07-04-2025
Feel Good Friday: La Crosse Area Heritage Center opens the Hmong Story Cloth exhibition
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – April is Hmong Heritage Month in Wisconsin and a Hmong Story Cloth exhibit is now on display at the La Crosse Area Heritage Center. The exhibit features 19 cloths that are all unique to the Hmong culture. Public historian Yia Vue explains, 'Each one encapsulates a story of the Hmong experience, whether that is recording legends and folklore or everyday life in Hmong villages.'
Vue says the exhibit has been made at a perfect time, since this year is the 50th anniversary of the Secret War and many of these cloths were made during it. 'They originally were pieces of artwork, but now they act as historical documentation as they explore and express the struggles that Hmong people went through during the secret war.'
La Crosse County Historical Society Curator Amy Vach reached out for assistance to help put the exhibit together. She contacted Vue as well as UW La Crosse Professor Vincent Her after receiving many of cloths through donations. 'Hmong individuals are telling us their stories, their lived experiences, and sharing what they know. Rather than an outsider coming in and inferring what they think they know about the story cloths, but them sharing their own experiences and lived culture.'
Vue says it's important to tell American History with all the nuances that it deserves. 'Hmong American history is part of American history. The Secret War is part of American history. Yet it isn't told enough. It isn't educated enough to the mass populous.'
The exhibition will be open Thursdays through Sundays through June 29th. Wisconsin has recognized Hmong Heritage Month statewide every year since 2004. The Badger state is home to the country's third largest Hmong population.
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