History of Vietnamese Americans in Houston

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This article discusses the history of Vietnamese Americans and Vietnamese immigrants in Houston, Texas and Greater Houston. Vietnamese immigration has continued to occur in Greater Houston, including Fort Bend County and Harris County, since 1975, after the Vietnam War ended and refugees began coming to the United States.^[1] The earlier groups of refugees to Harris County, Texas, consisting of politicians, highly educated professionals, and military officers, arrived in the 1970s. Subsequent groups arriving in the 1980s and 1990s had fewer education and resources than the earlier group and were mostly refugees.^[2]

History

In early 1975, fewer than 100 ethnic Vietnamese lived in Greater Houston. They included thirty to fifty students, twenty to forty wives of former U.S. servicemen, and some teachers. The first wave of immigration arrived in Houston after the end of the Vietnam War, when Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese on April 30, 1975. Thousands of Vietnamese people who had affiliations to the South Vietnamese government fled Vietnam. The first wave consisted of a higher proportion of managers and professionals and a smaller proportion of blue collar workers than the average population of Vietnam. Douglas Pike, a historian, said that the people were "urban, upper class, well-educated, and familiar with American lifestyles."^[3] The federal refugee resettlement system established by the Indochinese Assistance and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975, which was active from 1975 to 1988, designated Houston as a major resettling site for Vietnamese.^[4] Texas received many Vietnamese refugees in the late 1970s because it had a warm climate, an expanding economy, and a location in proximity to the ocean.^[1] Vietnamese from fishing and shrimping backgrounds saw Houston as a good settlement point due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico.^[4] The first wave, compared to the later two waves, was more highly educated, had more knowledge about American society, and had relatively more capital. Because, at that time, the American population felt "war guilt," the first wave received a more positive reception than the other two waves.^[1]

With the Vietnamese immigrant waves after the Vietnam War, the U.S. government provided housing, health care, transportation, welfare assistance, initial education, and job training.^[4] Nestor Rodriguez, author of "Hispanic and Asian Immigration Waves in Houston", wrote that the "majority of credit" for successfully resettling Vietnamese and Indochinese in Houston was given to charitable and religious organizations and individuals.^[5] The tasks the organizations and individuals did included acquainting refugees with the Culture of the United States, and assistance in finding jobs and housing for them.^[5] Private organizations such as Catholic Charities, Protestant groups and congregations, International Rescue Committee, Jewish groups and congregations, and YMCA provided assistance to refugees. Sometimes private organizations received assistance from the government.^[6] In areas in Greater Houston along the Gulf Coast some White residents had animosity towards Vietnamese fishermen. Around the late 1970s in Seabrook, Texas a Ku Klux Klan group held an anti-Vietnamese rally and in an incident two Vietnamese fishing boats had been burned.^[5]

The second wave consisted of "boat people" who came from 1978 to 1982. They were socioeconomically poorer than the first wave, and their children did not have as high of a performance in academics as the children of the first wave immigrants had. Stephen Klineberg, a sociologist, said that of the Vietnamese that received Asian surveys, 47% completed the interviews in Vietnamese. Many members of the second wave were Vietnamese of Chinese descent.^[1] As of June 2, 1980, the Vietnamese had become a significant ethnic minority in the area. With about 25,000 Vietnamese at that time, Greater Houston had the second highest Vietnamese population in the United States, after Greater Los Angeles.^[7] In 1980 there were 140,000 Vietnamese residents in the Houston area. 83% were born abroad. Of the Vietnamese not born in the United States, 11 persons entered the U.S. before 1950 while 95% of the number of foreign-born Vietnamese had entered the U.S. since 1975.^[4] Many of the Vietnamese refugees in Houston had experienced trauma in their journeys to the U.S. and had experienced problems with families and personal issues after settling in the United States. Out of 114 Vietnamese women who were a part of a late 1980s study of refugee women in Houston, the majority reported having problems with family, finances, and/or health and/or reported being depressed, nervous, and/or anxious.^[4]

Demand for use of Vietnamese-speaking officers of the Houston Police Department (HPD) increased in the 1980s as the city's Vietnamese population increased.^[8]

The third wave consisted of former political prisoners and detainees from Vietnam. In 1988 the Vietnamese government began releasing political prisoners and detainees en masse after U.S. government intervention. The political prisoners had mental and physical illnesses due to imprisonment, and they had the most difficult time fitting in with the United States.^[1] In 1990 in Greater Houston there were 33,000 ethnic Vietnamese, including those born in the United States and those born abroad. Within the City of Houston, that year there were 18,453 ethnic Vietnamese, with 84% of them being born outside of the United States.^[4] As of 1990 the Vietnamese, along with the Chinese, were one of the two largest Asian immigrant groups to Houston,^[9] with 15,568 Vietnamese living there.^[10] Rodriguez wrote that because the Vietnamese started building their institutions in Houston in the 1970s while the Chinese had already been established in Houston, "the Vietnamese in the Houston area have not reached the same level of mainstream incorporation in the late 1990s that the Chinese have."^[5]

