Tai Dam people

The Tai Dam (Tai Dam: ꪼꪕ ꪒꪾ, Lao: ໄຕດຳ, Thai: ไทดำ) are an ethnic minority predominantly from China, northwest Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. They are part of the Tai peoples and ethnically similar to the Thai from Thailand, the Lao from Laos and the Shan from Shan State, Myanmar. Tai Dam means "Black Tai". This name comes from the black clothing worn by the group, especially females. In Vietnam they are called Thái Đen and are included in the group of the Thái people, together with the Thái Đỏ ("Red Tai"), Thái Trắng ("White Tai"), Phu Thai, Tày Thanh and Thái Hàng Tổng. The group of the Thái people is the third largest of the 54 ethnic groups recognized by the Vietnamese government. The Tai Dam's language is similar to Lao, but Tai Dam use their own unique writing system and traditionally rejected Buddhism.

Under Vietnam's classification of the Tai peoples are the White Tai, Thái Đỏ ("Red Tai"), Tày Mười, Tày Thanh (Man Thanh), Hàng Tổng (Tày Mường), Pu Thay, Thổ Đà Bắc.

During the Indochina War, most Tai Dam allied with the communists. However, some Tai Dam allied with the French and fought against communism. After the fall of Điện Biên Phủ, this anticommunist faction fled Vietnam for northern Laos. By 1955, most Tai Dam moved to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. They worked as domestics, government officials, and soldiers. As communism descended on South Vietnam and Laos, the Tai Dam feared reprisals for their anticommunist past. They evacuated to Thailand and campaigned for sanctuary. Arthur Crisfield, an American language instructor, wrote letters to foreign governments on the group's behalf. In the summer of 1975, Governor Robert D. Ray agreed to resettle the Tai Dam in the state of Iowa. He needed an exemption from U.S. President Gerald Ford to bring a large ethnic population to one state. Today, more Tai Dam live in Iowa than anywhere outside of Asia, numbering over 10,000.

Early in their history, the Thai adopted wet rice cultivation, using suitable irrigation networks. The work can be summarized in the Thai saying "muong - phai - lai - lin" (which means digging of canals, consolidating of banks, guiding water through obstacles, and fixing water gutters) in the fields. While the Thai once grew only one sticky rice crop a year, nowadays they have converted to two crops of ordinary rice. They also cultivate swidden fields, where they grow rice, corn, and subsidiary crops, especially cotton, indigo and mulberry for cloth weaving.