2024-25
Mitra FAMILY GRANT Recipient
Hmong at Heart: Understanding the Hmong American Story
Hmong at Heart: Understanding the Hmong American Story
Mentors: Mark Janda and Connie Hollin
April 15, 2025
The Hmong were, in many ways, a people without a true homeland. While it is widely agreed that this Southeast Asian ethnic group settled in China over 4,000 years ago, their origins were unknown.1 Since they possessed no written records, Hmong stories orally passed down through generations loosely suggest they may be descended from Caucasians, Mongols, or Inuits.2 However, a 2024 genetic study found evidence to indicate that the family of HmongMien speakers originated in the Yangtze River Basin of China, spread as an agrarian society, and differed genetically from the Han Chinese.3 While residing in the mountains of southern China, the Hmong profitably cultivated crops including opium, corn, and upland rice.4 They lived in patrilineal clans that belonged to larger tribes including the White Hmong and Green Hmong, which differentiated themselves in local speech, women’s attire, and architectural styles.5 Over many centuries, Han Chinese oppression and imperialism pushed the Hmong from the Yellow River in northeast China to the Yangtze River further south, until they left for Burma, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand in a mass nineteenth-century exodus.6 Hundreds of thousands of Hmong occupied the highlands of Laos, where they practiced slash-and-burn farming and hunting, far from the lowland Lao due to their incongruous lifestyles and ethnicities.7 After their involvement in the First Indochina War from 1946 to 1954, the Hmong became embroiled in the Laotian Civil War from 1962 to 1973.8 Depending on their clan and region, some Hmong sided with the
1 Paul Hillmer, A People's History of the Hmong (St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2015), 14.
2 Dave Moore, comp., A Free People: Tracing Our Hmong Roots, 3rd ed. (Cincinnati, OH: Master Communications, 2013), 14; Gary Yia Lee, “Cultural Identity in Post-Modern Society: Reflections on What Is a Hmong?,” Hmong Studies Journal 1, no. 1 (1996): 3, Publicly Available Content Database (220387613).
3 Yang Gao et al., “Reconstructing the Ancestral Gene Pool to Uncover the Origins and Genetic Links of Hmong–Mien Speakers.,” BMC Biology 22, no. 1 (2024): 13-14, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-024-01838-9.
4 “Hmong,” in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd ed., ed. William A. Darity, Jr. (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008), 3:490, Gale in Context: World History.
5 “Hmong,” 3:490; “Hmong,” in Britannica School, https://school-ebcom.harker.idm.oclc.org/levels/high/article/Hmong/79484.
6 Hillmer, A People's, 14-15.
7 Jeff T. Hay, “Hmong,” in The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War, ed. Charles Zappia (San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 2004), 124, Gale in Context: World History.
8 “Hmong,” 3:490.
communist Pathet Lao, allied with Vietnam’s Viet Minh and Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge.9
However, many Hmong followed the military leadership of fellow Hmong General Vang Pao and aligned with the right-wing Royal Lao Government and United States, which led a secret air strike offensive coordinated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).10 After the Pathet Lao emerged victorious, American troops withdrew and left the Hmong to fend for themselves against a hostile government that deemed them as “enemies of the people.”11 As a result, over 100,000 Hmong fled to refugee camps in Thailand and later resettled in various countries, including the United States.12
Hmong refugees faced both external and internal obstacles as they adjusted to life in America, from cultural and technological differences to general anti-Hmong resistance. Since the Hmong were preliterate without a written form of language until the 1950s and many lacked formal education as rural highlander farmers, they entered the United States unprepared for the urban, industrialized environment.13 As a result of preconceived notions, some within the government and in the general public resisted resettling Hmong refugees, claiming that they were not suitable for life in America.14 In fact, one source claims that an estimated two-thirds of the 7,500 approved Laotian refugees of June 1976 were Hmong, although this fact was not openly revealed, presumably to help the Hmong receive the right to seek refuge in the United States.15
Anti-Hmong sentiments continued even after resettlement. For example, after a Wisconsinite white hunter killed Cha Vang in 2007, he publicly justified his actions by saying that the Hmong
9 “Hmong,” 3:490; “Pathet Lao,” World History: The Modern Era, last modified 2025, https://worldhistory-abc-cliocom.harker.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/312072.
10 “Hmong,” 3:490; “Pathet Lao”; Hay, “Hmong,” 124.
11 Hay, 124.
12 Hay, 124.
13 Kou Yang, The Making of Hmong America: Forty Years after the Secret War (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017), 72.
