Becoming a Refugee (1975-1992)

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Becoming a Refugee (1975-1992)

Vietnamese refugees going through Bangkok airport in 1977 from Rich Kocher Collection.

Author: Phuoc Duong
Grades: 11-12

Suggested Amount of Time: 90-100 Minutes
Area of Study: Hmong Refugee Experiences 

Compelling Question

  • How do Hmong communities experience displacement, refugee camps, and resettlement?

Lesson Questions
  • What are Hmong Refugee experiences?
  • How are people who are Hmong from Laos processed and prepared for migration to the United States?
Lesson Objective

Students will complete a flow map that outlines the process of Hmong becoming refugees, and their experiences towards becoming American citizens.

Lesson Background

In this lesson, we will cover The Hmong Refugee Experience from 1975–1992. The Hmong cultural group is a growing population here in the United States with the highest concentration in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The Hmong cultural group arrived in the United States mainly because their population was impacted by the war in Indochina. Following the end of the war, thousands of Hmong individuals and their families had to leave their home in Laos, Vietnam, amongst other countries due to fear of violence and political repercussions. Upon leaving their homeland, many Hmong individuals became refugees, a social-political status that deemed one to be seeking refuge in a foreign land due to warfare. Hmong refugees were provided temporary shelter across a number of refugee camps located throughout Southeast Asia. As refugees, the Hmong population experienced hardships and struggles. Throughout this lesson, we will focus on the migratory journey of Hmong refugees and their path towards becoming American citizens. Teachers can utilize the following resource to provide context of the Vietnam War prior to beginning this lesson: 

UNDERCOVER ARMIES: CIA and Surrogate Warfare in Laos 1961-1973 - Collection of newspaper clippings about the Secret War in Laos from Mac Thompson Collection Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University. It is a report by the US Intelligence community about the Secret War in Laos released on Feb 19, 2009. (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/pgl1xbuvw0vkx34ii6ufeyphk8v3ji9l - focus on Chapter 2, pages 29–39).

This lesson contains content that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether the resources are suitable for their class and provide a content warning to their students at the beginning of the lesson.

Image Citation: Kocher, K. (1977). [Photograph Vietnamese refugees going through Bangkok airport in 1977]. Rich Kocher Collection / Hmongstory 40 Collection / Hmongstory Legacy, Fresno, CA.

Historical Thinking Skill

This lesson will facilitate student proficiency in evidence, one of Seixas’ historical thinking skills (Seixas & Morton, 2013). To encourage students to observe closely and make inferences. Students consider how inferences made from a source can never stand alone. They should always be corroborated-checked against other sources (primary or secondary); in this case government archives and documents. 

Supplies 
  • Access to laptop device
  • Map of Southeast Asia
Readings
  • UNDERCOVER ARMIES: CIA and Surrogate Warfare in Laos 1961-1973
  • “Point System for Refugee” document
  • You’re On Your Way handbook
  • Fearing Pathet Lao Rule, Meo article
Video
  • Laos: The Not So Secret War on Internet Archive
  1. Lesson Opener
    • Ask students to think about the farthest place they have traveled to. Have them share that experience with a partner, including details such as mode of transportation, time spent traveling, challenges, etc. 
      • Solicit student responses to the class
      • Transition students by introducing the lesson objectives and lesson background.

 

  1. Building Background
    • Teachers should display a map to the class of Southeast Asia. As a class, identify the following regions and countries: Vietnam and Laos.  
      • Pose the following question to students: Where would the Hmong people (living in Laos) who were impacted by the Vietnam War go to escape from warfare? 
      • Have students share their thoughts with the class. 

 

  1.  Interaction with the first source
    • Students will learn about the ‘Secret War’ that took place in Laos (1959-1975). The teacher will show students a film about this topic: Laos: The Not So Secret War https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.657070 (25:04 minutes).
    • As students watch, advise them to jot notes down of important dates and timeline of events, as well as details of each event. 
    • Once the clip is done, have students pair-share with a student on the notes that they wrote down. If a student is missing a key detail, encourage them to add that to their own notes too. 

 

  1.  Interaction with the second source
    • Show to students the ‘Point System’ charted in the following resource: Internationalization Policy–Point System for Refugees with Bi-links or Poly-links to Third Countries (March 31, 1979) available in Mac Thompson Collection / Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia / Hmongstory Legacy (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/0a3z1yd1r7dl9ijg85egwerof1xdhk8h). 
      • Additional context: This is how the United States decided which group of people will be prioritized to be admitted into the US.
      • Analyze this source together as a class.
    • Then prompt students to consider: What criteria did the United States use to admit people?

 

  1.  Interaction with the third source
    • Resource: You’re On Your Way handbook (Produced by The Ford Foundation 1981, "You're On Your Way" was an orientation booklet resource that introduced and helped navigate some of the challenges in their new lives in America and the support systems provided by their Sponsors. Most sponsors were American faith based families and churches which provided a communal support system.) https://ucdavis.box.com/s/i1vhyqd47fi83w2r84tayywef4m3h3lh  
      • Have students choose a subsection from any part of the booklet. This would work best if students are encouraged to choose a subsection that is not already chosen by other students. Teachers can also assign groups of students particular subsections. 
      • Each student is responsible for reading about their subsection with the following guiding question in mind: What are Hmong Refugee experiences? How are people who are Hmong from Laos processed and prepared for migration to the United States? How did the United States support Hmong refugees?
      • Once each student is done with reading their part, conduct a Give One/Get One activity.
        1. Students will link up with a peer who read a different section than theirs. Each student will take turns sharing about their reading, and responses to the questions. Repeat this process until students have met with at least 4 different peers. It might be helpful for students to take note of their reading and discussions.

