Through learning about the early settlement of Hmong communities in California and Central Valley, students will gain an understanding of highly populated locations/demographics and examples of civic engagement, economies, and cultural festivities of the Hmong communities.
This lesson is the continuation to Part I lesson that focuses on war and home. Part II focuses on how wars affect people’s relationships with homelands. Students will use the US’s Secret War in Laos as a case study to show how war disrupted Hmong people’s lives and homes and explore how displaced individuals and groups create home and belonging in the United States.
War displaces people from their homes and transforms communities all over the world. This lesson is the introduction of two lessons that focus on war and home. Students will learn about the historical context of Hmong involvement and experience during the US’s Secret War in Laos to explore how war affects people’s concept of home.
Students will learn about Hmong refugee experiences and the ongoing impacts on community formation, family relations, and individual identity formation in connection to mental health.
Students will learn about the different kinds of sponsorship and approaches to integrating Hmong refugees into various communities in the United States. Students will generate an inquiry to discuss the issues around religious sponsorships and its impact on Hmong religious beliefs.
Students will complete a flow map that outlines the process of Hmong becoming refugees, and their experiences towards becoming American citizens.
Students will learn the complex history of Hmong people as a ‘stateless’ people, having no geographical homeland to call their own. Students will explore how statelessness has affected Hmong people’s desire and search for sovereignty and homeland and dive into how being stateless has affected their conception of home-making, sense of belonging and community building.
After reading the story “Dia’s Story Cloth,” students will be able to describe how Dia’s life was affected or changed by the Secret War in Laos, locate Southeast Asia on a map, and explain why Hmong people moved to Southeast Asia and came to America.
Students will trace a Hmong individual’s recollection of her family's migration story to the United States from Laos and intersecting identities as a daughter, refugee, American, storyteller, and cultural historian. The complicated history of war and displacement is able to be seen and discussed with students using the powerful cultural artifacts of the Hmong story cloths.
Students will develop a deep understanding of life in the refugee camps by examining primary source documents, images, and interviews. Students will be able to identify how Hmong socially and economically created a camp culture of hope and resilience that allowed them to cope with the poor human conditions of the camp, the traumas of war, and separation through group discussions and share outs.
