In August 1975, the first Vietnamese-language newspaper in Washington state headed to the press. The free, bimonthly tabloid, Dat Moi (“New Land”) was to be mailed to 1500 Washington refugees and their American sponsors. It was sponsored by the national Vietnamese-American Association and was funded by the WA State Department of Emergency Services and the Catholic Archdiocese. Plans were for Dat Moi to become independent. The paper contained information on the complex array of refugee services, local activities, and significant local and national events. It continued to be published until 1987.

Dat Moi’s first editor, Vinh Duc Vu, had arrived in South Vietnam from the north in 1954. He wrote for the Saigon Post, an English-language paper, and served as director of the South Vietnamese radio network. Vinh was also a novelist and editor of a publication for the Vietnamese air force. His largest problem in Seattle was finding a Vietnamese typewriter. Vietnamese has many accents and other marks, and until Vinh could find one, he had to add all the marks by hand.

In this image, Dat Moi editor Vinh Duc Vu (right) sits at his typewriter as he and staff member Hoi Ba Tran work on Seattle’s Vietnamese-language newspaper.

Caption information source: “Viet Language Newspaper to Serve Refugees Here”, by Eric Nalder, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 20, 1975, page A3.
Caption information source: “Close ties of Vietnamese, Seattle Asians, paved way for 40-year journey”, by Ron Chew, International Examiner, April 22, 2015.
Caption information source: “About Dat Moi”, Chronicling America, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093360. Retrieved February 28, 2025.