 

  1.  (OPTIONAL) The following source “Fearing Pathet Lao Rule, Meo” reveals the fears of the Hmong community (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/bp8gmu96z96a1zka1jm7bxwayptza0kg). If time permits, students can read this for additional depth of information and understanding. 

 

  1.  Cultural Production:
    • Students will summarize their understanding of the Hmong refugee experience and process by creating a flow chart. 
      • The flow chart can be produced digitally or by hand. 
      • The flow chart should have a minimum of five sections with the following suggested criteria:
        • Historical events outlined (i.e: The Secret War)
        • Flow of events to process Hmong refugees, including details, dates, peoples/countries involved.
    • The final product can be open to a written, visual, or audio narrative.
    • If time permits, allow students to share their flow chart or narrative with others.

Students will summarize their understanding of the Hmong refugee experience and process by creating a flow chart. The final product can be open to a written, visual, or audio narrative.

  • Engagement: Consider the following method to support with lesson engagement:
    • Provide prompts that guide learners in when and how to ask peers and/or teachers for help
    • Invite personal response, evaluation and self-reflection to content and activities

 

  • Representation: Consider the following method to support with multiple means of representation:
    • Give explicit prompts for each step in a sequential process
    • Provide templates, graphic organizers, concept maps to support note-taking

 

  • Action and Expression: Consider the following method to support in presenting their learning in multiple ways:
    • Use of assessment checklists, scoring rubrics, and multiple examples of annotated student work/performance examples

 

For additional ideas to support your students, check out the UDL Guidelines at CAST (2018)  http://udlguidelines.cast.org.

  • Emerging: Consider the following method to support with emerging students:
    • Writing: Provide sentence frames with word and picture banks 
      • In response to a prompt, the teacher offers a sentence frame orally and/or in writing to support expression of student thinking. Frames are adjusted based upon specific grammatical structure, key vocabulary, content learning, and language proficiency level descriptors, etc. Frames are a temporary scaffold that require modification.

 

  • Expanding: Consider the following method to support with expanding students:
    • Writing: Provide writing frames
      • When posing a question for discussion and writing, the teacher offers a coordinated response frame to support the use of particular grammatical structures and vocabulary.

 

  • Bridging: Consider the following method to support with bridging students:
    • Writing: Require academic writing and the use of target academic vocabulary 
      • Apply domain­-specific vocabulary and general Academic vocabulary in open sentence frames to perform functions, like describing or explaining, that target specific grammatical structures.

 

For additional guidance around scaffolding for multilingual learners, please consult the following resources:

  1. Use the following source to discuss the issue of the deportation of Hmong back to Laos and the violation of international customary law “refugees and people awaiting asylum applications should not be returned to their countries of origin except on a strictly voluntary basis.” 

 

  1. Have students read and analyze the issues of ‘forced’ vs ‘voluntary’ repatriation from the following source.

 

  1. Students can read and learn more about Hmong refugee experiences by analyzing photos from the following source:

Ahern Jr., T. L. 2006. Undercover armies: CIA and surrogate warfare in Laos, 1961-1973. Center for the Study of Intelligence. George Washington University / The National Security Archive. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB284/6-UNDERCOVER_ARMIES.pdf

Britt, K. 2020c, May 11. English learner toolkit of strategies. California County Superintendents.  https://cacountysupts.org/english-learner-toolkit-of-strategies/

CAST. 2018. The UDL guidelines. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

National Archives and Record Administration. 1970. Laos: The not so Secret War. Internet Archive.  https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.657070

San Diego County Office of Education. (n.d.). Providing appropriate scaffolding.  https://www.sdcoe.net/educators/multilingual-education-and-global-achievement/oracy-toolkit/providing-appropriate-scaffolding#scaffolding

Sexias, P. & Morton, T. 2013. The big six: Historical thinking concepts. Nelson Education.

Tulare County Office of Education. (n.d.). Strategies for ELD. https://commoncore.tcoe.org/Content/Public/doc/Alpha-CollectionofELDStrategies.pdf 

Unknown. 1979, March 31. Internationalization policy–Point system for refugees with bi-links or poly-links to third countries. Mac Thompson Collection / Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia / Hmongstory Legacy.  https://ucdavis.box.com/s/0a3z1yd1r7dl9ijg85egwerof1xdhk8h  

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (1991). Repatriation and reintegration: Can Hmong refugees begin to look homeward. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries. https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb0b69n6nq;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=ch01&toc.depth=1&toc.id=ch01&brand=oac4 

World Education, Inc. 1980, May 1. You are on your way [Refugee handbook]. V. Earle (Ed.). Ford Foundation Office for Southeast Asia. Bangkok, Thailand. https://ucdavis.box.com/s/i1vhyqd47fi83w2r84tayywef4m3h3lh 

Supplementary Sources

Beery, G. 2015, November 14. Galen Beery Legacy Exhibit [Photographs]. Galen Beery Legacy Collection, California State University, Fresno, Hmongstory 40 / Hmongstory Legacy, Fresno, CA.  https://omeka.library.fresnostate.edu/s/beery-legacy-exhibit/page/home 

Edwards, A. 2009, December 29. UNHCR seeking access to returned Lao Hmong. UNHCR US.  https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/unhcr-seeking-access-returned-lao-hmong 

Palling, B. 1975, August 9. Fearing Pathet Lao Rule, Meo. Washington Post. Mac Thompson Collection / Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia / Hmongstory Legacy.  https://ucdavis.box.com/s/bp8gmu96z96a1zka1jm7bxwayptza0kg 

Model Curriculum

Hmong History and Cultural Studies

Standard(s)

HSS 11.9.3 RI.11-12.7 W.11-12.3

Grade(s)

Grade 11 Grade 12