14 Yang, xvi.
15 Yang, xv.
“are mean and kill everything.”16 In the subsequent weeks, many Wisconsin cars displayed stickers with the message, “Save a Deer. Shoot a Mung.”17 Such depictions of Hmong as wild and dangerous people “perpetual refugees” without a true home, even in the United States obviously harmed the Hmong and made them targets of discrimination.18 They were not accepted as equal members of civilized society. Also, the early years of their new American lives began with the challenge of dispersal to sponsors all over the country. Without a community nearby to rely on for support, the community-centered Hmong struggled to find footing in an unknown country.19 Furthermore, the language barrier exacerbated the transition by making routine tasks, such as navigating city streets, difficult.20 A Hmong daughter wrote an article about her mother, who recounts, “Coming to America, I wasn't considered educated anymore. I was just a beginner. Even if they told me to speak English, I could hear them, but at the same time I wasn't hearing them.”21 The Hmong, in essence, had to rebuild themselves, reestablish their reputations, and learn how to live in a different world. In Burlee Vang’s poem, “Fresh off the Boat,” she compares the Hmong refugee experience to being a fish on land: their “fish speech” and “flipflop gestures” represent their difficulties communicating with an unkind and impatient society, including the “frustrated doctor” and “ill-tempered DMV lady.”22 The difficulties of adjusting to a new culture, language, and technology without a support system led to a Hmong poverty rate of over 60 percent in 1990.23 In 2013, that figure dropped to 25.6 percent, yet the Hmong continue
16 Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2021), 350.
17 Lee, 350.
18 Lee, 350.
19 Lee, 395.
20 Lee, 335.
21 Katie Xiong, “From One Daughter to Another: The Unwritten Story of a Hmong Mother,” Mochi Magazine (USA), October 17, 2024, Asian Life in America.
22 Burlee Vang, “Fresh off the Boat,” Paj Ntaub Voice 10, no. 1 (2004): 5.
23 Lee, The Making, 336.
to be among the most impoverished Asian American groups.24 Although Hmong culture began evolving to align with Western movements such as egalitarianism in the late twentieth century, the community continued to honor and find comfort in their heritage throughout the transition to the American urban landscape. By embracing that which made them stand apart their culture, traditions, and core values the Hmong created space to flourish in an initially hostile environment. In essence, the Hmong fit into America not because they changed themselves but because they stood proudly in their deeply rooted past and sprouted a new identity as Hmong Americans.
As Hmong scholar Gary Yia Lee explains, “the Hmong have no word for ‘privacy’ or ‘personal.’... Everything is communal, group, family.”25 Despite being initially separated upon arrival in America due to scattered sponsor locations, the Hmong refused to discard their deeply ingrained cultural values of family and community. In a second migratory wave soon after arriving in America, many Hmong relocated to Minnesota’s Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Fresno, California, to be closer to relatives.26 Today, most Hmong live in either California, Wisconsin, or Minnesota a testament to their effort to live amongst one another.27 Hence, the Hmong refused to be separated from each other despite a placement process that disregarded their cultural necessity for community bonds. They simply recognized what mattered and provided a solution for themselves. Thus, they took an important step to becoming Hmong Americans by continuing to live in a Hmong way in order to pursue success in American life. Furthermore, Hmong children, parents, and grandparents tended to live together in the same
24 Yang, The Making, 139.
25 Hillmer, A People's, 39.
26 Lee, The Making, 342-344; Yang, The Making, 83.
27 “Hmong,” 3:490.
household.28 In fact, a 2020 census shows that Hmong continued to embrace communal family living, as 62.5 percent of Hmong grandparents had lived with their grandchildren under age 30 at some point.29 However, not everyone managed to arrive in America with their family members, so some created their own clan similar to their family clans in Laos. The Lauj family of Minnesota, for example, formed around 1995 and is a large Hmong group that, although not biologically related, supported one another like a family clan.30 Tou Pao Lor, a member of the Lauj family, documented the lives and history of many of its members 31 In the foreword of his book about the Lauj family, he explains that most of his biological family perished when they escaped Laos.32 His father refused to resettle in America in hopes of eventually returning to Laos from the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand.33 When Lor arrived in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with a wife and two children, he became close with the Lauj group, many of whose members also arrived in the United States without their close relatives 34 The Lauj family demonstrates the importance and power of community amongst the Hmong. When their clan system cracked in the tumultuous time of war and resettlement, the Hmong built new group-centered communities to provide support for one another. Evidently, the blood relation between original clans proved not to be the sole reason for family delineations: it was the love, kindness, and shared tradition that continued to bring people together even though their new family members were not relatives.
28 Pa Nhia Xiong, EdD, Christina V. Luna, EdD, and Susan Tracz, PhD, “Worth the Sacrifices of Hmong Soldiers: Hmong Uplifting Hmong out of Poverty - a Mixed Method Study and Comparison of Hmong Communities in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin,” Hmong Studies Journal, Suppl. Special Issue on Hmong Americans in the 2020 U.S. Census 26, no. 1 (2024): 11, Coronavirus Research Database; Publicly Available Content Database (3060420342).
29 Xiong, Luna, and Tracz, 29.
30 Tou Pao Lor, The Lauj Family of Minnesota (Burnsville, MN: FuzionPress, 2024), vii.
31 Lor, vii.
32 Lor, xi.
33 Lor, xi.
34 Lor, vii-xi.
Staying together gifted the Hmong strength and reassurance through a community that allowed them to proudly feel Hmong.
