“Diaspora, Death, Desegregation: A Lowell Story”

With Speakers: Robert Forrant, Chandarnee Khoeun, Chrisna Khoun

Pollard Memorial Library Reference Room

For two centuries, Lowell, Massachusetts, has been a magnet for immigrants and refugees. However, there is a volatile side to this history. On September 15, 1987, as Southeast Asian and Latino parents sought to desegregate Lowell, Massachusetts public schools in the face of bitter opposition by leaders of the city’s School Committee, an 11-year-old white child assaulted 13-year-old Cambodian sixth grader. Genocide survivor Vandy Phrong fell into the Pawtucket Canal and drowned. His death was part of a widespread surge in anti-immigrant, anti-refugee violence in Massachusetts and across the country in the 1980s. This presentation discusses the history and the context of what happened to Vandy Phrong amid the nearly twenty-year effort made between 1970 and 1990 by immigrant and refugee parents to guarantee their children equal access to education in Lowell. 

Offered by Lowell City of Learning and Pollard Memorial Library as part of the 2024 Lowell City of Learning Festival, which is a project under the fiscal sponsorship of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation.