The Hmong migration to Fresno: From Laos to California's Central Valley
Author(s):
Lieb, Emily Belinda
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
M.A.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : California State University, Fresno, 1996.
Pages:
93
Language:
English
Abstract:
The Central Valley of California has a history of drawing immigrants from around the world. Fresno is the most populous metropolitan area in the San Joaquin Valley, a major component of California's Central Valley. Initially Fresno was not a resettlement site for the Southeast Asian refugees who began flooding into the country in the late 1970s. However, a few Hmong came to Fresno in the late 1970s seeking land to farm and after these few came, thousands more. They came first by a process of secondary migration, and then, as the Hmong community developed, there was a shift to a chain migration. As a result, Fresno's Hmong community is the nation's largest concentration of Hmong outside Southeast Asia. This study examines the roots of the Hmong community in Fresno--when they came and where they came from.