Looking at present-day Hmong American culture through popular media, it is clear that family ties continue to guide interactions, decisions, and even jokes. In the 2024 TV show Hmong Organization, a twist on The Office, the characters crack multiple jokes about Hmong communal culture. In addition to the general concept of the show highlighting a Hmongdominated workplace serving their local Hmong community and addressing various Hmongspecific issues, the “mockumentary web series” is Hmong-created and directed.35 When the administrative assistant, Julie, asks her boss, George Michael, if they need to sign contracts to be on the show, he responds, “Contracts are for white people. Hmong love Hmong, Julie.”36 He dismisses the formality, saying that the Hmong are too tight-knit for paperwork.37 Although the sleazy boss clearly bypasses contracts for some other reason not fully disclosed, he uses the Hmong value of interpersonal connection and trust to justify an otherwise morally ambiguous decision. In the second episode, an overconfident and salesman-esque entrepreneur named Tommy “Moneymaker” Moua pitches to the employees of Hmong Organization.38 He asks the office: “What’s the most important thing in life?” The employees respond: “Love.” “Family.” “Culture.” Moua asserts: “No! The answer is money.”39 The employees respond with what they believe their culture truly values, which is connection and community. By the end of the episode, the team responds half-heartedly to Moua’s call to join his venture.40 Perhaps the subtle message
35 “Hmong Organization - Episode 01: Orientation,” video, Youtube, posted by May Lee-Yang, November 29, 2024, accessed January 13, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFEl3oGk6YA.
36 “Hmong Organization,” episode one.
37 “Hmong Organization,” episode one.
38 “Hmong Organization - Episode 2: For Love or Money, Part 1,” video, YouTube, posted by Lazyhmongwoman, November 29, 2024, accessed January 15, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNB23q-arxo.
39 “Hmong Organization,” episode two.
40 “Hmong Organization,” episode two.
of this storyline posits that the stereotypical greedy American corporate culture clashes with Hmong communal values. Although the dialogue is lighthearted, the fact that the theme of family enters Hmong entertainment demonstrates just how important community is in every aspect of life. From resettling to be closer to family, to creating their own family clans, to making TV shows referencing the importance of family, the Hmong proudly embraced interpersonal connection and relied on these support networks to find their place in America.
As Hmong families remained close together, they also retained their Hmong language despite raising their children in a primarily English-speaking country. According to a 2016 to 2020 study, 98.7 percent of Hmong Americans spoke Hmong at home.41 On one hand, it was remarkable that nearly all Hmong families continued to speak their native language when other diasporas’ members often lost that grasp over the course of a few generations. On the other hand, this statistic echoes the language struggles Hmong refugees faced. In an anonymous letter from a Hmong high school graduate to her teacher, she recalls arriving in the United States in 2004 without knowing English: “I don’t speak up in class because of the limited English I know.”42 As the eldest sibling, she needed to grasp English in order to help her younger siblings and serve as a translator for her parents.43 In addition to home problems, her parents could not find jobs due to their lack of English-speaking skills.44 Although her family’s already difficult transition to America was exacerbated by a language barrier that affected her education and home life, she persevered. She explains, “I have a dream, a goal, and a future to look forward to now.”45 She
41 Yang Sao Xiong, “Diversity and Complexity in Hmong American Identities and Communities,” Hmong Studies Journal 26, no. 1:14, accessed December 9, 2024, https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/xiong_hsj_26_1_.pdf.
42 Pang Yang and Mike H. Vang, eds., Dear My Teacher: Letters of Joy, Pain, and Triumph from Today's Teenage Hmong Students (Saint Paul, MN: Hmong Educational Resources Publisher, 2019), 37.
43 Yang and Vang, 37.
44 Yang and Vang, 37.
45 Yang and Vang, 38.
overcame the hurdle of language and found purpose in the resources America offers. Perhaps the reason that the Hmong language thrives multiple generations later is because speaking Hmong was not the problem, whereas not knowing English created an issue.
Still, the language struggles that this girl and many others faced beg the question: Why stick with a language that made adjusting to America so difficult? Why continue to speak Hmong at home when speaking fully in English would improve their ability to communicate with other Americans, find employment, and generally fit into American culture? Despite the astronomically high proportion of Hmong speakers, another Hmong American student’s letter reveals that his mother actively prevented teaching him/her the language, so he/she would not understand the family’s derisive comments toward his/her mother.46 Despite the close family ties within the Hmong community, some experienced difficult home lives, and in this case, his/her family led to an alienation from his/her own culture. However, looking at the broader picture, it seems that Hmong Americans continue to speak Hmong because their language is a source of cultural pride. In the Hmong Organization television show, a character reclaims his Hmong name, dismissing his Americanized name.47 In that moment, his confidence visibly blooms as he decides his Hmong name is a source of personal strength rather than shame. On a similar note, consider the importance of Hmong children’s books as cultural vessels to the next generation of Hmong Americans. Children’s books written and published by Hmong authors clearly and succinctly demonstrate the values and customs they wish to pass on to their children. The prevalence of bilingual picture books, such as Kuv Yog Hmoob: I Am Hmong and Tsev Neeg Uas Kuv Hlub: The Family That I Love, show that continuing the Hmong language is a priority. In Kuv Yog Hmoob: I Am Hmong, each page depicts an aspect of Hmong culture in the form of “I
46 Yang and Vang, 39.
47 “Hmong Organization,” video, episode one.
