Hello!

This is Gaye Fisher with my presentation for the Spring 2017 Hamline University course entitled Advanced

Frameworks for Effective Teaching: Shifting Paradigms for a Pluralistic Society. My primary source for this presentation is the

book Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang an assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ms.

Vang immigrated to Laos as a child and specializes in the study of Hmong migration.
 The secondary source for this part of my presentation is A People’s History of the Hmong by Paul Hillmer. Dr. Hillmer has

been a professor of history and political science at Concordia University, Saint Paul, since 1991. He was recently named as Dean of

the College of Arts and Letters.

Before I begin, I would like to tell you the story of how I came to the decision of choosing the Hmong people as my macro

culture and religion as my micro culture.

 I had never heard of the Hmong people at all before moving to Minnesota. The charter school where I am working has very

limited resources. Each teacher was given a $100 budget and strongly encouraged to write grants and/or participate in "Go Fund

Me" type activities to acquire the necessary resources for her classroom. This was all new for me because I had just left a public

school where my budget was $800 a year, equipment requests were usually granted outside of the budget (and I was rarely denied),

and my PTO budget was over $3,000 when I left. I had written a few grants but never considered myself an expert at it. I wrote a

grant to acquire a new sound system for our middle school. I was able to take a day to go to the organization that was deciding the

grant recipients. I went and listened to the discussions of the panel as they worked through the grant decision-making process. My

grant was denied and several of the board members said some pretty unkind things about it. What I noticed, however, were at least

three (and maybe more) grants written by various Hmong arts societies and fine arts groups. Each one of them was awarded the

money. I began to wonder "who are these Hmong people and why are they winning all the grant money?"! However, I did not

pursue it any further because I was an overwhelmed first year middle school music teacher in a new state. Fortunately, this course

has given me an opportunity to do just that.

 The religion aspect of my study was decided by my husband. He has been here in Minnesota since February of 2016. During

his four months here without me, he visited many churches on the weekends and was unable to find one that was similar to where

we had attended in Texas. There was a Hmong United Methodist Church (we are United Methodist since marriage 32 years ago)

less than a mile from our home. My husband was interested in attending there before I signed on to take this class. After I was

made aware of the multi-media presentation due at the end of the coursework, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to "kill two

birds with one stone". Our church in Texas had a high population of Matu people from Myanmar. The Matu people were recent

refugees (2014) and many of them settled in Texas. The Muslim government was persecuting the Christians. The Matu people

were a wonderful addition to our church family and we were very good friends with several Matu families. Myanmar and Laos share

a border in Indochina. We were hoping that the Hmong people might be similar.

Before I get to the gist of the presentation, I would like start with a little bit of Hmong culture. Here are elementary-aged girls in

traditional Hmong costume performing for a Labor Day Festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin last September.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTol3Becn0A
 HISTORY OF THE HMONG PEOPLE
The Hmong people can be traced back four thousand or more years in China.

However, their exact origins are unknown. The Chinese referred to any southern minority

group as Miao and as a result it is difficult to ascertain which of these peoples are Hmong

and which might be other Chinese ethnic minorities. Currently, the term Miao refers solely

to the Hmong people. The history of the Hmong people is full of stories of hardships and

persecution. There are tales of a Hmong king who defeated a large Chinese army in 1772.

The Hmong left the plains of the Huang He and Yangtze River for safety in the mountains

during the unrest of imperial China and the Han. Had they not left they would have been

massacred due to expansionist pressure. In the early 1800's after continued persecution, the

Hmong migrated into the highlands of Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. (Hillmer, 2010)
 Much of Hmong history from the early 1800's through 1858 is unrecorded. In 1858 when the French became a presence in Indochina,

more historical data was gathered. There was a Hmong uprising against the French around 1896 because of the severity of taxes levied upon

them by the French. The Hmong only fought with crossbows and flintlocks while the French used rifles. It was not much of a battle, but when it

was investigated by the French they found that the colonists were at fault and met with the Hmong people for a settlement. However, crooked

