Iowa History Month: When Southeast Asians came to Iowa
Iowa History Month: When Southeast Asians came to Iowa Matthew Walsh © State Historical Society of Iowa A Hmong refugee named Shoua Her embroidered this “story quilt” that depicts her daily life in Laos, her exile to a refugee camp during the Vietnam War, and her arrival in the United States. She settled in Oskaloosa in 1976. In 1975, Southeast Asians who allied with America against communism faced torture, starvation and murder. The Tai Dam, an ethnic minority, fled persecution in their homelands of Vietnam and Laos. From Thailand they sent a desperate letter asking U....