am …” affirmations.48 The first few pages say: “I have a Hmong name” and “I speak Hmong.”49 Considering the priority location of these affirmations as openers and the inherently bilingual aspect of the book, it is clear that the Hmong language serves as a unifying and identifying facet of Hmong life. In a different bilingual book, in which the simple plot revolves around introducing a girl’s family members, Tsev Neeg Uas Kuv Hlub: The Family That I Love also demonstrates how intricately intertwined family and language are to Hmong culture. Despite the language struggles Hmong refugees faced when arriving in America, they ultimately held a tight grip on their native language because it bound the community together, connected generations within families, and created a medium through which Hmong American children could continue to explore their culture. Rather than abandoning a source of discomfort during the refugee years, the Hmong once again stood firmly in the elements that make their culture uniquely theirs, refusing to slip into the English-speaking American whirlpool that effectively strips diaspora members of their ties to their native countries.
Unlike family ties and language, continuing traditional Hmong spiritual traditions proved to be a more complicated journey. Since Hmong families were dispersed during resettlement, many found it difficult to locate the resources and expertise to perform rituals of shamanism, animism, and ancestor veneration.50 Also, churches served as voluntary agencies that aided government-sponsored resettlement programs, and as a result, sponsor families introduced the Hmong to Christianity.51 While some voluntarily participated in church services to feel more American or express their gratitude toward their sponsors, others did so out of a sense of
48 Dr. Kha Yang Xiong, Kuv Yog Hmoob: I Am Hmong, illus. XLus (United States: Hmong Children's Books, 2024).
49 Xiong, 2-3.
50 Melissa Borja, “‘The New Way’: How American Refugee Policies Changed Hmong Religious Life,” Organization of American Historians, accessed April 13, 2025, https://www.oah.org/tah/november-5/the-new-way-how-americanrefugee-policies-changed-hmong-religious-life/#fn2.
51 Borja.
obligation or sheer force from their sponsors.52 Mai Vang Thao, for example, did not want to attend church, but she explains, “When we arrived in this country, the Americans took us to church, so we went.”53 However, some Hmong rediscovered their traditions later in their lives after converting to Christianity. Chong Cher Lor, a member of the Lauj family of Minnesota, recalls returning to Hmong religion despite practicing Christianity for some time: “I thought because I am a Hmong person, wherever I go or live, I must practice my Hmong traditional belief ... I realized that I need to feed the spirits of my parents … especially when the Hmong New Year Fest arrives.”54 He felt a calling to return to his spiritual roots, not only to connect with the family he lost but also to strengthen his cultural connection through religion. It seems that spirituality found Lor even after he seemingly lost touch with that part of his culture. His soul yearned for a connection to his home and his people. Without spirituality, he felt as if he had abandoned his parents, illustrating the intertwined nature of Hmong religion and family. While Christianity perhaps grounded the Hmong during the tumultuous transition to American life, Hmong spirituality tethered the Hmong to their past and allowed them to stay connected with their ancestors, which may explain why some reconnected with this aspect of their heritage.
Spirituality also became a necessary connection between the older and newer generations, from Laos to the diaspora. For Hmong American children, spirituality connects them to their ancestors, family, and themselves. In The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang, a touching autobiographical illustrated children’s book, the young Kalia narrates her coming-of-age story, focusing on her tight-knit relationship with her grandmother.55 She explains, “We know that my
52 Borja.
53 Borja.
54 Lor, The Lauj, 202.
55 Kao Kalia Yang and Khoa Le, The Most Beautiful Thing (Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, 2020).
grandma was born on the other side of the world, across a wide ocean.”56 Although her grandmother grew up in a starkly different environment, one of the ways she bonds with Kalia is through stories of spirits. While the jungle spirits, poj ntxoog, and evil spirits, phim nyu vais, resemble folk tales like America’s Sleepy Hollow or Mexico’s La Llorona, Kalia’s grandmother tells these stories because they excite the children and connect them to their own unique culture.57 The illustration on the page about the spirits depicts a tree with many branches, rooted under the rug upon which the family sits together.58 Thus, spirit tales taught children about their own Hmong roots, instilled pride in their heritage, and brought them together with their ancestors. At the conclusion of the book, Kalia finds peace with her appearance and imperfect smile because her grandmother taught her to love herself by asking if Kalia loved her smile, which she did.59 In the illustration, Kalia sees herself as an extension of her grandmother, or perhaps she sees herself through her grandmother’s caring eyes.60 In the silhouette of her late grandmother, Kalia stands in her traditional Hmong clothing, surrounded by a wave of flowers rooted in her grandmother’s shadow.61 Following the trees and flowers of the Laotian jungle, through the sounds of the mysterious poj ntxoog spirits, into her grandmother’s loving arms, Kalia has found herself: a Hmong girl with a beautiful smile and an even more beautiful heritage. In addition to the inherent cultural aspect of Hmong religion, their spirituality connected them back to the highlands and jungles of Laos as they created a new life in America.