Laotian governors who cheated the Hmong out of taxes caused another uprising in 1921. From 1921 through 1949 the situation between the

Hmong Laotians and the French were tenuous. However, the French did open up schools for the Laotian children. If parents were willing to

allow their children to put aside their chores, children were educated for free in French. This was new and beneficial to the Hmong agrarian

culture, because the majority was not educated. When Laos became a constitutional monarchy in 1947 and later part of the French union in

1949, many of the Hmong army had been educated and trained by the French. The French left Laos to be independent in 1953. After that,

however, a long civil war between communist and non-communist Laotians ensued until the communist took over in 1975. The United States

did not take much interest in this region until it became a hotbed of communism.

Touby Lyfoung was the son of Ly Xia Foung, a very well respected man among the Hmong
community of Laos. He was one of the first Hmong to gain a leadership position in the Laotian
government. Coming from a rich and well known family, Touby was able to attend schools in the
lowlands of Laos and sent to study in Vietnam as well. Touby studied at the French Lycée, School of
Law, and the Administration in Vientiane. The French were impressed by his education, for he was the
only Hmong to have attained such an education in the French colonial empire.
Being one of the few Hmong people educated in the French colonial school system, Touby Lyfoung
was elected as head (tasseng) of the Nong Het sub-district in Xiangkhoang Province in 1939. The next
year, as the only Hmong member of the Opium Purchasing Board. However, after World War II, the
opium trade was cut-off from Afghanistan. The French looked with favor upon Lyfoung for helping to
improve the output of during this time. However, when the Japanese occupied Laos in March 1945,
Lyfoung was arrested for his associations with the French. He escaped and moved to the mountains
where he helped to lead guerrilla attacks against the occupiers with a Hmong militia that included the
young future general, Vang Pao. He did not leave after the communist government set-up in Laos
after the Vietnam War. He died in Prison Camp Number One by the Vietnam border. (Lee, 1985/1986,
Kremmer, 2003)
Touby Lyfoung picture courtesy of Center for Hmong
Studies Concordia University, St. Paul, MN
 Young Vang Pao picture courtesy of Center for Hmong Vang Pao in 2007 in Freso, CA (photo credit Gary Kazanjian/AP )
Studies Concordia University, St. Paul, MN

Vang Pao, an ethnic Hmong, was born on 8 December 1929, in a Hmong village named Nonghet located in Central
Xiangkhuang Province, in the northeastern region of Laos where his father, Neng Chu Vang, was a county leader. Vang began
his early life as a farmer until Japanese forces invaded and occupied French Indochina in World War II. His father sent him
away to school from the age of 10 to 15 before he launched his military career, joining the French Military to protect fellow
Hmong during the Japanese invasion. He was the only ethnic Hmong to attain the rank of General officer in the Royal Lao
Army, and he was loyal to the King of Laos while remaining a champion of the Hmong people. During the 1960s/70s, he
commanded the Secret Army, also known as the Hmong Army, a highly-effective Central Intelligence Agency-trained and
supported force that fought against the communist Pathet Lao and People’s Army of Vietnam.Vang's ethnic Hmong and Laotian
veterans and their refugee families who served in the U.S. "Secret Army" were eventually granted the status of political refugees
by the United Nations because of persecution and genocide by the Lao Marxist government and communist Vietnam who took
control in 1975. He first lived in Montana and later relocated to Fresno, California where he continued to be a champion for
Hmong people all around the world until his death in 2011. (Hillmer, 2010)
 The information from the Hmong in Minnesota (2008) text begins when the CIA took an interest in creating an army to fight

communism in Laos and Vietnam. Chia Youyee Vang begins on page one stating that more than 30,000 Hmong men and boys

served as America's foot soldiers in Laos from 1961 through 1973. When the USA enlisted the Hmong Laotians to army service,

