Oral history interview with Kong Phok, December 19, 2000
Subtitle: interview K-0273, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Lau, Barbara (Barbara A.), interviewer; Sambimb, Somsak, Phramaha, interviewee; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Cambodian Americans; Refugees; Cultural assimilation; Americanization; Mills and mill-work; Employees
Other titles: Interview K-0273, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Kong Phok, December 19, 2000; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Kong Phok fled the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia with his family when he was very young, eventually arriving in Greensboro, NC, at the age of nine. In this interview, he recalls adjusting to his new life in the United States, describing some of the cultural differences he encountered. He describes his work at Guilford Mills before the plant's owners moved it to Mexico. He recounts his struggles with discrimination at the mill, which he soon overcame, eventually earning a promotion to production manager. Conscious of his own good fortune, he treated his workers fairly and with kindness. This interview offers an instructive, if brief, look at North Carolina's mill industry from a different perspective: that of a recent immigrant to the state. It also offers insights into a Cambodian-American's effort to find a balance between his loyalty to his birthplace and his devotion to his adopted homeland.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on November 26, 2008).

Interview participants: Kong Phok, interviewee; Phramaha Somsak Sambimb, interviewee; Barbara Lau, interviewer.

Duration: 01:18:10.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 168 kilobytes, 143 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0273, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by L. McLain. Original transcript: 46 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.