In conjunction with spirituality, the Hmong New Year’s festival continues to be a hallmark of Hmong culture and in many ways bridged the gap between Laotian and American-
56 Yang and Le, 3.
57 Yang and Le, 19-20.
58 Yang and Le, 19-20.
59 Yang and Le, 29-32.
60 Yang and Le, 31-32.
61 Yang and Le, 31-32.
born Hmong. The Hmong New Year, whose activities revolve around spending time with family, honoring ancestral spirits, and courting potential partners in a ball-tossing ceremony, begins on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month.62 In Fresno, California, over 15,000 people attend the Hmong New Year celebration every year.63 The Hmong of the Twin Cities in Minnesota host two New Year’s festivals one fulfills the expectations of elder, more traditional members, and the other is more Americanized.64 In the former, the main performers don cultural gowns and military attire; in the latter, the “Hmong beauty queen” dresses in a ballgown with a Hmong “Prince Charming.”65 Creating two connected yet distinct events signifies the transition to a Hmong American way of life, while also displaying a powerful desire to continue traditions as they were originally celebrated. Thus, the Hmong found a way to embrace their holiday while presenting their traditions in pop culture terms that American-born Hmong children can understand more easily. As the New Year continues to bring together the Hmong community, they have found ways to adapt holiday traditions to fit available resources. For example, the ritual joss paper, used to create a shrine for the home’s spirit, was originally constructed of bamboo and adorned with sacrificed chicken feathers or droplets of blood.66 Nowadays, many purchase a commercial form of joss paper.67 By remaining firm in celebrating important holidays while also embracing flexibility in the execution of such traditions, the Hmong found a fine balance between retaining their identity as an independent group and creating space to feel American and indulge in American culture.
62 “Hmong.”
63 Yang, The Making, 85.
64 Lee, The Making, 353.
65 Lee, 353.
66 Hillmer, A People's, 30.
67 Hillmer, 30.
In another outward display of cultural pride, Hmong Americans preserved a connection to their traditional clothing. As seen in the Hmong-made doll (see fig. 1), some unique features of Hmong clothing include silver necklaces and bracelets, intricate sewing patterns, prominent headdress, and bright colors.68
Such outfits can also be seen in the office of the aforementioned television series, Hmong Organization. 70 After an awkward interaction between coworkers, where one corrects the other’s pronunciation of the Hmong words for “pen” versus “pencil,” the camera pans to a display of Hmong clothing (see fig. 2).71
Figure 2: The camera pans to an exhibit of Hmong traditional clothing in the center of Hmong Organization’s corporate office in episode one of the series.72
Proudly, if not awkwardly, showcased in a museum-like exhibit in the middle of their office, this frame captures that which is unsaid: although this fictitious Hmong-oriented nonprofit organization operates in many ways like a standard corporate American office complete with micromanager bosses and pompous coworkers this office is Hmong at heart. This carefully calculated and insightful camera moment begs the question: why does an office full of Hmong employees, who are generally proud of their culture and dedicating their careers to assisting the
70 “Hmong Organization,” video, episode one.
71 “Hmong Organization,” episode one.
72 “Hmong Organization,” episode one.
local Hmong community, need such an obvious reminder of their heritage constantly in their peripheral view? Perhaps the not-so-subtle message is that, although Hmong Americans now wear standard professional attire, their roots lie in the vibrant threads and intricate silver jewelry of their predecessors who fought and died for a war-torn country, who crossed the Mekong River to a meager life in refugee camps, who arrived in America knowing nobody and nothing about this new country, and who managed to build colorful lives complete with jobs, children, and community. In summary, the Hmong remember their traditional clothing not because it is pertinent to a professionally successful life in America, but because it reminds them of who they are and being proud of their culture is what allowed them to build a Hmong American identity in the first place.
As they pass the cultural torch to their children, clothing continues to be a crucial part of Hmong identity, connecting their past to their present and laying the foundation for a future of confident Hmong Americans who know their place in America is not contingent on discarding their unique, beautiful garments in favor of “normal” clothing. In the children’s book Kuv Yog Hmoob: I Am Hmong, the pages directly after the affirmations of Hmong language and name express, “I wear Hmong clothes” and “I wear a silver necklace.”73 The direct message to children emphasizes that because they are Hmong, they wear Hmong clothing, and because they wear Hmong clothing, they are Hmong (see fig. 3).
73 Xiong, Kuv Yog Hmoob, 3-4.
To contrast, the clothing-related message in Tsev Neeg Uas Kuv Hlub: The Family That I Love is more subtle as every single character is depicted in traditional Hmong clothing but without any direct acknowledgement of that fact.75 Although the bilingual book is catered towards the American (or Western) Hmong diaspora, the setting is fully Hmong. The exception is that the main character’s name is Skyla, a distinctly non-Hmong name.76 While her Americanized name hints at the potentially shifting and varying attitudes about which elements to preserve in Hmong culture, this particular book argues that clothing is central to the Hmong experience, no matter the surrounding environment. Recognizing the connection between Hmong parents and children through picture books, it is evident that clothing creates a sense of identity that the Hmong purposefully preserve and use to teach the next generation to be proud of their culture. If fashion
74 Xiong, 3-4.
75 Lor, Tsev Neeg
76 Lor.
serves as a statement, the Hmong boldly claim their Hmong heritage and tell the rest of America that their clothing and culture has a place to thrive.
