Phuong Do: oral history with Hamza Mustafa, Li Chen, Adria Stephens, Hannah Wang, and Samantha Klein
Description:
Phuong Do is a self-described daughter, wife, mother, and social worker. Her job allows her to be involved with the Vietnamese/American Community as a mental health counselor, using her bilingualism to extend healthcare to Vietnamese/Americans in the area. Her immigration to the U.S. was marked by difficulty, especially with the language barrier and cultural assimilation, which are struggles that persist today for her. Do came to Western Massachusetts when she attended Smith College for a social work degree and eventually stayed in the area. This oral history touches on themes of discrimination, religion as community, and the hardships of being an immigrant as well as raising second-generation American children. Throughout, Do weaves in her fears, her hopes and dreams, and her appreciation of her community. By combining her own experiences and past stories with her future aspirations for her children, Do synthesizes her past and future in a conversation about being Vietnamese/American in Western Massachusetts. This oral history attempts to preserve and serve the stories of Vietnamese/Americans by bringing them into the limelight.
Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries..
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