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26. Interview with Toua Yang

Creator:
Yang, Toua
Date Created:
2012-09-29
Description:
Toua Yang was born in Xhiangkhouang, Laos. He escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand, where he spent ten years before coming to the U.S. At the time of the interview Yang was a mental health case manager for Lyon, Redwood Falls, Yellow Medicine, and Murray counties. Subjects discussed include: Escaping Laos - experiences in refugee camp - adjusting to life in America - family - health issues in the Hmong community - Minnesota's education system and the achievement gap.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

27. Interview with Terry Yang

Creator:
Yang, Terry
Date Created:
2012-09-16
Description:
Terry Yang was born in 1956 in Luang Prabang, Laos. He and his family escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand in 1979, where they lived for one year before moving to the United States in 1980. At the time of the interview Yang was the President of the Yang Wang Meng Association of United States, a national organization dedicated to connecting the Hmong community, building Hmong leaders, and preserving Hmong culture. He was also on the board for the Walnut Grove PTA. Subjects discussed include: Escaping Laos - experiences in refugee camp - adjusting to life in America - family - Hmong cultural preservation and community-building.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

28. Interview with Sua V. Yang

Creator:
Yang, Sua Vu
Date Created:
2000-01-22
Description:
Sua Vu Yang is the mother of MayKao Hang and the daughter of See Lee. Her maiden clan name is Vu and she married into the Yang clan. She is fifty-one years old and has five children. She has graduated from high school and completed other courses. She studied for two years at Northeast Metro. She is employed making hearing aids for the deaf. She is separated from her husband whom she married when she was fifteen. She immigrated to America about twenty-three years ago. She lived in Huab Xis Vees, Seng Khouang, Laos. She is a White Hmong that wears Phuam Paj. Subjects discussed include: Biographical information and religious affiliation. Childhood-school attendance, duties at home, community service, skills taught, social activities as a child, aspirations as a child. Hmong women's roles-decision making inside and outside of home and clan, women in leadership roles and how they are seen in the community, what women do to support their families, family planning, when women feel respected or disrespected. The war and living in refugee camps-memories of fleeing Laos, of refugee camps, difference in treatment of men and women in the camps. Adjustments since coming to the U.S.-skills needed to adjust, learning English, skills from Laos and Thailand that are adaptable or useable in the U.S., citizenship, leadership roles for women in the U.S. versus Laos, public contributions by Hmong women. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: The interview was conducted predominantly in Hmong. The Hmong transcript and an English translation are bound together for this interview.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

29. Interview with Nhia Y. Yang

Creator:
Yang, Nhia Yer
Date Created:
1991-11-15
Description:
Nhia Yer Yang is a shaman, 60 years old. Prior to immigrating to the United States in 1980, he was a soldier and the mayor of his village. He is Xeng Sue Yang's older brother. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Nhia Yer Yang describes his life and his duties as both a soldier and a mayor in Laos. Nhia Yer Yang also discusses his current role as a shaman and the help that he gives to people. He concludes the interview with a concern for the future generations of Hmong people. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: Interview translated by May Herr.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

30. Interview with Mao T. Yang

Creator:
Yang, Mao Thao
Date Created:
1999-11-01
Description:
Mao Thao Yang is the mother of Mai Vang Thao and the grandmother of Bo Thao. She is fifty-two years old, married and has three children, two are living. In Laos, she lived in the village of Tha Cho (Thaj Chauv) and her mother was of the Lee clan. She is of the group of Hmong that lived in Xieng Khouang. Her family was poor and she didn't have an opportunity to attend school. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Biographical information and religious affiliation. Childhood-school attendance, duties at home, community service, skills taught, social activities as a child, aspirations as a child. Hmong women's roles-decision making inside and outside of home and clan, women in leadership roles and how they are seen in the community, what women do to support their families, family planning, when women feel respected or disrespected. The war and living in refugee camps-memories of fleeing Laos, of refugee camps, difference in treatment of men and women in the camps. Adjustments since coming to the U.S.-skills needed to adjust, learning English, skills from Laos and Thailand that are adaptable or useable in the U.S., citizenship, leadership roles for women in the U.S. versus Laos, public contributions by Hmong women. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: The interview was conducted predominantly in Hmong. The Hmong transcript and an English translation are bound together for this interview.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