they also built schools, hospitals and military training camps that turned the Hmong from a semi-educated agrarian culture to a

culture prepared for more modern day opportunities. In 1973 when Laos announced a peace treaty, a coalition government was

formed. The coalition was not truthful. After so many years of civil war it was clear that anyone who had sided with the non-

communist allies during the war were compromised. Hmong were sent to "seminar camps" but never returned. The CIA began

evacuating 2000 Hmong officers and their families to Thailand between May 10th and May 14th. After the last evacuation plane

left on May 14th many Hmong fled the country by foot. It turned out that 40,000 more Hmong people fled Laos in 1975, and tens of

thousands even later to escape the communist regime in Laos and Vietnam. Thousands died travelling over the mountains and

trying to cross the Mekong River into Thailand. Those who were successful lived in refugee camps in Thailand for years. The last

Hmong refugees in Thailand resettled in the US and Europe from the Wat Tham Krabok camp in 2004. The total population of

Hmong people (with a few other highland minorities) that were resettled between 1975 and 2004 was 104,200. (Vang, 2008).

Photo courtesy of Center for Hmong Studies Concordia

University, St. Paul, MN

Photo credit from WordPress for

this picture and the next slide.
 The book Hmong in Minnesota (2008) by Chia Youyee Vang is significantly more positive than other information that I have read on the internet

and in Paul Hillmer's book A People's History of the Hmong (2010). Ms. Vang makes a point to highlight the successes of the Hmong community that

has settled in Minnesota. Others Hmong refugees settled in many cities and towns in Europe, particularly France. One of the most successful

resettlements was in the small South American country of French Guiana. Here the Hmong community prospered in farming and selling their goods at

the market. A table and a map from Chia Youyee Vang's book show the distribution of Hmong families in cities and towns in Minnesota. The majority of

the Hmong families (24,389) live in Saint Paul out of a total of almost 40,000 Hmong Minnesotans according to the US census in 2000. The population

of the Hmong communities has grown in Minnesota because of the success of many families. These families would inform their relatives across the USA

and the world and invite them to come to Minnesota. Many came as wives promised to Hmong men, families who were united through the use of US

reunification policies, and some illegal residents who came to visit and overstayed their visas. The total US population in 2000 of Hmong people was

186,310.

Many sections of the book Hmong in Minnesota show the aspects of Hmong life that are important to the author. She highlights the first arrivals of

Hmong to the Twin Cities area in 1976 as a result of the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. One family was thought to be the first

to arrive, but later it was found out that another couple arrived in Minnesota on November 5, 1975. This couple was personally sponsored by a friend in

the US Agency for International Development because the man had worked as a field assistant for the US in Laos. Therefore, they were "special" and

arrived before all other refugees. Other highlights that Ms. Vang names, are the first Hmong baby born in Minnesota; the first and subsequent Hmong

people who ran for local and state office; successful Hmong entrepreneurs; and artists and writers of noteworthy status. Ms. Vang also lists various

organizations that were formed to assist the Hmong refugees as well as cultural activities that have become traditions in the Twin Cities area.
Table from Hmong in Minnesota (Vang, 2008. pg. 23)
Bill Her…first Hmong baby born First Hmong Family to arrive in
in Minnesota Minnesota
 ANOTHER HMONG
CULTURAL LINK
For your viewing pleasure, here are the Minnesota Angels (a Hmong
dance group) competing at a New Year’s celebration in 2017 in Fresno,
CA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMo9o6L0RQw

Following the video are the photographs I took for my last cultural field
experience at the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University, in
St. Paul, MN. I personally photographed the majority of the pictures for this
presentation. The six photos that I did not take are cited at the end.
 I am now switching gears and going to highlight the micro culture of my study which is religion. My cultural study has been enlightening and enjoyable. My first contact with the Hmong

community was at Wheelock United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 19, 2016. We've attended over 20 different United Methodist churches in the Twin Cities area. These churches

have had primarily European American congregations. We have attended two primarily African American methodist churches. The Hmong church was the first church I had attended in

Minnesota where I actually did know all of the songs. These songs were sung in the Hmong language, but the words were projected on a screen and quite readable. The way the words were

printed seemed very phonetic.

