlement process was very difficult for them. He said, “Too many of the Vietnamese, if anyone can find a job for them, work at the minimum wage.” Julia Taft was the director of the IATF and saw that only 68% of the refugees had jobs. Most of those who did have employment were only making minimum wage, which was not enough to support whole families. These statements demonstrated that even leading members of the resettlement task force were not optimistic about the prospects of the refugees.^[47]

As the responsibilities of the IATF shifted to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, some were skeptical of the effectiveness of the government body. Dale S. DeHaan, staff director of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s Subcommittee on Refugees of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke to the New York Times on this shift of responsibilities, “I’m a little skeptical about that,” he said. “Once the refugees were out of the camps, the task force did not get involved in resettlement, depending on the voluntary agencies. I disagree with that.”^[48] There was a perception that the US government wasn’t doing enough for the refugees. However, concerns brought by people like DeHaan fell on deaf ears as the US government continued to draw down the support for refugees.

National governmental actions resulted in state governments and local private organizations shouldering the responsibility of taking care of the refugees, with reduced national funding. Ruben Valdez, executive director of the Colorado’s Department of Social Services, reported to the Rocky Mountain News in 1981 about the state of federal assistance to refugees. He stated that the Colorado government was 3.5 million dollars short of the 10.5 million allocated to the refugees. Without this money, they would have to halt the assistance. They were already considering closing several programs, including job training and English classes. Valdez strongly advocated for the lives of refugees and their continued funding. He asserted that America “absolutely has a responsibility for them. We encouraged them. We brought them here, and the federal government told the states it would aid them.”^[49] Defunding the refugee program would affect many people, including the population of Sun Valley.

One of the ways the Colorado government failed to support this community during the refugee crisis of the 1970s was by providing insufficient employment support. In 1976, more than 1,000 refugees were unemployed or employed at a job that was below their experience.^[50] Many refugees had professional experience, and some were highly educated.^[51] But many found difficulty finding a job. Reasons varied but most came from the inability to speak English and the lack of job training.^[52] Poc Thieun was a former ambassador from Cambodia but was unemployed in the first few years of his immigration to the United States. He stated that he and other refugees had special skills that didn’t translate well in finding a job.^[53] Poc’s diverse set of skills, including speaking English and experience in government work, made him a valuable job candidate in Vietnam. But the moment he set foot in America, it didn’t matter to US employers.

Another factor contributing to refugees’ economic struggle was the fact that the US economy was not equipped at that time to handle the large influx of refugees. This was a result of failed economic practices outside of the influences of the refugee crisis. The nation was experiencing high rates of unemployment. By the end of 1975, the unemployment rate was at a high of 8.5% and continued around that rate for the next several years.^[54] Additionally, inflation was high for the entire decade of the 1970s, reaching up to 6.8% at its peak. Global influences contributed to high inflation including increased food prices due to bad weather conditions and the rise of oil prices across the world. The domestic contributions were largely placed on the Nixon administration as they enacted wage and price controls, ran deficits with the federal budget, and turned the American dollar away from the gold standard, further straining the economy.^[55] Refugees came at a time when America was economically unstable, but for many refugees they had no choice but to leave their home country.

As the state and federal government did not support refugees enough, refugees looked more locally for resources. In Denver, local religious organizations were the source of support for many refugees.^[56] Tra remembers how the local Catholic church in her area supported their family. She reminisced on how “they would give us food, and during the summertime, they’d give us books and clothes and set up ESL classes for our children.”^[57] However, other refugees such as Bonnie, remember how little the church sponsor would help them.^[58] The dichotomy of the assistance given shows a complex narrative of how different organizations supported refugees on an individual basis, thus creating disparities between them.

