A People's History of the Hmong

A People's History of the Hmong PDF Author: Paul Hillmer
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
ISBN: 0873517903
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
A rich narrative history of the worldwide community of Hmong people, exploring their cultural practices, war and refugee camp experiences, and struggles and triumphs as citizens of new countries.

A People's History of the Hmong

A People's History of the Hmong PDF Author: Paul Hillmer
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
ISBN: 0873517903
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
A rich narrative history of the worldwide community of Hmong people, exploring their cultural practices, war and refugee camp experiences, and struggles and triumphs as citizens of new countries.

Hmong and American

Hmong and American PDF Author: Vincent K. Her
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
ISBN: 0873518551
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Farmers in Laos, U.S. allies during the Vietnam War, refugees in Thailand, citizens of the Western world, the stories of the Hmong who now live in America have been told in detail through books and articles and oral histories over the past several decades. Like any immigrant group, members of the first generation may yearn for the past as they watch their children and grandchildren find their way in the dominant culture of their new home. For Hmong people born and educated in the United States, a definition of self often includes traditional practices and tight-knit family groups but also a distinctly Americanized point of view. How do Hmong Americans negotiate the expectations of these two very different cultures? This book contains a series of essays featuring a range of writing styles, leading scholars, educators, artists, and community activists who explore themes of history, culture, gender, class, family, and sexual orientation, weaving their own stories into depictions of a Hmong American community where people continue to develop complex identities that are collectively shared but deeply personal as they help to redefine the multicultural America of today.

The Latehomecomer

The Latehomecomer PDF Author: Kao Kalia Yang
Publisher: Coffee House Press
ISBN: 1566892627
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. But lacking a written language of their own, the Hmong experience has been primarily recorded by others. Driven to tell her family’s story after her grandmother’s death, The Latehomecomer is Kao Kalia Yang’s tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard. Beginning in the 1970s, as the Hmong were being massacred for their collaboration with the United States during the Vietnam War, Yang recounts the harrowing story of her family’s captivity, the daring rescue undertaken by her father and uncles, and their narrow escape into Thailand where Yang was born in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp. When she was six years old, Yang’s family immigrated to America, and she evocatively captures the challenges of adapting to a new place and a new language. Through her words, the dreams, wisdom, and traditions passed down from her grandmother and shared by an entire community have finally found a voice. Together with her sister, Kao Kalia Yang is the founder of a company dedicated to helping immigrants with writing, translating, and business services. A graduate of Carleton College and Columbia University, Yang has recently screened The Place Where We Were Born, a film documenting the experiences of Hmong American refugees. Visit her website at www.kaokaliayang.com.

The Song Poet

The Song Poet PDF Author: Kao Kalia Yang
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
ISBN: 1627794956
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
From the author of The Latehomecomer, a powerful memoir of her father, a Hmong song poet who sacrificed his gift for his children's future in America In the Hmong tradition, the song poet recounts the story of his people, their history and tragedies, joys and losses; extemporizing or drawing on folk tales, he keeps the past alive, invokes the spirits and the homeland, and records courtships, births, weddings, and wishes. Following her award-winning book The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang now retells the life of her father Bee Yang, the song poet, a Hmong refugee in Minnesota, driven from the mountains of Laos by American's Secret War. Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until, one day, a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good. But before they do, Bee, with his poetry, has polished a life of poverty for his children, burnished their grim reality so that they might shine. Written with the exquisite beauty for which Kao Kalia Yang is renowned, The Song Poet is a love story -- of a daughter for her father, a father for his children, a people for their land, their traditions, and all that they have lost.

Hmong in Minnesota

Hmong in Minnesota PDF Author: Chia Youyee Vang
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
ISBN: 0873517377
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
An engaging history of the arrival of the Hmong in Minnesota in the 1970s, thier struggle to build community in a new land, and the challenges they face today.

St. Paul

St. Paul PDF Author: Bill Lindeke
Publisher: Urban Biography
ISBN: 9781681342009
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
A concise history, featuring stories that are familiar, surprising, and sure to change the way you see Minnesota's capitol city.

The Hmong in St. Paul

The Hmong in St. Paul PDF Author: Community Planning Organization (Saint Paul, Minn.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hmong Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description


Bamboo Among the Oaks

Bamboo Among the Oaks PDF Author: Mai Neng Moua
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
ISBN: 9780873514378
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Of an estimated twelve million ethnic Hmong in the world, more than 160,000 live in the United States today, most of them refugees of the Vietnam War and the civil war in Laos. Their numbers make them one of the largest recent immigrant groups in our nation. Today, significant Hmong populations can be found in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, and Colorado, and St. Paul boasts the largest concentration of Hmong residents of any city in the world. In this groundbreaking anthology, first-and second-generation Hmong Americans--the first to write creatively in English--share their perspectives on being Hmong in America. In stories, poetry, essays, and drama, these writers address the common challenges of immigrants adapting to a new homeland: preserving ethnic identity and traditions, assimilating to and battling with the dominant culture, negotiating generational conflicts exacerbated by the clash of cultures, and developing new identities in multiracial America. Many pieces examine Hmong history and culture and the authors' experiences as Americans. Others comment on issues significant to the community: the role of women in a traditionally patriarchal culture, the effects of violence and abuse, the stories of Hmong military action in Laos during the Vietnam War. These writers don't pretend to provide a single story of the Hmong; instead, a multitude of voices emerge, some wrapped up in the past, others looking toward the future, where the notion of "Hmong American" continues to evolve. In her introduction, editor Mai Neng Moua describes her bewilderment when she realized that anthologies of Asian American literature rarely contained even one selection by a Hmong American. In 1994, she launched a Hmong literary journal, Paj Ntaub Voice, and in the first issue asked her readers "Where are the Hmong American voices?" Now this collection--containing selections from the journal as well as new submissions--offers a chorus of voices from a vibrant and creative community of Hmong American writers from across the United States.

A People's History of the Hmong

A People's History of the Hmong PDF Author: Paul Hillmer
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
ISBN: 9780873517263
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Based on more than 200 interviews during 2002-2009 under the auspices of the Hmong Oral History Project. Several full-text interviews are available on the project's website.

Hmong America

Hmong America PDF Author: Chia Youyee Vang
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252077598
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
An unprecedented inside view of the Hmong experience in America.