Although the Hmong have, in many ways, found comfort and confidence in their traditions, some of their values, expectations, and ways of life seem to have altered to align with Western culture when observing from a panoramic lens. One significant shift revolves around the status and standards for Hmong women in their traditionally patriarchal hierarchy. Looking at the Hilltribe Doll, she stands alone, carrying a child on her back and holding two large baskets that she likely wove herself.77 Her role as a mother is front and center, and she seems to carry the burden of responsibility all on herself literally and figuratively.78 In Katie Xiong’s article about her relationship with her mother, she describes the underlying meaning of “nyab,” the term for daughter-in-law: “she’s not simply joining a new family; she’s expected to submerge her own identity into the needs and wants of her husband’s clan.”79 Based on her interpretation, Hmong women are subservient and lack full independence in their marriages. Furthermore, Xiong explains that the birthing of children (especially sons), maintaining the family’s honor, and tending to the needs of relatives decide a Hmong woman’s worth.80 As Hmong families entered America, such standards reasonably arrived with them. However, tension bubbled under the surface of the preexisting social order, and combined with the environment in the United States, cultural expectations began to transform.
As Hmong women strove to step out of the limiting role of housewife and seek professional success, there exists a unique perspective that the very patriarchy they tried to escape was the reason that they were able to make bold steps. Dr. Pao Lor discusses a “cultural
77 White Hmong Tribe, Hill Tribe
78 White Hmong Tribe.
79 Xiong, “From One Daughter.”
80 Xiong.
paralysis” stemming from a general aversion to failure in Hmong culture.81 He explains, “Any kind of failure results in a loss of face.”82 While this mentality limited Hmong men from pursuing various opportunities, women, in their inferior status, were more exempt from such paralysis.83 A Hmong proverb about women asserts, “She can bicker all she wants, no one will listen to her and she can not cause any one to lose face.”84 Hmong women’s thoughts, opinions, and actions were not valued or even acknowledged in the same way as men’s. Although Xiong mentioned that women must also maintain family honor, perhaps women felt less burden because, as mothers and housewives, their roles kept their impact contained in the home, whereas men represented the family in a more outward display of career, wealth, and social status.85 Because men experienced additional pressure to succeed for the sake of their family’s honor and reputation, they were less likely to take risks, presumably in the realms of profession and education, among other areas of life. Thus, there existed a loophole for Hmong women to act more boldly because the weight of potential failure was lifted from their shoulders. In Lor’s anthropological study of the changing roles of Hmong women in America, a female Hmong participant echoes the above statement and says, “Therefore, this is one reason why I feel that more Hmong women are not afraid to speak her mind and have really step out of their traditional passive, submissive, and obedient demeanor to face their challenges.”86 While the Hmong culture slowly created room for Hmong women to succeed independently of their traditional roles, it is important to note that, in a way, traditional patriarchal attitudes inadvertently limited
81 Pao Lor, PHD, “A Hmong Professional Woman’s Reflections and Perspectives on the Influences Affecting the Changing Roles of Hmong Women in America,” Journal of Cultural Diversity 20, no. 1 (2013): 44, ProQuest Central Student (1528471859; 23614179).
82 Lor, 44.
83 Lor, 43.
84 Lor, 43.
85 Xiong, “From One Daughter.”
86 Lor, “A Hmong,” 44.
their men and opened up a chance for women to step into the limelight in America. This cultural change, while catalyzed by the democratic and egalitarian environment in the United States, was and is not forced upon the Hmong. This shift emerged from within. Instead of seeing the United States as an earthquake that shattered Hmong culture and in rebuilding discarded the shard of patriarchy, America acted more as a fertilizer for the already planted seed of change nestled within the fabric of Hmong society.
As Hmong women began to pursue advanced careers, a similar cultural paralysis chased them, too. One woman explains, “Further, as a Hmong professional woman, I am held to a responsibility, to never bring shame to myself and/or my family. … I firmly believe, this is both a responsibility and a burden that may not exist if I was not Hmong.”
87 Before, women were able to bypass such pressure because they did not put themselves in a position to disparage their families through career failures. Now that they have reached this role, the same pressure plagues them. While the future is unknown, it will be interesting to see how Hmong women respond to the added burden and if this social stigma will eventually phase out over generations, or if it will hinder the pursuits of all rising Hmong professionals, men and women alike.
