New Land: Southeast Asian Refugees Finding Home in Washington
Edward Echtle Jr
Thursday August 13, 2026 at 6pm via Zoom
IN 1975, WASHINGTON GOVERNOR DAN EVANS watched in “stunned disbelief ” as the evening news broadcast desperate scenes in Saigon. CIA employees and South Vietnamese civilians were clamoring to board US helicopters as communist troops closed in on the capital. When California balked at resettling refugees, Governor Evans opened Washington’s door— wide. Since then, tens of thousands of Southeast Asians have made Washington home. They have raised families, worked hard, started businesses and enriched their communities in countless ways, weaving their cultures into the fabric of the Evergreen State. Based on new oral histories, New Land features compelling stories of courage, hope and resilience. First generation refugees and their descendants recount their experiences in the eventful half-century since those first arrivals.
Edward Echtle Jr, oral historian for Legacy Washington since 2023, was raised in Washington. He received a master’s degree in history from Western Washington University, with an emphasis on Pacific Northwest labor and immigration. Echtle previously worked as a freelance historical researcher and writer. Past projects include oral histories of Alaska salmon cannery union reformers, exhibit work with the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, historical reports and interpretive displays for public agencies, and serving as Executive Director of the Bigelow House Museum in Olympia. Echtle is also a contributing author at Historylink.org and has produced historic context reports for environmental litigation, architectural surveys, and archaeological investigations.
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