Vuong G. Thuy was certainly aware of the importance of a proper education, for both himself, and others. Thuy was born in Vietnam, where he was schooled at the University of Saigon. He did his graduate work in England and then went to Paris where he earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Sorbonne. In the mid-1960s, Thuy came to the United States and taught at Cornell University from 1967 to 1970.

During his time at Cornell, he educated Indochinese refugees, who were flooding into America from their war torn homeland. His first project was in 1969, when he coordinated the Indochinese Regional Resource Center at the New York City Board of Education. In 1979 he founded and served as the first President of the National Association for Vietnamese American Education, and did the same three years later for the regional Indochinese-American Council in Philadelphia. These organizations sought to promote educational and economic advancement for Indochinese Americans, while calling for racial harmony among all of the different ethnic groups residing in the United States. Among their many services, these groups provided after-school tutoring, training in English as a second language, literacy, employment training, job placement, health care and recreation. The Indochinese-American Council also was responsible for operating the Indochinese Community Center in the Logan Section of Philadelphia. In addition to serving as an educational and recreational center, the building was home to many Asian and Indochinese refugees.

During his association with the Indochinese American Council, Thuy began a term as a professor of Linguistics at Temple University. He left some time in the 1990s to establish a charter school for "problem" children, whom Thuy felt lacked the proper discipline to succeed in education. The Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School opened in September 1998 in the Logan section of Philadelphia, with a mission to construct a "bridge to success for at-risk high school students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds" by educating "the whole person, emphasizing tolerance, respect, pride and excellence through the use of strict discipline, small class size, [and] individual instruction."

Dr. Thuy is also the author of numerous publications, including, Vietnamese in a Nutshell (1975), Getting to Know the Vietnamese and Their Culture (1976), The Role of Vietnamese Parents in American Schools (1978), and The Indochinese in America: Who Are They and How Are They Doing (1981). These publications, along with his career and association with numerous Asian American mutual assistance associations, distinguish Vuong Thuy as a leading educator in the Asian community.

The scope of this collection deals primarily with the various Asian-American mutual assistance associations on which Dr. Thuy served and founded, specifically the National Association for Vietnamese American Education, the Indochinese-American Council, and the Asian American Council of Greater Philadelphia. Among the material pertaining to these groups are correspondence, newsletters, conference programs, and orientation handbooks for newly arrived immigrants, written in English, Vietnamese, and Laotian. Other notable items in the collection include the published works of Vuong G. Thuy, including Vai Tro Cua Phu Huynh Viet Nam Tai Hoc Dung Hoa (The Role of Vietnamese Parents in American Schools), and The Indochinese in America: An Unfinished Success Story.

The collection is open for research.

Cite as: [Indicate box and folder #s here], Vuong G. Thuy Papers (Collection 3017), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Gift of Vuong G. Thuy, 1991.

Accession number: M91-65.

Processed by: Patrick Shea

Processing Completed: May 2002

The original chronological order of this material has been maintained. Some individual folders, however, were overfilled with material, requiring them to be divided among numerous folders. In separating the material, related items were grouped and housed together, while individual booklets and newsletters were given separate folders.

Nguyen Family Papers (SC 194)

National Association for Vietnamese American Education, National Directory of Vietnamese Resource Personnel, 1980.

English.