The population of the church seemed to be primarily middle class Hmong families. There were about 32 women and 14 men. Most sat in family groups. The service was traditionally

United Methodist with all the regular scripture readings, doxology, offering and music selections. All but one of the children was quiet and somewhat attentive. One 3-year-old girl escaped

from her grandmother regularly and was running around the congregation causing quite a few giggles. My conclusion that the families were primarily middle class came from observing that the

church building was equipped with very modern technology. The church had an outstanding sound system and 5 flatscreen monitors where the song words, scriptures and order of worship were

projected. The order of worship was in both the Hmong language and English, but the rest of the service and printed materials were only in Hmong. A large number of members pulled out their

smartphones on multiple occasions. One young lady filmed the entire sermon on her smartphone. At least three of the children were playing on iPads. All but a couple of the men were in suits

and the women were primarily dressed up in very nice dresses (I actually don't remember any female dressed in slacks).

About six people greeted us warmly (in English) at the conclusion of the service. However, the woman who spoke to us first (about mid-service) talked the most to us. She was glad that

we had come, but she seemed certain that we were in the wrong place. She informed us that an African American Church of God in Christ congregation had services in that building at 1pm and

that obviously we had come at the wrong time. We thanked her for the information, but pretty much laughed as we walked out of the building. We actually had come for that service and we are

United Methodist!
 We did not return to that church. However, I have now attended the Northwest Minneapolis Hmong United Methodist Ministry in Robbinsdale three times. Our first visit was on Sunday, March 12, 2017. It

was a great service. We arrived right before it began and were greeted at the door. Again, they assumed we were at the wrong place. However, they asked us our names and we told them about the Matu

population at our old church in Austin, TX and of my research for this class. They ushered us in and welcomed us by name at the beginning of the service. We appreciated that the service was half in Hmong and

the other half in English. It was great to be able to understand and participate. They had Bibles and hymn books in both Hmong and English. The "cherry" on the top of this outing was that the preacher

apologized for preaching in Hmong! He said that had he known we were coming, he would have prepared the sermon in English. It was a very small congregation of about a dozen. Afterwards, they gave my

husband a brief tour of the church while I was talking with the liturgist. It was a very positive experience. I would even say the most positive church experience that we've had in the Twin Cities. We

intentionally did not let the pastor know that we were coming on our second visit to the church. For the multi-media project I wanted the sermon to be preached in Hmong. We asked for permission to video the

service. The permission was granted. We filmed the entire service and I am hoping to add some important parts to the multi-media project. This visit took place on March 26, 2017. I also attended this past

Sunday, April 2, 2017. The pastor's wife, Mai, had taken my email information and asked me to sing the "English Song" for the morning service. I received an email on S aturday night reminding me of that

obligation. I attended and sang an old Amy Grant song, and was asked by the pastor's wife to play the piano on the final song of the service. Both musical numbers went very well. My final assessment of the

church visits is that except for the language component, there was no noticeable difference between the African American services, European American services and the Hmong services in terms of order of

service, music, inclusiveness, and traditions. We have just found that the Hmong United Ministry has been the most welcoming of all the 20+ churches that we have visited.

The pictures that you see are also from the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University. The information from the Hmong in Minnesota text and the center gave statistics about the number of Hmong

people who have converted to Christianity. In China before Christian missionaries came to proselyte, the Hmong were traditionally animist. Animism is the belief that all things have a spirit or soul, including

animals, plants, rivers, mountains, stars, the moon, and the sun. Each being is considered a spirit that can offer help or harm to humans. As such, spirits must either be worshiped or appeased. Animists offer

sacrifices, prayers, dances, or other forms of devotions to these spirits in hopes of blessing upon areas of life (crops, health, fertility, etc.) or for protection from harm. Shamans were the spiritual leaders who

followers turned to for guidance. Shamans would tell the people what animal sacrifice, dances or petitions were necessary to appease the spirits. Shamans also gave blessings for events in the lives of individuals

and the community especially at festivals and celebrations.