For many refugees, religion was an important aspect of their lives as it helped many to create a sense of place, and these emotions helped encourage several refugees to make Denver’s first Vietnamese Catholic Church. The Queen of Vietnamese Martyrs Church was built in 1990 to give community to Catholic Vietnamese refugees and provide a space for themselves. Built and paid for by largely the refugee population, this church was also a source of pride for many as the community came together to make it happen. Tom Nguyen was a volunteer that helped build the church, one of the many volunteers that took shifts to help do so. He told the Denver Post in a 1990 article that “We had to go to other buildings and study their systems. We hired no contractors or tradesmen. We did everything ourselves.”^[59] The spirit of the refugees in the church’s construction showed resilience in the community as they wanted to make a building on their own. As a testament to their work, the church still stands to this day and serves as an active setting for the Vietnamese Catholic community of Denver.

The Department of Education conducted a case study in 1980 that highlighted the inconsistent nature of resettlement across the nation. This study was conducted on refugee resettlement in five cities: Albuquerque, San Diego, Grand Rapids, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Des Moines. While it didn’t include Denver directly, it highlighted the national trends of varying degrees of success in resettlement. Some like San Diego and Grand Rapids were able to integrate refugees well into their communities by providing stable socioeconomic conditions and community support. Albuquerque was not as successful as poor central planning led to a lack of involvement in the support of refugees. There were some common hardships such as housing, as finding low-cost housing proved difficult for everyone. Each city shared the opinion that federal support was lacking. Community leaders relied more on local organizations like the Church World Service and the Catholic Community Services for both financial and moral support. Refugees had to look beyond what the city and state governments offered to find any form of long-term support.^[60]

As an alternative to federal support, local organizations such as Lutheran Social Services and the Catholic Resettlement Office were heavily involved during the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees in Denver. Many sponsors and refugees came to rely on these organizations to help support them. Marilane McCarthy was a foster mother to two refugees and kept booklets on hand to help educate her on their different cultures.^[61] Nga Vuong-Sandoval’s family was sponsored by the Lutheran Faith organization in Colorado Springs and came here in the late 1970s. The family wanted to be reunited after being separated by the war and the church helped them. Nga became the first refugee to be part of the Board of Directors of the Lutheran Family Services of the Rocky Mountains, showcasing the impact local organizations made with refugees.^[62]

The failure of the federal government to support the refugee crisis led to local and state organizations providing the bulk of the support. This made inconsistent results as refugees were at the whim of individual institutions. Some resulted in horrible experiences that endangered the lives of people that already faced hardships getting to America. Others experienced a warm and welcoming reception that gave them the tools to succeed. The inconsistent nature of the resettlement process led to refugees finding their own way to secure their own identity and socioeconomic status, an experience that Denver refugees shared. Historian Karin Aguilar-San Juan argues that this inconsistency resulted in the modern Vietnamese American identity as it is tied closely with their refugee experience of community building.^[63] This concept highlights Vietnamese communities as being built as both shields as a racial safe zone as well as a reflection of the racialization of their culture. Applying this concept to Denver showcases the vibrant community of “Little Saigon” that still stands to this day.

The Emergence of “Little Saigon”

In the face of the inconsistent nature of local organizations and neglect from the federal government, refugees looked inward to create their own space of mutual support. As many refugees lived on Federal Boulevard or nearby in Sun Valley/Lincoln Park, they started to make their own piece of home in America. Business started to spring up and make up the building blocks of the future “Little Saigon” in Denver. Historian Ronald Takai observes a similar effect of another “Little Saigon” in Orange County, California where, as more businesses opened with Vietnamese owners, services could be used without English, thus creating a familiar space for other Vietnamese Americans. This in turn expanded more Vietnamese businesses that sold Vietnamese products.^[64]

Community building became a shared experience for many Vietnamese Americans in Denver as they sought to create a place for themselves. Dara Chhim, interviewed by History Colorado, spoke about his life in an oral history project centered on Little Saigon in 2024. When asked about his experiences growing up in Denver, he was excited to share his memories of Little Saigon. He described Little Saigon as “the closest you can get to being in Asia now. There are places like Thai stores on Montview, you know leeks market in Aurora. But for most of the time for the best prices, you know, better options. Federal is the place to go.”^[65] Jane Ly, part of the same oral history project, remembers all the different restaurants and grocery stores she would go to. This gave her both a sense of community and personal identity as she could explore her own culture.^[66] Both Jane and Dara expressed how important community was to them. Even though both were born in America, they felt connected to their Vietnamese culture through these spaces. This sentiment was felt by many refugees when they first came to America as Federal Boulevard became a center of the community.

