Collection is open for research.
Gift of The Immigrant Story, June 2021 (RL2021-057).
Reza Uddin was born in Maungdaw, Burma, in 1964. In 1982, the government passed a law that rescinded Burmese citizenship for Rohingya Muslims. While Uddin was in college in Rangoon, the status of Rohingyas steadily deteriorated, and he was active in student organizations for Rohingya rights. In 1993, he received a student visa for the United States, and attended Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon. He was granted asylum after his visa expired. He transferred to Portland State University, and later earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry. In 2001, he became a U.S. citizen. In 2017, he founded Friends of the Rohingya, which supports Rohingya refugees.
Oral history interview with Reza Uddin, by Allison Merkel and Sankar Raman, SR 12331, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This oral history interview with Resa Uddin was conducted by Allison Merkel and Sankar Raman on July 25, 2019. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States.
In this interview, Uddin discusses his family background and early life in Maungdaw, Burma, in the 1960s and 1970s, including the relationship between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists. He describes the deterioration in the status of Rohingya Muslims after the 1982 change to the Burmese constitution that rescinded their citizenship, and talks about his experience in college in Rangoon, including his involvement in student organizations for Rohingya rights. He also discusses the history of oppression of the Rohingya, and describes the oppression he and his family experienced in the 1980s and 1990s. He speaks about coming to the United States on a student visa, and about his experiences living and studying in Pendleton, Oregon. He talks about the process of receiving asylum. He discusses his experiences at Portland State University, and as the only Rohingya in Portland until 2005. He also talks about his marriage and the process of getting a green card for his wife. He discusses jobs he held, including running a gas station with his wife in Salem, Oregon. He closes the interview by talking about his work to help other Rohingya refugees, and by sharing his thoughts about the future of the Rohingya people.
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted,
An article about Reza Uddin, "Once Home, Now a Jungle" by Allison Merkel, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at