31. Interview with Kim Yang

Creator:
Yang, Kim
Date Created:
1999-12-01
Description:
Kim Yang is the half sister of Bao Vang. Born Va Vang in 1969 in Long Cheng, Laos, her family immigrated to the U.S. in April, 1980 from Ban Ve Nai (Npaab Vib Nais). She finished high school and studied computer programming for six months. She has been married for fifteen years and has five children. Currently, she works as a computer programmer. One of her duties is adapting forms to make them easier for the Hmong to use. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Biographical information and religious affiliation. Childhood-school attendance, duties at home, community service, skills taught, social activities as a child, aspirations as a child. Hmong women's roles-decision making inside and outside of home and clan, women in leadership roles and how they are seen in the community, what women do to support their families, family planning, when women feel respected or disrespected. The war and living in refugee camps-memories of fleeing Laos, of refugee camps, difference in treatment of men and women in the camps. Adjustments since coming to the U.S.-skills needed to adjust, learning English, skills from Laos and Thailand that are adaptable or useable in the U.S., citizenship, leadership roles for women in the U.S. versus Laos, public contributions by Hmong women. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: The interview was conducted predominantly in Hmong. The Hmong transcript and an English translation are bound together for this interview.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

32. Interview with Ger Yang

Creator:
Yang, Ger
Date Created:
1992-04-03
Description:
Ger Yang immigrated to the United States with his family in 1979 at the age of six. Ger Yang is married to Sheng Cha. Presently he is a full time student at St. Paul Technical College, studying to become a lab technician. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Ger Yang talks of his expectations for life in the United States, with special emphasis on going to college and beginning a career. Ger discusses briefly the roles his parents and elders play in their family.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

33. Interview with Ge Yang

Creator:
Yang, Ge
Date Created:
1992-09-10
Description:
Ge Yang in an 18 year old senior at South High School. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1975. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Ge Yang talks about his life in Minnesota, and what it means to be a Hmong man. Ge Yang discusses various aspects of the Hmong culture, in particular the traditional customs of marriage and also the importance of the Hmong culture to him and how it affects his future. He advises all young people to stay away from gangs and to listen to the advice that their parents offer to them.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

34. Interview with Tenzin Yangdon

Creator:
Yangdon, Tenzin
Date Created:
2005-09-24
Description:
Tenzin Yangdon was born in Rajpur, India. She moved to Minnesota in 1996. Yangdon graduated from high school in Minnesota and is pursuing her undergraduate degree at Hamline University. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Parents, family, being sent to boarding school, differences and similarities between schools in India and the United States, family separation, coming to Minnesota, initial reaction to Minnesota, making friends, deciding to go to college, selecting a college, selecting a career, Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), Middle-Way, autonomy, independence, Tibetan politics, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), Westerners and the Tibetan cause, community, college experiences, Tibetan Cultural Center, preserving culture, differences and similarities between Tibetan, Indian, and American culture, working on the Minnesota Tibetan Oral History Project.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

35. Interview with Ahmay Ya

Creator:
Ya, Ahmay
Date Created:
2011-05-11
Description:
Ahmay Ya was born in 1987 in Sanchaung in Rangoon, Burma. She graduated from the University in Burma in 2003-2004. She immigrated to the United States in 2008 as a Karen refugee. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Early life - her father the revolutionary Mahn Nyein Maung - family and how the Karen people name their children - her childhood in Rangoon - her mother working as a trader while her father was in prison - being questioned by the authorities - escaping from Burma - volunteering to help deliver babies, and helping other refugees - coming to the United States alone - getting an education and working in Minnesota - her father's book Against the Storm: Across the Sea" and her father's imprisonment and release - hopes for herself and the Karen - working with the Karen in Minnesota and mental health issues - "
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

36. Interview with Ong V. Xiong

Creator:
Xiong, Ong Vang
Date Created:
2000-01-17
Description:
Ong Vang Xiong is the mother of Yer Moua and is the grandmother of Mai Neng Moua. She is fifty-four years old and has been married twice. Her first husband was from the Vue clan and her second was from the Moua clan. She had three children with her first husband and two with her second. She was born in Mong Nha, Laos, fled to Thailand and then immigrated to the U.S. in 1990. She is a White Hmong. She received no formal education. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Biographical information and religious affiliation. Childhood-school attendance, duties at home, community service, skills taught, social activities as a child, aspirations as a child. Hmong women's roles-decision making inside and outside of home and clan, women in leadership roles and how they are seen in the community, what women do to support their families, family planning, when women feel respected or disrespected. The war and living in refugee camps-memories of fleeing Laos, of refugee camps, difference in treatment of men and women in the camps. Adjustments since coming to the U.S.-skills needed to adjust, learning English, skills from Laos and Thailand that are adaptable or useable in the U.S., citizenship, leadership roles for women in the U.S. versus Laos, public contributions by Hmong women. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: The interview was conducted predominantly in Hmong. The Hmong transcript and an English translation are bound together for this interview.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

37. Interview with Khou Xiong

Creator:
Xiong, Khou
Date Created:
1991-11-13
Description:
Khou Xiong is a Hmong woman, 61 years old. She was a mother and housewife in Laos. She moved to Minneapolis in 1979 and presently completes Hmong handiwork sent from Laos, whose profits from sale are returned to Laos. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Khou Xiong talks of her immigration and acclimation to the United States. She notes differences in family relations, particularly in the behavior and attitudes of her children in the United States and those still in Laos. Khou Xiong ends the interview with a piece of advice for Hmong women. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: Interview translated by May Herr.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

38. Interview with Sinmin and Betty Wu

Creator:
Wu, Sinmin
Date Created:
1979-12-02
Description:
Sinmin Wu was born June 1, 1931, in the city of Yixing in Jiangsu Province, China. Betty Wu (Yun Aur) was born December 15, 1938, in the city of Tianjin, in Hebei Province. Both left China for Taiwan during the Communist Revolution in the 1940s. They were married in Taiwan in 1959 and soon left for Malaysia, where Sinmin became a teacher in a Chinese girls' high school. Their first child was born in Malaysia. Sinmin went to the United States in 1961 for graduate study in mathematics at Southern Illinois University. He received a master of arts degree and accepted a teaching position at the University of Minnesota, Morris, in 1965. Betty and their daughter arrived in Morris in 1966. Two additional children have been born to the family in the United States. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: The Wus discuss the experience of Chinese Americans in small towns outside the Twin Cities area - their activities and sense of acceptance in university and community affairs - development of their children's identities in an area where few other Chinese live - and the role of Asian families in resettlement of a Vietnamese refugee family in Morris in late 1979 and 1980. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: This interview focused on acculturation in a small town as opposed to an urban area, on family life, and on the concerns of a transplanted Chinese family for the future of their children. It should be noted that although they have no worry about the Americanization of their children, they also want their children to know their own cultural heritage and language.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

39. Interview with Judd Wright, Brainerd, Minnesota

Creator:
Wright, Judd
Date Created:
1936-03
Description:
Interview with Judd Wright. He relates some of his personal and family history. This interview is part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Crow Wing County during the years 1936-1939. This outreach effort sought to record personal accounts of the lives of early Crow Wing County pioneers and settlers.
Contributing Institution:
Crow Wing County Historical Society
Type:
Text
Format:
Oral histories

40. Interview with Hanny L. Wright, Regional Oral History Project, Moorhead, Minnesota

Creator:
Wright, Hanny L.
Description:
Hanny Wright was born on the island Tjoeme on the west side of the Oslo Fjord on October 27, 1899. She came to the United States as an infant. Mrs. Wright describes her association with St. Ansgar Hospital Auxilliary, of which she was a president for many years. She has also helped organize the Moorhead Camp Fire Girls.
Contributing Institution:
Heritage Education Commission
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

41. Interview about Seth Tennis, Brainerd, Minnesota

Creator:
Wright, Carl
Date Created:
1938-10
Description:
Interview with Carl Wright, grandson of Seth Tennis. He relates some of the personal history, family history, and family genealogy of his grandfather. This interview is part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Crow Wing County during the years 1936-1939. This outreach effort sought to record personal accounts of the lives of early Crow Wing County pioneers and settlers.
Contributing Institution:
Crow Wing County Historical Society
Type:
Text
Format:
Oral histories