Several members of the community wanted to continue to develop Federal Boulevard and create a centralized location that could be a space for business and community building. That space became the Far East Center. As part of the Little Saigon Memory Project, Mimi Loung recalls her past with the Far East Center. When asked about how her father started their grocery store, Mimi remembered how her father and his brothers would travel to California and buy Asian products there and fly back to Denver where they would resell it. As part of the Loung family, Mimi represents an important pillar of the Vietnamese community as they founded the Far East Center that grew from the small Vietnamese grocery store her father and uncles ran.^[67]

Little Saigon was not only a space for community, but it also provided new economic opportunities. Many refugees struggled to find jobs when they first came over to Denver so a place like the Little Saigon was valuable in providing jobs and space to open businesses. The language barrier didn’t exist as business could be conducted in their native language. For immigrants like Jadyn Nguyen, it gave them the space to uplift their family. Jadyn came over in the 1990s and his family of nine had to share a single apartment. They managed to save enough money to invest in opening a pho restaurant on Federal. His family struggled but were able to make a successful business and helped support each other. In his oral history, he remembered how deeply he felt connected to the restaurant. When asked about the name of his restaurant, Jayden commented, “It’s a symbol [Pho 95] for a lot more, you know. The significance of the number [is how our] family ties together. And until now we still work together as a family”. Pho 95 is still family owned and survived the 2008 recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. Jayden and his family are grateful for their successful business as it gave them an opportunity to uplift themselves after immigrating to America.^[68]

As part of the Vietnamese American community in Denver, the Far East Center represented what many of the refugees wanted when they first came over to America, a sense of community. Located on 333 and 375 S. Federal Boulevard, this 2.5-acre property was built to accommodate multiple businesses and host community events in its center parking lot. Three brothers that fled Vietnam in 1975, Thong, Thanh, and Nghia Loung, founded it in 1988. They wanted to give a space for businesses so they could create an environment that would be like home. The shops sell Vietnamese products and food. Patrons can buy Vietnamese dishes while conducting business in their native language. Retail stores, medical clinics, law offices, and real estate agencies were opened in the Center to help service the needs of the community. Going back to Vietnam was difficult for many refugees so seeing a space like the Far East Center gave them a sense of community in a new country.^[69]

For many immigrants, The Far East Center and Little Saigon represented a new way to identity beyond the refugee status and more with the Asian American experience. These places represented the connection between Asia and America. Asian American identity was a new concept as Asians were finally able to gain citizenship during the 1960s. Due to this change, Denver became home to many first-generation Vietnamese Americans. The experience of going to a familiar restaurant became important for many immigrant families as it represented their Asian homeland. Joie Ha remembered how Asian restaurants in Little Saigon brought her family together. She stated in her oral history interview, “The only time that our whole family got together was at restaurants in Little Saigon. The only time we really saw each other.” Joie also remarked how these spaces give Asian Americans an opportunity to preserve and share their histories. Places like Little Saigon show that Asian Americans are vital to understanding the larger immigration experience in America.^[70]

Conclusion

For many refugees, leaving their home was only the first of their hardships. Some were part of the hasty evacuation following the Fall of Saigon. Qui was only given a week to settle his life in his homeland before he had to leave it all for a foreign country. Others left on crowded boats not designed for long haul travel, like Cai who had to leave her parents behind in the middle of the night. They spent several days in the open ocean with limited food and water. Both groups would then go into resettlement camps for an unknown amount of time as they waited on a sponsorship to America.

