Hmong Acculturation in West-Central Wisconsin A Comparison of Oral Histories

Abstract

When the United States pulled out of Southeast Asia following the Vietnam War, they left behind an ethnic group that would soon be targeted for extermination. The Hmong of Laos assisted the United States during the war, and as such, became the targets of the victorious forces. Forced to flee their homeland for fear of annihilation, the Hmong traveled to Thailand, living in refugee camps. The United States granted many of them asylum, and the Hmong soon found themselves in a completely foreign land, full of new challenges, technologies, and ethnicities. Many of them migrated again to the midwest, primarily in the Minnesota and Wisconsin regions. Minneapolis houses the largest population, but many of them also settled in the Eau Claire and Menomonie regions. Using oral interviews from both area, this paper will identify how these different locations affected the ability of Hmong migrants to acculturate, gain education and employment, and maintain their cultural identity. This project provides insights that are important to understand in order to better help refugee groups in the future.