42. Interview with Howard Woo

Creator:
Woo, Howard F.
Date Created:
1981-10-09
Description:
Howard Woo was born in 1905 in San Francisco and came to Minnesota with his adoptive parents in 1906. His father, Yee Sing Woo (Woo Yee Sing, in Chinese name order), arrived in Minneapolis in 1882. He was a pioneer settler, successful businessman, and early leader in the Chinese community. The elder Woo married May Seen Liang (Liang May Seen) in San Francisco and brought her to Minneapolis in 1893. Both were active in the Chinese Sunday School at Westminster Presbyterian Church, a Sunday afternoon meeting place for early Chinese immigrants and their families attending religious services and English classes. Howard Woo attended Emerson School in Minneapolis during his elementary years and graduated from West High School in 1922. He entered the University of Minnesota in 1923 and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1927. He returned to the university to study architecture (which was then available only at the undergraduate level) and received a bachelor of architecture degree in 1931. Also in 1931 Woo married Lolita Young, a Chinese American from Portland, Oregon. Few jobs were available for architects during the Depression, and Woo turned to the family restaurant, known as John's Place, for employment. With the onset of World War II Woo found a job at the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant, as a gauge engineer, and later in the war years he worked as a draftsman for the Maico Corporation, which had a government contract to develop a metal detector for shrapnel. It was not until after the war that Woo was able to use his architectural training. In the early 1950s Woo became a partner in a newly formed industrial design company, Harold Darr Associates. The firm was quite successful but was dissolved in the early 1960s when Harold Darr joined the Char Lynn Company. Woo again returned to John's Place, which had become one of the Twin Cities' most popular Chinese restaurants. He remained at the family restaurant until it was closed in 1967 because the owner of the property wanted to build a parking lot in its place--a great loss to the Twin Cities community. After John's Place was closed, Woo retired to pursue a number of personal interests, including book collecting, particularly first editions and works of fine presses in which the craftwork is of special interest. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Parents' background - his father's many businesses, including the Hand Laundry, Canton Cafe, Yee Sing and Co., and Yuen Faung Low (John's Place) - his mother's curio shop - his early life in Minneapolis - his years at the University of Minnesota - discrimination against Chinese in the Twin Cities during the early years of settlement - and intermarriage among the third generation. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: No oral history collection on the Chinese community in Minnesota would be complete without the testimony of Howard Woo. He was probably the first Chinese child to live in the state, and his father was an important leader of the Chinese community in Minneapolis.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

43. Interview with Sherby R. Woods, World War II Veterans Collection, St. Cloud State University, Milaca, Minnesota

Creator:
Woods, Sherby R., 1918-2007
Date Created:
1990-02-18
Description:
This interview was conducted on February 18, 1990 by Richard Olson. Sherby Roy Woods was born August 17, 1918 in Iowa. After moving to Minnesota, he worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps and the lumber industry as a heavy equipment operator in northern Minnesota. Woods was drafted into the Army on October 14, 1941 at the age of 23. During the war, he was attached to Company B, 6th Armored Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division. Discharged as a Technician Fifth Grade, Woods worked in heavy equipment and demolitions during campaigns in North Africa and Italy. Woods shared his opinions of Allied soldiers and Axis Power POWs and what he described as the poor training given to replacement troops. He also described how the war changed the U.S. military, including his improvised invention of a more efficient automatic transmission system for light tanks. After returning to the U.S. in 1945, Woods married Cora Lillian Moe, attended heavy equipment maintenance school on the GI Bill, and began a long series of treatments for a facial injury at the Veterans Administration hospital. He worked on heavy equipment for Milaca County until his retirement. Woods concluded the interview with a discussion of contemporary events such as apartheid in South Africa and stated that embargos are a more effective tool than war. He passed away on January 23, 2007 at the age of 88 and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Milaca, Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
St. Cloud State University
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

44. Interview with Robert Wood, Crow Wing County, Minnesota

Creator:
Wood, Robert
Date Created:
1936-07
Description:
Interview with Robert Wood. He relates some of his personal and family history. This interview is part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Crow Wing County during the years 1936-1939. This outreach effort sought to record personal accounts of the lives of early Crow Wing County pioneers and settlers.
Contributing Institution:
Crow Wing County Historical Society
Type:
Text
Format:
Oral histories

45. Interview with Joseph Church Wood, Crow Wing County, Minnesota

Creator:
Wood, Joseph Church
Date Created:
1938-12
Description:
Interview with Joseph Church Wood. He gives a lengthy account of some of his personal and family history. This interview is part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Crow Wing County during the years 1936-1939. This outreach effort sought to record personal accounts of the lives of early Crow Wing County pioneers and settlers.
Contributing Institution:
Crow Wing County Historical Society
Type:
Text
Format:
Oral histories

