American International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (AIJHSS)

The Hmong Americans are mountainous people from Southeast Asia and congregated in the Northern Laos for several generations. While in Laos, they lived within primitive means and are preliterate. It was not until the 1960s and their involvement in the Vietnam War that the visionary goals from strong leadership within the intercommunal structure secured the need for formal education. From the political tension and upheaval circumstances of the Vietnam War, racial pursuits were set to eliminate and execute the Hmong by communist reigns that seized the royal Laotian government. This persecution lead the startling refugee exodus, as many families dispersed into other countries for safety in 1975. Decades of resettlement after and now redefined as immigrants in the United States, this paper examines the experiential college successes of former Hmong refugees and the generations thereafter. A Research 1 university in the Midwest and a teaching university in Western United States were selected as sample sites. This study concludes that the Hmong people in the US have made significant strides in transforming a paradigm shift as being preliterate to a college-educated group within 40 years. This change is particularly striking for the Hmong women whom graduated college, as their rate is 1.2 percent higher than their male counterpart.