Many of the animist practices (like sacrificing animals) are outlawed here in the United States. Traditional sacrifices at celebrations now must be conducted by certified butchers and then the meat is given to

the Shamans to use for the rituals. Funeral celebrations among the Hmong people are elaborate. They can last from four days to an entire week or more. Even the Hmong who have converted to Christianity will

have long elaborate funerals incorporating traditional cultural practices. The use of the qeej at funerals is said to "guide the soul of the deceased person to the spirit world" (Vang, 2008).
 I thought it would be appropriate for this presentation to show the differences between the Hmong United Methodist service and the
primarily European American service at Christ United Methodist Church in Maplewood, MN. I am indebted to both pastors for
allowing me to film during the service.

LINKS and VIDEO CLIPS COMPARING HMONG UNITED METHODIST CHURCH TO

EUROPEAN AMERICAN SERVICES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW0AcWcxqcI The Doxology in English

https://vimeo.com/213368017?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749 The Doxology in Hmong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A7kQ6Cry0k Hymn in English

https://vimeo.com/213368140?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749 Hymn in Hmong

https://vimeo.com/213367884?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749
Sermon in English

https://vimeo.com/213368247?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749 Sermon in Hmong

Great article on the history and

http://www.akha.org/content/missiondocuments/thehmongreligiousexperience.html
current trends in Hmong Religion
 CONCLUSIONS
The entire process of learning about the Hmong culture has been a positive experience for me. I found the Hmong in Minnesota book an enjoyable resource. My secondary text A
People’s History of the Hmong was a less enjoyable read, but replete with significantly more factual information. However, except for in one small section of the Hmong in Minnesota text,
my sources did not contain much information about the continuing struggles of Hmong Americans from 1980 to present. Chia Youyee Vang in her small section on “Challenges” briefly
mentions issues with intergenerational gaps, poverty, gender roles, violence and racism. It is easy to summarize. Many of the youth do not respect their parents’ and grandparents’ heritage.
Some refuse to speak Hmong and are unable to communicate with older family members. This also connects to an article that I analyzed entitled "Uchinaaguchi: The Language of My
Heart" from Rethinking Schools Winter 2016. In this case students were forced by the Japanese not to speak their native language at school and Uchinaaguchi was placed on an “endangered
language “ list because many of the youth also refused to speak it at home. It took the author years to inspire her people to learn and preserve their precious culture. Many Hmong people,
especially in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin make an effort to do this also. Another intergenerational issue was that the men who were used to being the heads of the household lost
their positions to younger Hmongs who could speak the language and navigate the system in the US. This displacement caused a negative shift in the culture traditionally lead by the oldest
male. In terms of poverty, Hmong are considered the most impoverished of any group of Asian Americans in the nation. In their agrarian communities before the French occupation of
Indochina, there was no need for formal education. Men were assured a “good life” by the ability to work hard, build homes and take care of their families. Relocation to the US required an
education in order to obtain a productive job. This was beyond the grasp of the older generation who did not even know how to grasp a pencil in 1976. However, in 1976 there were zero
Hmong people with advanced degrees. Today there are over 600. Violence was at its peak in the 1980’s. Hmong youth formed gangs to protect themselves from discrimination and the
violent acts of other gangs. There was also a rise in family violence due to the trauma of the relocation, changes in gender roles and the feelings of being overwhelmed and unaccepted by the
new culture. Sadly, until the Hmong communities grasped the basics of the English language, many Americans considered them mentally deficient. Most Americans did not understand the
culture shock that the Hmong were experiencing and were not sympathetic. Despite these challenges, some of which remain in the Hmong community today, the Hmong people are resilient,
adaptable and have made great advancements to success in a country that they have only lived in for forty years.
 IMPACT ON EDUCATION TODAY
MY INTERVIEW WITH LEE PAO XIONG
My visit to the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University in Saint Paul, MN was very successful. I even took a "selfie" with the director as you can see. Lee Pao Xiong, has been