46. Interview with Guy Wood, Crow Wing County, Minnesota

Creator:
Wood, Guy
Date Created:
1936-03
Description:
Interview with Guy Wood. He briefly relates some of his personal history. This interview is part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Crow Wing County during the years 1936-1939. This outreach effort sought to record personal accounts of the lives of early Crow Wing County pioneers and settlers.
Contributing Institution:
Crow Wing County Historical Society
Type:
Text
Format:
Oral histories

47. Interview with Michael Hong Wong

Creator:
Wong, Michael Hong
Date Created:
1979-06-07 - 1979-07-03
Description:
Michael Hong Wong was born in Austin, Minnesota, in 1948. His grandfather emigrated from Guangdong Province in southern China to Albert Lea, Minnesota, in 1927, by way of Canada and Seattle, Washington. At the time of Michael Wong's birth, his grandfather, father, and uncle were partners in a Chinese restaurant in Austin, but a few years later the family moved to Fargo, North Dakota. Because this city was a crossroad in the movement of military personnel during and after World War II, business opportunities were good, and the elder Wongs worked at the Pheasant Cafe, one of five Chinese restaurants in Fargo during the 1940s and early 1950s. When Wong was about five years old, the family moved back to Minnesota, where they established the Wong Cafe in Rochester. Wong attended public elementary schools in the city and graduated from John Marshall High School in 1966. He entered the University of Minnesota the following fall and graduated in 1970 with a bachelor of fine arts degree, majoring in painting. Later he returned to the university for graduate study and received a master of fine arts degree, with a major in photography, in 1975. During his undergraduate years at the university, Wong was actively involved in the Asian American Alliance, organized on the campus during the 1960s. In 1976 Wong returned to Rochester and worked in the family restaurant, while his wife, Isabel Joe, completed an internship in dietetics at Methodist Hospital. In 1977 they returned to the Twin Cities, and Wong taught for two years at the Minnetonka Art Center (now the Art Center of Minnesota). He also engaged in freelance photography and was one of the early members of the Minnesota Asian American Project, a pan-Asian organization in the Twin Cities area. In 1980 and 1981 Wong was employed by Weigen Graphic Center in Minneapolis and also continued his work as a freelance photographer. He has frequently photographed special events in the Asian community, including those of the most recent arrivals, the Indochinese. He also participated in the collection of photographs for an exhibit entitled Asians in Minnesota" that opened in the spring of 1982 at the Minnesota Historical Society and was sponsored by the Society
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

48. Interview with Isabel Suzanne J. Wong

Creator:
Wong, Isabel Suzanne Joe
Date Created:
1982-06-08
Description:
Isabel Suzanne Joe was born in 1950 in north Minneapolis. Her father was born in China and came to the United States as a young man, returned to China to get married, and served in the U.S. military in Europe during World War II. After the war his wife and their son came from China to join him in Minnesota, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s several other children were born while the family was living in north and northeast Minneapolis. Isabel Suzanne Joe married Michael Wong, whose interview is also part of this oral history project. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Her family's background in China - their reasons for coming to the United States - growing up as the only Asian family in northeast Minneapolis - her brothers and sisters - and various degrees of acculturation within the family. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: Isabel's young child is present at the interview and interrupts the interview at times.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

49. Interview with George Wolhart, Brainerd, Minnesota

Creator:
Wolhart, George; Wolhart, Emma
Date Created:
1938-08
Description:
Interview with George Wolhart and his wife, Emma. They relate some of George's personal and family history as well as a genealogy of their children. This interview is part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Crow Wing County during the years 1936-1939. This outreach effort sought to record personal accounts of the lives of early Crow Wing County pioneers and settlers.
Contributing Institution:
Crow Wing County Historical Society
Type:
Text
Format:
Oral histories

50. Interview with Wilbert T. Wolford, Crow Wing County, Minnesota

Creator:
Wolford, Wilbert T.
Date Created:
1936-04
Description:
Interview with Wilbert T. Wolford. He relates some of his personal history. This interview is part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Crow Wing County during the years 1936-1939. This outreach effort sought to record personal accounts of the lives of early Crow Wing County pioneers and settlers.
Contributing Institution:
Crow Wing County Historical Society
Type:
Text
Format:
Oral histories
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