While there is evidence to support that gender-based expectations pivoted due to inertia already within Hmong culture, the American educational system also played a role in leveling the playing field. In line with their experience in Laos, many Hmong viewed education as a privilege reserved for the rich and powerful.88 In fact, of the Hmong refugees in America, 95 percent arrived without an education, and of the small percentage who did, most were boys because girls were taught to be housewives.89 Without knowledge of the financial assistance
87 Lor, 47.
88 Lor, 3.
89 Lue Vang and Judy Lewis, Grandmother's Path, Grandfather's Way Hmong Preservation Project (Zellerbach Family Fund, 1984).
available to low-income families in America, higher education simply did not seem to be within the realm of possibility.90 In addition, due to cultural pressure to bear children and take care of the home, Hmong girls were encouraged to leave school early and had a high school dropout rate of 75 to 95 percent, according to a source from 1986 during the early years of Hmong resettlement.91 Under such circumstances, it is difficult to imagine how Hmong women would be able to build independent lives and forge careers outside of the home bubble. Without education and community support, they faced an uphill battle. However, America’s school system requiring both boys and girls to attend school gave Hmong American girls the stepping stool to charting their own life path.92 In fact, a study found that Hmong American women deemed formal learning as the core of a prosperous future, which they self-defined as the general success of the Hmong people as well as individual freedom and financial independence in their relationships.93 American educational standards have actually forced the Hmong to make space for women to succeed beyond the home realm. Thus, Hmong gender roles had to shift over the years, yet perhaps this change did not affect the Hmong identity. The Hmong were not Hmong because boys went to school, and girls stayed at home. This status quo existed because of challenging circumstances in Laos that prevented many from receiving a degree. In America, an education for all means an inevitable advancement for all Hmong. Especially compared to the staggering rate of unschooled Hmong immigrants, a compulsory education, at least through
90 Lor, “A Hmong,” 3.
91 D. Olney, The Hmong in Transition (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Center for Migration Studies and Southeast Asian Refugee Project, University of Minnesota, 1986), 179-184; Office of Refugee Resettlement, The Hmong Resettlement Study, Site Report: Fresno, California, H.R. Rep. (1983); J. Thome, “Dropout Rate High for Hmong Girls,” Fresno Bee, November 11, 1990, B2.
92 Jennifer Anne Fendya, “Being a Hmong Woman in America: A Phenomenological Study of Female Hmong College Students,” abstract (PhD diss., California School of Professional Psychology - Fresno, 1995), 4, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I (304226949).
93 Fendya, vi.
elementary and middle school, has the potential to transform the Hmong American community in terms of professional success, civic engagement, and other facets of the American dream.
As Hmong women begin to excel professionally in America, May Lee-Yang’s life sheds light on the reality of this cultural transformation. She arrived in the United States at nine months old from a Thai refugee camp.94 Not one for household chores, she would order takeout for her siblings rather than cook and hired her brother to clean so that she could read.95 Because she neglected her “daughterly duties,” her parents were displeased, and she began to call herself a “lazy Hmong woman.”96 Nevertheless, she grew to become a highly awarded poet, actress, graduate student, screenwriter, director, and more.97 In fact, she is the creator of the show Hmong Organization!98 Thus, she carries her self-inflicted label of laziness with pride. Her professional success clearly displays she is anything but lazy. Conceivably she continues to boast the badge of laziness in outward defiance and perhaps playful contempt of the familial expectations placed upon her. As Hmong women like May Lee-Yang unapologetically advance their careers, they recognize and embrace the changing reality of their culture’s standards. This shift is certainly welcomed by Hmong women as they embrace a newfound sense of professional freedom to seek higher education and step outside of the home bubble.
As better education led to prosperous careers, attitudes toward certain professions realigned to encourage the younger generation. As Hmong Americans departed from the traditional farming of their predecessors, many sought more urban jobs, from teaching to art to
94 Kathy Berdan, “May Lee-Yang Is a Playwright, Author, Poet and Self-Proclaimed Lazy Hmong Woman,” Twin Cities Pioneer Press, last modified August 3, 2018, accessed January 15, 2025, https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/03/may-lee-yang-is-a-playwright-author-poet-and-self-proclaimed-lazyhmong-woman/.
95 Berdan.
96 Berdan.
97 Berdan.
98 Berdan.
business.99 Since parents play an important role in their children’s education and mindset about future plans, it is important to examine the changes happening within the home. Gary Yia Lee argues that Hmong parents must rely less on total submission and incorporate a more Western flair to their parenting style in order to connect with their American-raised children.100 He calls parents the “custodians of the Hmong culture,” as it is their role to ensure that future generations continue to represent and pass down Hmong values.101 While his recommendation broadly recommends parents to be more yielding, there is evidence to suggest that present-day Hmong adults encourage their children to explore all types of professions while remaining proud of their heritage an open-mindedness that reflects Lee’s advice. The last page of the children’s book Kuv Yog Hmoob: I Am Hmong depicts a child sleeping with his teddy bear (a Western touch) and dreaming of becoming an astronaut, scientist, doctor, or even teacher.102 The caption says, “I am proud to be Hmong”103 (see fig. 4).
99 Yang, The Making, 84-92.
100 Lee, “Cultural Identity,” 11.
101 Lee, 11.
102 Xiong, Kuv Yog Hmoob, 12.
103 Xiong, 12.
Figure 4: A Hmong child dreams of becoming an astronaut (space suit and spaceship in the center), scientist (beaker in the center), doctor (red cross in upper right corner), or teacher (apple in lower right corner).104
The resounding message relays that Hmong children can become anyone they want and be successful in any career. The important part is to stay true to themselves and remember where they came from every step of the way.
