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Introduction (From Remembering the Hmong)
"Knowing where you come from defines who you are and guides where you are going."
Doua H. Vu
In August 2002, the Fresno Bee (Fresno, California) published a SPECIAL REPORT on a tragic group of suicides among Hmong teens in Fresno County. The Hmong represented 3% of the region's population yet these suicides accounted for nearly 50% of the teen suicides for the area.
Through a meeting between Assemblywomen Sarah Reyes (California State Assembly) and Doua Vu, Fresno Unified School District came to the realization that there is a strong relationship between students' pride in their heritage and therefore their sense of self-worth to what is being taught or not taught in school about their cultural heritage. As a result Assemblywomen Sarah Reyes introduced AB78, signed into law by California Governor Gray Davis. This law, The Southeast Asian Education Legislation, encourages history and social science teachers to instruct all students in the contributions of the Southeast Asians during the United States Secret War in Laos.
Teacher Resources FUSD has created two teachers resources to assist teachers in California and beyond to understand and teach the history of the Hmong. The publication "Remembering the Hmong" is a teacher's resource guide for teaching the history of the Hmong and their role in the Vietnam War. This 48 page book written in collaboration by FUSD and California State University, Long Beach, Center for Language Minority Education and Research provides the classroom teacher with strong background information into the:
- Historical Overview of the Hmong
- Hmong Timeline
- The Vietnam Conflict
- The Secret War in Laos
- The Aftermath of the War
- From Refugees to Immigrants to Citizens
- The Hmong Culture
- plus an extensive bibliography.
This book is available through this website. Employees of FUSD may complete an Expenditure Transfer form. Organizations outside of FUSD may purchase using a Purchase Order or with a check.
Online Teacher's Resources (Free-Content)This website also serves as a portal to Teacher Resources and Lesson Plans. Once your purchase has been verified an activation key will be sent to you via email or attached to the book. We encourage you to register as an individual so that we can better support the needs of the individual teacher.
The content is arranged by grade level -- 4-6, 7-8, and 9-12, and also by the type of file. You can download an entire lesson plan or just a portion specific to your particular class room.