What they didn’t know was about to happen was the failure of the US government to plan for the resettlement of around 433,000 refugees by 1980.^[71] Lack of foresight and commitment to continuous funds led to local and state entities taking the brunt of the responsibilities in supporting the refugees. This led to inconsistent results as each state faced their own hurdles in organizing the resettlement process. In Denver’s case, refugees flooded areas in West Denver like Sun Valley, leading to socioeconomic inequality and racial tensions with existing populations. Only with the support of faith-based institutions were some refugees able to support themselves. This led to an overall trend of self-reliance and community building that resulted in Denver’s Little Saigon and the Far East Center.

The study of Denver’s Vietnamese population is only sparsely studied. Current scholarship is centered in areas with large Vietnamese populations like California and Texas. Scholars have neglected cities like Denver. While Denver’s population is growing, it is still much smaller than a city like San Diego and Austin. However, as of 2021, there are 33,914 Vietnamese Americans living in Colorado and the overall Asian population has been growing.^[72] Denver’s Vietnamese community provides a more complete picture of the Asian American experience on the national scale. By understanding the methods of how and why Vietnamese refugees got here to Denver since the fall of Saigon, we can understand the current identity of Vietnamese Americans as they continue to strive in creating a community that all of Denver can share.

Notes

1. Qui Van Nguyen, Oral History Project by Betty Anderson. Other, June 4th, 1988. ↑

2. Rep. Rodino, Peter W., Jr., “The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975,” Pub. L. No. H.R.6755 (1975). ↑

3. Rep. Rodino, Peter W., Jr. “The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975,” ↑

4. Brad Martisius, “Many Viets Abandon Denver Housing Project Homes,” Denver Post, August 22, 1979. ↑

5. Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History, Twayne’s Immigrant Heritage of America Series (Detroit [u.a,]: Twayne [u.a.], 2008); Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History, First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition (New York London Toronto Sydney New Delhi: Simon & Schuster paperbacks, 2016) 315, Both books show the wide extent that Asian studies can go through. They both cover Vietnam refugees in a general way but Lee does go more into the social history of it. However, as both do ethnic studies, they do rely heavily on individual stories as Asian American history was largely sideline until the 1960s; Karin Aguilar-San Juan, Little Saigons: Staying Vietnamese in America (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press, 2009), Karin’s cross study of two refugee communities show an interesting dynamic in understanding community building in different environments that can be applied to Denver; Peter W. Van Arsdale and James A. Pisarowicz, Processes of Transition: Vietnamese in Colorado (Austin, TX: High Street Press, 1980). This is one of the only books that cover any kind of study in Colorado refuges, but it covers only the initial immigration. ↑

6. Chan, Asian Americans, 145. ↑

7. Heather Stur, “Why the United States Went to War in Vietnam,” Foreign Policy Research Institute, April 28, 2017, https://www.fpri.org/article/2017/04/united-states-went-war-vietnam ↑

8. “Indochina Refugees – President’s Advisory Committee: Meeting, 6/25/75 (3).” ↑

9. Cai Nguyen, Oral History Project by Betty Anderson, other, April 26, 1988. ↑

10. Bonnie Trinh, Oral History Project by Betty Anderson, other, May 9, 1988. ↑

11. Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History, First Simon&Schuster trade paperback edition (New York London Toronto Sydney New Delhi: Simon & Schuster paperbacks, 2016). ↑

12. Rep. Rodino, Peter W., Jr., The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. ↑

13. Operations and Readines Directorate, “Department of the Army After Action Report: Operations New Life/ New Arrivals, US Army Support to the Indochinese Refugees 1 April 1975 – 1 June 1976” (January 22, 1977), ix-xi. ↑

14. Franklin Ng, The History and Immigration of Asian Americans (New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Garland Publishing Inc, 1998), 184-198. The second wave occurred during 1978 while the third was in 1982, with the additional refugees from Cambodia and Laos. ↑

15. Rep. Rodino, Peter W., Jr., The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. ↑

16. “Indochina Refugees – President’s Advisory Committee: Meeting, 6/25/75 (3),” n.d. 34. ↑

17. “Indochina Refugees – President’s Advisory Committee: Meeting, 6/25/75 (3),” 49. ↑

