1999: This is Home | Hmong in Minnesota

Original broadcast date: March 8, 1999

The 150,000 Hmong people living in the United States by 1999 traveled thousands of difficult miles to get here.

Many settled in St. Paul, giving it the largest urban Hmong population in the world.

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In a four-part documentary in 1999, MPR News reporter Lynette Nyman explored the ways members of St. Paul's Hmong community wrestled with issues of culture and identity, with maintaining ties to the past and seeking to thrive in modern urban America.

Hmong in Minnesota

The year 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the Hmong people's arrival in Minnesota. At that time, the number of Hmong could be counted in the dozens.

Now the Twin Cities metro area is home to 64,000 Hmong people, making it the largest urban population of Hmong in the country. This story is one of many, culled from the MPR News radio archives, as we look back at the history of the Hmong people, both in Southeast Asia and Minnesota.