Hmong families celebrating a collective 50th anniversary as Americans—and we’ve got a timely book for that

Educators have a choice now to add lessons about Hmong culture and history

Conferences in California signal a significant anniversary in the United States: 50 years since the arrival of Hmong refugees from Southeast Asia.

Immigration usually happens gradually with arrivals spanning decades. For Hmong people, however, arrival in the United States was compressed into a small window driven by the threat of death. We can trace most Hmong immigrants to 1975 when the United States withdrew from Vietnam. We had to evacuate our Hmong allies and their families to save them from being overrun by Viet Cong soldiers. Tens of thousands of Hmong already had died.

And when they arrived in the U.S.? A low public profile among Hmong people was intentional. They had been recruited by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to fight the Viet Cong in a “Secret War.” Few of Americans knew or understood their complex role in that struggle.

These refugees were resettled in disparate places from California to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina. They arrived with little of the education, money or connections that have helped other immigrant groups.

The first Hmong History and Cultural Studies Conference was held this month in Merced, California. More than 200 educators and community members participated. They learned about more than 50 lessons that may be used in classes about history, ethnic studies or social studies. The curriculum can teach students about their Hmong neighbors and preserve the culture among Hmong youth, as the early arrivals are growing older. 

One of the planners was Merced School Board Member Tsia Xiong, who came to the U.S. from Laos as a refugee in the 1980s. The Merced Focus quoted him as saying, “Hmong were not being recognized throughout history, and we were very invisible in the public eye,. Even our neighbors don’t know who we are. They think we’re just Chinese. Having educators spread the word that Hmong is totally different than any other ethnic minority, I think that says a lot about the curriculum.”

The conference attracted people from schools in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin. For that historic gathering, Michigan State University contributed hundreds of copies of 100 Questions and Answers About Hmong Americans: Secret No More. That very timely book was supported by Michigan Humanities. More guides have been donated for a May conference in Fresno. A third is planned for Sacramento next spring.

Get one of these guides for yourself at the link above and learn from these neighbors about how they have come so far in just 50 years.