Local Hmong youth recently celebrated their culture and heritage with a storytelling exhibition. It was on display at the Hmong American Peace Academy in Milwaukee.
The project was part of the National Geographic Society’s program called 2892 Miles To Go. The name is a reference to the 2,892 miles across the contiguous U.S. Those miles represent stories that have been misrepresented or omitted.
The 2892 Miles To Go program equips youth, educators and leaders with tools to collect stories that are often excluded from historical narratives. The goal is to create a better understanding of community histories and varied perspectives.
There are at least a dozen 2892 teams across the country. One of them is in Wisconsin and it focuses on amplifying Hmong stories.
E Her Vang, who co-leads the team, says Milwaukee high school students in the program decided to co-design a storytelling exhibition.
"Students wanted to focus on educating the K-12 Public School System on Hmong history and so that is the goal and topic that 2892 Wisconsin decided on," Her Vang says.
Milwaukee students recently debuted their project. It’s called Rooted Voices: Hmong Stories from the Heart of Milwaukee. It was recently put on display at the Hmong American Peace Academy, and in the future will live on the 2892 site.
The exhibition is primarily made up of interview recordings.
Supplemental materials included photos of Hmong community members, resources from Hmong organizations, and displays of traditional Hmong clothing and musical instruments.
The 2892 Milwaukee team created their project with the following goals in mind.
"One, students can feel proud about their identity and feel belonging in the classroom and the community. Two, is to bridge the intergenerational stories because there were waves of Hmong refugees coming to the U.S., and we also have our 1.5, 2, 3 generations now living in Milwaukee and so we wanna capture each generation’s perspective," Her Vang says. "And then the third one is to provide educational resources, curriculum, kind of like an archive of stories that educators can use in the classroom."
Her Vang helped facilitate how the team would execute their project.
But students did all the interviews.
They displayed exhibits in eight rooms at the Hmong American Peace Academy. Visitors were given passports to take them to rooms representing local Hmong businesses and organizations, Hmong arts and Hmong youth.
Student Pachai Vang was in a room that highlighted the Hmong American Women’s Association.
"What I highlighted is just how they’re an amazing business that is a support group for the Hmong community. And because we’re a minority, we often go unrecognized, I just wanted to bring recognition that if you’re struggling, if you feel like you don’t belong you can definitely reach out to HAWA," Vang says.
A few doors down, student Lydia Thao’s classroom highlighted a local Hmong filmmaker, Kou Thao.
She explains the significance of Hmong perspectives in film.
"It kind of like spreads awareness about how the Hmong culture is like and how us Hmong people decide to depict ourselves to the media. I know a lot of people they do watch Hmong movies to learn the language for example," she says. "And so I think that’s really cool because it is helping us put ourselves out there. And just like having our own niche and our own way of connecting with the western world."
E Her Vang says the project complements the mandate of Act 266. That bill, passed last year, directs all K-12 public schools in Wisconsin to teach about Hmong Americans and Asian Americans.
Students working on the 2892 Miles To Go project say it helped them engage with their Hmong community and heritage with pride. They say that’s especially important as the population ages, and younger generations seek deeper connections and understanding of their culture.
