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A Minnesota PBS Initiative

Prairie Public Broadcasting

KEY STATION INITIATIVES

Prairie Public Broadcasting (Fargo/Moorhead) is one of the six PBS stations in Minnesota collaborating to highlight the state’s untold Vietnam War stories through the Minnesota Remembers Vietnam initiative.

Collage of Vietnam War images and graphic saying Prairie Memories: The Vietnam War Years


PRAIRIE MEMORIES: THE VIETNAM WAR YEARS
 | 4-part documentary series
Prairie Memories, The Vietnam War Years is a collection of oral histories from people who served, were left behind, who protested, or who fled their war torn country for a new life.
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Ten short form features were created and ran on PPB’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel. They were tagged to support the larger story-sharing project. A web page was created on the Prairie Public Website to provide information about our sharing events and to provide ongoing information how veterans could capture and share their stories to populate the Story Map.


COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Prairie Public Broadcasting held multiple sharing events to gather oral histories from Minnesotans about their Vietnam War experiences. Events were held at The Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, MN on August 10th and 11th and in Perham, MN on August 21st.

These events were promoted over broadcast and on all digital platforms. Instructions for how individuals could contribute directly to the Story Wall was included in all promotions. Over 10 Vietnam War Years stories were posted to the Story Wall by PPB.

A viewing event was held in the PPB studios on Tuesday November 7th. At this event PPB showed short video features that had been produced using the interviews gathered at earlier sharing events in August. The event featured guest speaker Minnesota State University Moorhead professor Camilla Wilson author of “The Ghost Parade From Shiloh to Saigon” and an audience Q and A period. Partners for the event were the Vet Center and The Red River Valley Vietnam Veterans Group. MPTA and MN Remembers Vietnam branding was included. Instructions for how to submit content to the Story wall were also included.

On November 9th Prairie Public broadcast 2 hours of oral interviews that were collected in MN and ND as part of this project. Branding included MPTA and the Minnesota Remember Vietnam project. Once again Instructions for how to submit to the Story Wall were included.

The Vietnam War Years oral histories were shared with teachers at several workshops in the region, including a workshop in conjunction with the Fargo premiere and virtual webinars. Teachers told PPB that they were excited to share the stories of local vets with their students to make the past come alive in their classrooms and engender greater empathy.

PPB was interviewed on multiple radio interview programs about the events as a way to attract participants. Many people said they heard about the events in this manner.


The initiative’s series of original content, public screenings, story gatherings, and commemorative events seek to more fully remember, honor, and understand the Vietnam War experience. To learn more about any upcoming events throughout the state, visit the Minnesota Remembers Vietnam events page.

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