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Sidel, Mark <mark-sidel@uiowa.edu>
date Nov 29, 2006 8:36 PM
subject [Vsg] Query on Vietnamese-Americans in the United States by decade
Dear colleagues,
With apologies to demographic colleagues, who will find this question much too simplistic on a complex topic, I am looking for basic but reliable numbers for the Vietnamese population in the United States, hopefully each decade beginning in 1950 (or whenever possible).
I know that that query blurs over many definitional and statistical issues, but does anyone have such basic information extracted from Census Bureau or other data, or know where such a reliable table might be? (As a complete neophyte in these issues, I've found the Census site and data particularly difficult to use, so I thought I'd ask the specialists.)
Many thanks....
Mark
Mariam B. Lam <mariamb@ucr.edu>
date Nov 29, 2006 8:55 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] Query on Vietnamese-Americans in the United States by decade
Dear Mark,
Not a comprehensive answer by any means, but you can get
some of the information from this website (the content is
from a 2003 curriculum guide textbook for secondary
education). The 2005 expanded second edition is now
available on disc and hardcopy through the California
Department of Education website.
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/web/vietnamese/history.jsp
Best of luck, Mariam
Dan Tsang <dtsang@lib.uci.edu>
date Nov 29, 2006 8:59 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] Query on Vietnamese-Americans in the United States by decade
Mark, this has links to 2005 (American Community Survey) and 2000 census
data, plus how to use American Factfinder on the US census site:
http://www.vstudies.org/
dan
Hung Thai <Hung.Thai@pomona.edu>
date Nov 29, 2006 9:26 PM
subject RE: [Vsg] Query on Vietnamese-Americans in the United States by decade
Dear Mark,
Any good library should have a set of what is called the Statistical
Yearbooks from what used to be called the Immigration and Naturalization
Office (which is now the Immigration and Citizenship Services (ICS).
Each yearbook will give you very good data of immigrants from every
country in the world (exactly how many came through which type of
immigration status such as marriage, labor, etc). You can also get a lot
of other very interesting data like where different immigrant groups are
concentrated in the US after migration, what level of education they had
prior to migration, etc.
Up until 2001, all the Yearbooks were under the INS. With the name
change to ICS, however, the yearbooks are now under the Office of
Homeland Security, which is related to, but distinct from, the ICS.
You can get the 2004 and 2005 yearbooks from Homeland Security online
here http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/publications/yearbook.shtm
The others you can get online from 1997-2001, but as far as I know, you
have to refer to hard copies for years prior to 1997. The best thing to
do is to look at the hardcopies in your library.
Years ago, I did a tally of Vietnamese in the US from 1975-1999 and
still have the exact figures for those years. They are listed below
(apologies to all, but I figure some might be interested in these
numbers). Before 1950, there were only a little over 300 Vietnamese in
the United States. And before 1975, there were fewer than 18,000. Most
of these pre-1975 migrants came as either students, wives of U.S.
servicemen, or trainees on non-immigrant visas. The rest below came as
refugees and immigrants (I also have them broken down by either refugee
or immigrant status and can share that with you if you want). Hope this
helps. ---Hung Thai (Pomona College)
1975 3039
1976 4230
1977 4629
1978 88543
1979 22546
1980 43483
1981 55631
1982 72553
1983 37560
1984 37236
1985 31895
1986 29993
1987 24231
1988 25789
1989 37739
1990 48792
1991 55307
1992 77735
1993 59614
1994 41345
1995 41752
1996 42067
1997 38519
1998 17649
1999 20393
Susan Hammond <frdev@mindspring.com>
date Nov 29, 2006 9:47 PM
subject RE: [Vsg] Query on Vietnamese-Americans in the United States by decade
Also check out SEARAC's report on SEA Americans as listed in the 2000
census.
http://www.searac.org/seastatprofilemay04.pdf
Susan Hammond
Sidel, Mark <mark-sidel@uiowa.edu>
date Nov 30, 2006 7:49 AM
subject RE: [Vsg] Query on Vietnamese-Americans in the United States by decade
Many thanks to everyone who has written thus far with sources for this query - I very much appreciate all these leads.
Mark sidel
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:52:55 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Query on VN-Am. by decade / "partition"
From: "Christoph Giebel" <giebel@u.washington.edu>
Interesting how these discussion threads overlap: for those on the
list who followed last week's exchange on the so-called Vietnamese
"partition," the California Dept. of Education curriculum materials,
referenced below by Mariam, provide a case in point for the habitual
and cavalier misrepresentation of the issue and the framing of
historically incorrect binaries in US public discourses. On p.3 of
this secondary education teaching guide, "Vietnamese Americans: Lessons
in American History," the narrative on "The Vietnam War" starts as
follows:
"In 1954, the French army was defeated by Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh Front
forces, and Vietnam was divided into two countries: the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), headed by Ho Chi Minh, and the
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), headed by Ngo Dinh Diem."
That's it. No colonialism, no 1945, no "Bao Dai solution," no
ill-fated 1956 elections. How convenient: a clean division in 1954,
"South Viet Nam" and "North Viet Nam," two countries, and the
subsequent carnage is thus deeply framed as due to "North Vietnamese"
aggression, infiltration, and such.
Christoph
NB: P.4 of these educational materials for US teenagers also
resurrects from the garbage heap of long-debunked myths the
stab-in-the-back claim of the US hard right that, after 1973, the
(Democratic) "U.S. Congress, reluctant to continue any backing at all
for the domestically divisive war, cut off [sic] aid to South Vietnam."
But that's a different issue.
Query on VN-Am. by decade / "partition"
From: Marc J. Gilbert
To: Vietnam Studies Group
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 5:57 PM
Subject: RE: [Vsg] Query on VN-Am. by decade / "partition"
I agree entirely with Christoph Giebel’s remark on California standards, but in regard to the wording “the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), headed by Ho Chi Minh, and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), headed by Ngo Dinh Diem," I noticed that this is one of the few short references for young American students I have ever seen that at least tries to use the correct legal and common names of these entities. Not much of an achievement, of course, and one lessened by the treatment given the issues surrounding it until it ends up being not even a small mercy.
Marc
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