Patrick Winn Public Radio International
“Soul Alley” is a documentary which examines a nightlife strip run by African American soldiers in wartime Saigon. Credit: Courtesy of Ted Irving. Featured Image
“Soul Alley” is a documentary which examines a nightlife strip run by African American soldiers in wartime Saigon. Credit: Courtesy of Ted Irving. Featured Image
[dropcap]You[/dropcap] might hear about the nightclubs run by black soldiers who’d deserted the conflict. Or that tailor shop that sold the same sharp suits you’d find in Superfly-era Harlem. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]
And then there was the food.
“There was a soul food kitchen … with collard greens and black-eyed peas and hog maws and chitlins,” says Robert Rice, a veteran of the US-Vietnam War now living in Tennessee. “And fried chicken and red beans and rice. In Vietnam!”
These recollections were shared with a Houston filmmaker named Ted Irving. His documentary “Soul Alley: Children of the Dust, Streets of Ebony,” captures an oral history of this forgotten oasis for African American GIs.