Hmong History

854 Words2 Pages

The Hmong
Brief Overview of History Hmong, a Southeast Asian ethnic group, lived an agricultural lifestyle in the hills and mountain regions in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand after migrating from south of China around 1810-1820 (McCall, 1999; Ngo & Lee, 2007; Tatman, 2004; P. Thao, 1999). During the time the Hmong lived in Laos, approximately 73 percent of Hmong adults did not attend public schools (Reder, 1982). Instead, many Hmong focused on physical labor to provide food for the family as formal education was not essential during the time they lived in Laos (J. K. Lee & Green, 2008; McCall, 1999). From 1960s and 1970s, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited many Hmong adults and children, as young as fourteen …show more content…

The majority of the Hmong was brought to the United States in three waves (Lee, 2012; Lee & Green, 2008; Xiong & Lam, 2013). The first wave of Hmong refugees to arrive in the United States came between 1975-1979. This wave of Hmong refugees were the educated Hmong elite, Hmong professionals, and Hmong individuals who worked closely with the United States military. The second wave came between 1979-1982, composed of Hmong families who were family members of the first wave, were educated, and were economically and socially above average. The third wave lived in the refugee camps in Thailand for many years, before immigrating to the United States in 1982. This wave consisted of Hmong individuals who were mainly farmers and were the least educated of all Southeast Asian refugees (Ngo & Lee, 2007). In 1995, approximately 89 percent of Hmong refugee predominately resided in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (Timm & Chiang, 1997). Over the next three decades since the first wave, the Hmong population in the United States has increased, reaching at about 260,073 as of 2010 (Hoeffel, Rastogi, Kim, & Shahid, …show more content…

Each clan is composed through the father and is characterized by the individual’s last name. Researchers reported that clan defines roles and social relationships. Thus, Hmong men are required to marry outside of his clan as people with the same clan name are viewed as brothers and sisters (Thao, 1999; Timm & Chiang, 1997; Vang, 1999). In the Hmong culture, Hmong men were given higher status compared to Hmong women because Hmong men remain the same clan all their lives. Whereas Hmong women were expected to change from one clan to another clan once she was married (Gonzalo, 2010; Vang, 1999). Hmong women were also expected to detach from her clan and conform to her new family and clan (Thao,

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