The Vietnamese coming into Houston in the 2000s and beyond came to find education and jobs.^[11]

In 2005 Houston had 32,000 Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans, making it the second largest Vietnamese American community in the United States of any city after that of San Jose, California.^[12] In 2006 Greater Houston had around 58,000 Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans, giving it the third largest such community of all U.S. metropolitan areas.^[3] By 2007 many Vietnamese Americans in Southern California were moving to Texas to take advantage of lower costs of living.^[13]

Around 2008, the Government of Vietnam proposed installing a consulate within Houston. Members of the Vietnamese-American community in Houston protested against the plan, arguing that the current Vietnamese government had a bad human rights record and had no democracy, so the installation of the consulate should not be allowed.^[14] The governments of the U.S. and Vietnam officially agreed to open the Consulate-General of Vietnam in Houston in August 2009, and the consulate held its official inauguration on March 25, 2010.^[15]

Demographics

As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Harris County had 80,409 ethnic Vietnamese, making up 28.7% of the Asians in the county. As of the same year, 15% of the Asians in Fort Bend County were of Vietnamese origins, making them the third largest Asian ethnic group in the county.^[16]

In 1990 there were 31,056 ethnic Vietnamese in Harris County, making up 28.3% of the county's Asians. By 1990 the Vietnamese became the largest Asian ethnic group in the county. In 2000 the Vietnamese population in the county was 55,489, 28.7% of the Asians in the county. From 2000 to 2010 the Vietnamese population in Harris County grew by 45%.^[16]

Geography

As of 2006, the largest concentrations of Vietnamese immigrants and Vietnamese Americans are on the southwest, northwest, and southeast sides of Houston, with the southwest side having the largest concentration and the northwest having the second largest.^[1] In Southwest Houston, the major Vietnamese business centers are located on Bellaire Boulevard and the surrounding areas,^[17] in the new Houston Chinatown.^[5] The area includes hundreds of Vietnamese businesses, including churches, community ceters, grocery stores, investor offices, legal offices, medical offices, realtor offices, temples, and Vietnamese restaurants.^[17]

Historical Vietnamese business districts include one in the western end of the old Chinatown in East Downtown and one in Midtown. The Midtown one, with 18 square blocks, is located south of Downtown. As of 2000 businesses there included grocery stores, medical and legal offices, restaurants, music and video stores, hair styling shops, business service offices, and jewelry stores.^[5]

Of Vietnamese immigrants of the third wave of immigration, many live in specific multifamily "village" complexes. The complexes include Thai Xuan Village, Da Lat Village, Hue Village, Saigon Village, St. Joseph Village, St. Mary Village, and Thanh Tam Village.^[1] Of the larger villages, five are on Broadway Street and Park Place Boulevard in southeast Houston.^[18]

The original Vietnamese area in Houston, "Vinatown," was established next to the George R. Brown Convention Center, in proximity to the Old Chinatown. By the end of the 1980s, the Vietnamese businesses moved to Milam Street in what is now Midtown. Due to the actions of a group of Vietnamese-American leaders led by My Michael Cao, who served as the President of the Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinity (VNCH), a resolution that installed Vietnamese street signs along Milam Street in Midtown was passed.^[17]

Economy

Usually Vietnamese American businesses are located in the same areas that their clients live in.^[17]

In 1990 the median household income of Vietnamese people in Harris County was $22,284, over $7,000 fewer than that of the median income of Chinese people. In 1990 18% of Vietnamese workers in Harris County had bachelor's degrees, while a majority of Chinese workers in Harris County that year had bachelor's degrees. In 1990, the median income of a Vietnamese household in Fort Bend County was $39,318. The Chinese in Fort Bend County had a median household income over $16,000 higher.^[5]

As of 1990, Vietnamese in Houston had a more numerous presence in craft and manual occupations and a less numerous presence in high-skilled administrative, managerial, and professional occupations than the Chinese did and the Vietnamese had a greater occupational distribution than the Chinese.^[5]

The presence of Vietnamese immigrants lead to the development of Vietnamese restaurants throughout Houston. Some establishments from Vietnamese restaurateurs offer Vietnamese-style crawfish, a mixture of Louisiana cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine.^[19] Most of the "you buy, we fry" restaurants in Houston are operated by Vietnamese immigrants and Vietnamese Americans. Carl Bankston, an associate professor of Asian studies and sociology at Tulane University, said in 2004 that ethnic Vietnamese are disporportionately employed in fishing, seafood processing, and shrimping in the Gulf Coast area. Around 1974 Vietnamese immigrants began coming to the Gulf Coast to work in the shrimping industry. Therefore many ethnic Vietnamese entered the fishing trade and related businesses.^[20]