Beyond the change in status quo for women’s careers, the next generation of Hmong women are also fighting to break free from patriarchal marriages of the past. In Burlee Vang’s
104 Xiong, 12.
poem, “My Mother’s Daughter,” she decides not to accept second-class treatment from her future husband.105 Consider her observations: “I thought of how father never helped you, being the lazy frozen fish you slop against the sink to melt”; “You pretend to be father’s Hindu goddess, many hands and feet all busy after his sons while you keep your womb from spilling out.”106 Vang criticizes her mother’s acceptance of a demeaning, one-sided partnership. She rejects the expectation that a woman is simply meant to bear children and serve her husband. Recalling her aforementioned poem about feeling like fish on land in America, Vang continues the fish metaphor to express feeling discomfort, whether it be in the United States or in their own family. In both poems, the fish are out of place in America’s bustling urban landscape and in the vision of her future life as a cycle-breaking woman. While her mother chastised her for not wanting to do menial housework, Vang decides, “But now I will not wake these extra hands.”107 She would not be the perfect wife her mother expected, but she would prioritize herself and know she is not obligated to suffer for her husband. This shift indicated a larger cultural adjustment to the more egalitarian views in American society, a change which perhaps actually allowed the Hmong to flourish and progress in a modern world.
In addition to the trauma of witnessing an abusive marriage as a child, like Burlee Vang, some Hmong women struggled with their relationship with their mothers, who placed the weight of their own trauma on the shoulders of their daughters. For example, Katie Xiong feels a different kind of pressure as the oldest daughter: not the expectation of service, but rather the need to succeed to compensate for her mother’s lost potential due to moving to America.108 Even though her mother actively pursued an education in the United States to rebuild herself and find
105 Burlee Vang, “My Mother's Daughter,” Paj Ntaub Voice 10, no. 1 (2004): 7.
106 Vang, 7.
107 Vang, 7.
108 Xiong, “From One Daughter.”
purpose, Xiong feels responsible for succeeding on behalf of herself and her mother.109 In her own words, “As her daughter, I am haunted by the ghost of the woman my mother could have been.”110 Now that the shackles of female subservience have been loosened in America, the aftermath of the original damage spills over into the next generation. Instead of serving her inlaws, Xiong is expected to serve her mother on an even more subjective scale, without a clear definition of how much success is enough to honor her mother’s sacrifices. With multiple layers of generational trauma to overcome, the next generation of Hmong American women certainly do not face an easy path as they continue to break through lingering patriarchal expectations and overcome the weight of the tragedy their refugee ancestors faced.
Since entire cultures rarely transform in a linear, straight cut fashion, it would be naive to assume that the Hmong now fully embrace egalitarianism. In the 440 page collection of the Lauj family history, detailing the lives of 37 family members, the author does not highlight or focus on any one woman.
111 Without a single memoir of a female clan member, such an oversight cannot be a simple mistake. Published in 2024, this book, while describing the lives of firstgeneration Hmong refugees, was written in the context of today’s Hmong. Although not explicit, the absence of women’s stories constitutes a truth by omission: the wives and daughters of the Lauj men are peripheral. While Hmong women certainly became more tenacious in pursuing professional careers and pushed back against the notion of being subservient housewives, preexisting practices persist.
As the Hmong settled in America, they realized that they did not have to change who they were at heart to live happily and find their place in a new country. By retaining many
109 Xiong.
110 Xiong.
111 Lor, The Lauj, 183-373.
aspects of their culture, such as community values, family ties, ethnic language, spirituality, New Year celebrations, and traditional clothing, the Hmong remained steadfast in their culture even in the cacophony of the United States’ melting pot. While some views and practices evolved, namely the status and role of Hmong women, these changes seemed to have been already simmering under the surface within the Hmong. Furthermore, certain aspects of American living, such as the egalitarian education system, catalyzed the cultural shift. Even though some Hmong practices and values transformed to better fit a more modern and progressive world, these changes arguably did not challenge Hmong culture itself. They simply made it easier to be proudly, loudly, truly Hmong, every day. The Hmong arrived in America scared and alone, torn from their homes and sent to live in every corner of the United States. Despite the overwhelmingly difficult process of rebuilding their lives, the Hmong relied on each other to create support networks for themselves. By holding onto each other when all else had been lost, perhaps the Hmong grew even closer to their culture, identity, and values compared to when Hmong living had been a guarantee in the isolated Laotian highlands. When given the opportunity to recreate and redefine themselves in America, the Hmong decided to embrace their heritage and never let go. Although one can argue that the Hmong do not have a physical homeland, their community has become their homeland. The Hmong are each other’s connection to their ancestors and origins. Together, they have forged an American identity deeply rooted in Hmong tradition which allows them to live sincerely as both Hmong and Americans. To all refugees from every corner of the world, the Hmong American story serves as a testament to the strength of a group of people who knew they were not defined by the world’s opinion of them. May the world see Hmong Americans for who they truly are: a people of a rich culture who
deeply value one another, who have found meaning in their tumultuous history, and who strive to live authentically in each and every day.
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