18. Franklin Ng, The History and Immigration of Asian Americans, 185. ↑

19. Douglas E. Kneeland, “Resettlement Nearing End, But Not Refugee Problems,” New York Times, November 24, 1975. ↑

20. Franklin Ng, The History and Immigration of Asian Americans, 186. ↑

21. Cai Nguyen, Oral History Project by Betty Anderson, other, April 26, 1988. ↑

22. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, “The Refugee Act of 1979,” Pub. L. No. S. 643. (1980). ↑

23. Franklin Ng, The History and Immigration of Asian Americans, 187. ↑

24. Bureau of the Census, “Asian and Pacific Islander Population in the United States: 1980” (Department of Commerce, January 1988), 4. ↑

25. Peter W. Van Arsdale and James A. Pisarowicz, Processes of Transition: Vietnamese in Colorado; “Indochina Refugees – President’s Advisory Committee: Meeting, 6/25/75 (3).” Catholic Community Services was the leading Catholic organization at the time of the meeting in Denver, while the US Catholic Conference was involved on a national scale. ↑

26. Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History, Twayne’s Immigrant Heritage of America Series (Detroit [u.a,]: Twayne [u.a.], 2008), 154. ↑

27. Louis Jacques Dorais, “FAITH, HOPE AND IDENTITY: RELIGION AND THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEES,” Refugee Survey Quarterly 26, no. 2 (2007): 57–68. ↑

28. Melissa Borja and Jacob Gibson, “Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics: The Case of Evangelical Responses to Southeast Asian Refugees,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 17, no. 3 (July 3, 2019): 80–93, https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2019.1643983. ↑

29. Borja and Gibson, 95. ↑

30. “Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms | History Colorado,” Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms & Sun Valley Neighborhood, 2024, https://www.historycolorado.org/westside-memory-project-bottoms. ↑

31. History Colorado Center and Ta, Tra, and Homg Nguyen, Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms & Sun Valley Neighborhood, Oral History Project. Other, August 18th, 2024. ↑

32. Phuong Do, Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms & Sun Valley Neighborhood by History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, March, 29th, 2024. ↑

33. Ta Tra, and Homg Nguyen, Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms & Sun Valley Neighborhood by History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, August, 18th, 2024. ↑

34. “Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms | History Colorado,” Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms & Sun Valley Neighborhood, 2024, https://www.historycolorado.org/westside-memory-project-bottoms. Both neighborhoods share a border together in Denver so many residents share common experiences. ↑

35. Brad Martisius, “Many Viets Abandon Denver Housing Project Homes,” Denver Post, August 22, 1979. ↑

36. Juan M. Nieto, “Chicano-Veit incidents seen as example of media’s biased reports on Chiano affairs,” Denver Post, September 13, 1979. ↑

37. Tina Griego, “Blocked in, blocked out,” Denver Post, December 10, 2010. ↑

38. Sarah Tory, “Can a Mixed-Income Community Transform Denver’s Sun Valley Neighborhood?,” Collective Colorado, May 1, 2023, https://collective.coloradotrust.org/stories/can-a-mixed-income-community-transform- denvers-sun; Miller, Lindsay M. “Commentary: I Changed How I Think about Gentrification.” Westword, August 4, 2024. https://www.westword.com/news/denver-sun-valley-project-changed-how-i-think- about-gentrificaiton-21539582. ↑

39. Marice Doll, “Eager Refuge Students Face Crowded Programs,” Denver Post, October 14, 1979. ↑

40. Gary Delsohn, “Laotian Refugees Face Bleak Future Without Welfare,” Rocky Mountain News, September 27, 1978. ↑

41. Bonnie Trinh, Oral History Project by Betty Anderson, other, May 9, 1988. ↑

42. “Indochina Refugees – President’s Advisory Committee: Meeting, 6/25/75 (3).” ↑

43. Qui Van Nguyen, Oral History Project by Betty Anderson. Other, June, 4, 1988. ↑

44. History Colorado Center and Phuong Do, Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms & Sun Valley Neighborhood, Oral History Project. Other, March, 29th, 2024. ↑