Little Saigon, Houston

A section of Midtown Houston known as "Little Saigon" or "Vietnamtown" was the original commercial district home for the Vietnamese community in Houston.^[21][22] Vietnamese street signs denote the area since 1998.^[23] In 2004, this area was officially named "Little Saigon" by the city of Houston.^[24] The redevelopment of Midtown Houston from run-down to upscale increased property values and property taxes, forcing many Vietnamese-American businesses out of the neighborhood into other areas.^[25]

The largest Vietnamese commercial district is now found in Houston (Alief), a strip along Bellaire Boulevard west of the city of Bellaire, with most Vietnamese-owned businesses and restaurants centered at the Hong Kong City Mall on Bellaire and Boone (anchored by Hong Kong Food Market and Ocean Palace Restaurant).

Although the area today is now known simply as Chinatown to most Houstonians, a few of the locals will still call this southwest area of Houston as "Southwest New Chinatown". This title was used to distinguish from the Downtown area's Chinatown that went in disarray after the construction of the George R. Brown Convention Center. Even though the area is primarily Vietnamese and Chinese, there is also a large amount of Filipino Americans, Arab Muslims, Indonesian Americans, and Pakistani Americans in the area, as well as a sizable amount of African Americans, whom were once the majority in the Little Saigon area prior to the Vietnam War.

Politics

In 1995 ethnic Vietnamese in the Houston area had a preference for the Republican Party. By 2013, due concerns about discrimination against Asians and immigration policies and the lessening importance of anti-Communism, the political preferences of ethnic Vietnamese shifted towards Democrats and independents.^[11]

Media

Radio

Radio Saigon (KREH) is a Vietnamese radio station co-owned by Duong Phuc and Vu Thanh Thuy. In 2007 it had over 80 contributing hosts and 35 employees, including full time and part time. That year Cynthia Leonor Garza of the Houston Chronicle stated that the station was a factor in migration of ethnic Vietnamese to Houston from the West Coast.^[26]

In addition the headquarters of 1520 AM Little Saigon Radio moved to Houston in 2006, and as of 2007 it had eight employees in Houston.^[26]

Newspapers

The Thoi Bao Houston is a Vietnamese magazine's branch in Houston.^[27]

In October 2006 Saigon Houston Weekly, a newspaper of Mass Media Inc., was established.^[26]

Religion

The first wave of immigrants was mostly Catholic, but the subsequent waves were mostly Buddhist.^[11]

The Texas Guandi Temple (traditional Chinese: 德州關帝廟; simplified Chinese: 德州关帝庙; pinyin: Dézhōu Guāndì Miào) is located in East Downtown.^[28] The temple was established in 1999 by a Vietnamese couple,^[29] Charles Loi Ngo and Carolyn.^[30] They decided to build a temple to Guan Yu (Guandi) after surviving an aggravated robbery,^[30] which occurred at their store in the Fifth Ward.^[30] They believed that Guandi saved their lives during the incident.^[29] A Vietnamese refugee named Charles Lee coordinated the donations and funding so the temple could be built; Lee stated his motivation was to thank the United States for welcoming him and saving his life when he arrived in 1978.^[31] The temple is open to followers of all religions, and it has perfumed halls.^[30]

Vietnamese Catholic churches in the area include Christ Incarnate Word Parish, Holy Rosary Parish, Our Lady of Lavang, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Vietnamese Martyr.^[32]

On August 8, 2008, a bus with Vietnamese Catholics from the Houston area, traveling to Missouri to a festival to honor to the Virgin Mary, crashed near Sherman in North Texas. 17 people died.^[32]

Gallery

• 

  Several streets in the Midtown district have Vietnamese names

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  Vietnam War memorial in the new Chinatown in Houston

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  Saint Joseph Condominium

Notable people

• Christine Ha
• Al Hoang
• Chau Nguyen (news reporter)
• Tila Tequila (Tila Nguyen)
• Hubert Vo

Lily Jang

See also

• Demographics of Houston
• Kim Sơn
• Mai's
• VAN-TV
• History of the Chinese Americans in Houston
• History of the Mexican-Americans in Houston

References

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vietnamese community in Houston.

• Vietnamese American Medical Association of Greater Houston (VAMA - GH)
• Houston Vietnamese Golf Association

Vietnamese Americans by location California (Orange County) Louisiana (New Orleans) Mississippi Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) Texas (Houston)