Home Is Where You Make It: Hmong Refugees In Georgia

Since Hmong refugees began entering the United States in 1975, most research, coming out of California and the Midwest, has concentrated on the high rates of unemployment and low rates of literacy that the group has experienced. By most accounts, the Hmong have not adapted as well to life in the United States as have other Asian groups. Other researchers have even suggested that the Hmong would become part of the permanent urban underclass. However, those Hmong who originally settled in metropolitan Atlanta and other places in the Southeast, even such seemingly unlikely places as Morganton, North Carolina, have thrived. This paper explores and evaluates the reasons for such differential adaptation, based on research with the Hmong in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. Findings include prevailing economic conditions, the strategies taken by local Hmong leadership, and a high rate of conversion to Christianity.