the director since 2004, and I asked him questions about the relationship between maintaining cultural ties with one's ethnic heritage and success at school. His answer reflected the opinions in

both the Banks & Banks and the Nieto texts. He said that students who accept who they are, participate in cultural activities, and are proud of their history and heritage do better in school. When

families teach their culture and students understand where they came from and where they are going, it has a positive effect on their academics. Mr. Xiong mentioned that he had seen too many

college students who had rejected the Hmong heritage and language and were "floundering" as students and as young adults. They did not see their place in society and had no purpose both in

school and the community. He said that he had asked quite a few of the students that I just described to travel with him to Laos, Vietnam and China. Some of them did. When they returned

(obviously with his guidance) they were more grounded, more focused and extremely more motivated in their studies and purpose (and very happy to have relocated to the USA). Because my

micro cultural group was religion, I asked Mr. Xiong about that, too. He essentially gave me the same answer. When students have roots in their family traditions and ethnic culture (including

religion) they are ultimately more successful academically than students who do not.
If we begin with the premise
that children
and their families
have substantial talents that
can Students’ identification
inform student learning, a with, and the
number maintenance of,
of implications for their native culture and
improving schools follow. language can have
Multicultural Education a positive
by James & Cherry Banks (pg. 320)
influence on learning.

The Light In Their Eyes: Creating

Multicultural Learning Communities
By Sonia Nieto (pg. 99)
 CITED REFERENCE TEXTS
Vang, C. Y. (2008). Hmong in Minnesota. Saint Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press

Hillmer, P. (2010). People's history of the Hmong. St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society.

Lee, Gary Yia. "Ethnic Minorities and National Building in Laos: The Hmong in the Lao State." Peninsule, No.11/12, 1985/86, pp.215-232

Kremmer, C. (2003) Bamboo Palace: Discovering the lost dynasty of Laos, Silkworm Books

Nieto, S. (2010). The light in their eyes: creating multicultural learning communities. New York: Teachers College Press.

Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. (2016). Multicultural education: issues and perspectives. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Yonamine, M. (2016, Winter). Uchinaachuchi: The Language of My Heart. Rethinking schools, 31(2), 18-19.

Foundation, T. A. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://www.akha.org/content/missiondocuments/thehmongreligiousexperience.html

VIDEO/FILM/MUSIC CREDITS
B. (2016, September 09). Hmong Oshkosh Dance Nkauj Hmoob Vam Meej 2016-2017. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTol3Becn0A
K. (2017, January 06). MINNESOTA ANGELS 3rd Round Dance Competition at Hmong Int'l New Year 2017, Fresno, CA. Retrieved April 15, 2017,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMo9o6L0RQw
Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow (Old 100th). (2016, July 10). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW0AcWcxqcI
M. (2011, August 09). Crystal Cathedral Hymn - This Is My Father's World - Mark Thallander, Organist. Retrieved April 15, 2017,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A7kQ6Cry0k

PHOTO CREDITS
Dancers walk in the State Fair parade during Hmong Day at the fair in 2015. (photo courtesy of Cam Xiong for MPR News)
Vang Pao in 2007 in Freso, CA. (photo credit Gary Kazanjian/AP )
The last C-130 flight out of Long Chieng at noon on May 14, 1975 brought a lot of tears from the Hmong people. (photo credit WordPress)
When refugees first arrived in the Camp in Thailand, many were sick and starving. (photo credit WordPress)
Shoua Moua, holding baby Bill, young Touvi and husband Dang Her. (photo credit from the MinnPost courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society)
Hmong police officer assigned to North Minneapolis. (photo credit Twin Cities Daily Planet)