45. Ronald T. Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans (New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books, 1990). 458-459, The education statistics were conducted by sampling 4,978 heads of households who had arrived in America by June 2, 1975. The employment statistics came from that same body but only 1,677 answered the question. ↑

46. Lee, The Making of Asian America, 325. ↑

47. Douglas E. Kneeland, “Resettlement Nearing End, But Not Refugee Problems,” New York Times, November 24, 1975. ↑

48. Kneeland, “Resettlement Nearing End, But Not Refugee Problems.” ↑

49. Tim Mcgovern, “State refugee program may close,” Rocky Mountain News, May 20, 1981. ↑

50. Pamela Mayhew, “Asian refugees have difficulty resettling in state,” Rocky Mountain News, September 18, 1976. ↑

51. “Indochina Refugees – President’s Advisory Committee: Meeting, 6/25/75 (3).” ↑

52. Peter W. Van Arsdale and James A. Pisarowicz, Processes of Transition: Vietnamese in Colorado (Austin, TX: High Street Press, 1980). ↑

53. Pamela Mayhew, “Asian refugees have difficulty resettling in state,” Rocky Mountain News, September 18, 1976. ↑

54. US Census Bureau, “Household Money Income in 1975 and Selected Social and Economic Characteristics of Households,” Census.gov, October 8, 2021, https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1977/demo/p60- 104.html. ↑

55. Alan S. Blinder, “The Anatomy of Double-Dight Inflation in the 1970s”, Inflation: Causes and Effects, (1982), 261- 282. ↑

56. Peter W. Van Arsdale and James A. Pisarowicz, Processes of Transition: Vietnamese in Colorado. 45 ↑

57. Ta Tra and Homg Nguyen, Westside Memory Project: The Bottoms & Sun Valley Neighborhood by the History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, August 18th, 2024. ↑

58. Bonnie Trinh, Oral History Project by Betty Anderson, other, May 9, 1988. ↑

59. Robert Jackson, “Vietnamese parish builds a dream”, Rocky Mountain News, July 7, 1990. ↑

60. Wever Gim and Tybel Litwin, “INDOCHINESE REFUGEES IN AMERICA:Profiles of Five Communities” (U.S Department of Education, April 1980). ↑

61. Resource Guide to Working with Denver’s Indo-Chinese (Denver, Colorado: Health Education Service, 1979); Raleigh Bailey, Gifts of The Khmer People (Greensboro, North Carolina: Lutheran Family Services, 1985). Both were part of a museum collection that was part of this study. Mariline donated her personal items to History Colorado. After fostering the refugees, she became more involved in learning about refugees and international relations. ↑

62. Noah Allyn, “Nga Vuong-Sandoval: Refugee, Activist, Historic Preservationist, and a,” Nga Vuong-Sandoval: Refugee, Activist, Historic Preservationist, and Advocate for Colorado’s Refugees, May 30, 2019, https://www.historycolorado.org/story/colorado-voices/2019/05/30/nga-vuong-sandoval-refugee-activist- historic-preservationist-and. ↑

63. Karin Aguilar-San Juan, Little Saigons: Staying Vietnamese in America (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press, 2009).,37-59. ↑

64. Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore, 459-460. ↑

65. Dara Chhim, Little Saigon Memory Project by the History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, January 30th, 2024. ↑

66. Jane Ly, Little Saigon Memory Project by the History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, March 4th, 2024. ↑

67. Phung and Mimi Luong, Little Saigon Memory Project by the History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, March 4th, 2024. ↑

68. Jayden Nguyen, Little Saigon Memory Project by the History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, February 15, 2024. ↑

69. Ron Sladek (for property owner), “Colorado State Register of Historic Properties Nomination Form-Far East Center” (History Colorado Center, February 23, 2024). ↑

70. Joie Ha, Little Saigon Memory Project by the History Colorado Center, Oral History Project. Other, March 27, 2024. ↑

71. Lee, The Making of Asian America. ↑

72. Colorado Asian American and Pacific Islander Circle, “Colorado Lotus Project” (Colorado Asian American and Pacific Islander Circle, May 2024), 20. ↑