Wisconsin will now require Asian American history to be taught in schools

Wisconsin will now require K-12 public schools to teach Asian American and Hmong history, following a bill the state’s governor signed into law Thursday.

“The Hmong and Asian American communities are a critical part of our state’s history, culture, economy, and our future,” Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said in a news release. “It’s important that we celebrate our shared histories and honor the people who help make Wisconsin the state it is today.”

Wisconsin currently requires instruction of Black, Native American and Latino American history, the release said, and the new legislation cements Asian American history into the curriculum as well. Considering the state’s significant Hmong population, Hmong history was also added.

Evers signed the bill at an elementary school in Wausau, a Wisconsin town where Hmong residents make up 12% of the population and Asian American students comprise 29.7% of the school’s student body.

“It allows students who haven’t seen themselves in textbooks to feel safer and to be able to share their stories, and for there to be an understanding amongst students, teachers and administrators about the importance of Asian American stories in our history,” state Rep. Francesca Hong, who was among several lawmakers to introduce the bill in the Assembly, told NBC News in February.

Similar mandates have passed in Florida, New Jersey and Illinois. Asian Americans make up 3% of people in Wisconsin, but the populace has grown by 82% since 2000. Hmongs are the largest of the state’s Asian American groups, comprising 29%.

Hong said it’s been a decades-long push to get Asian and Hmong Americans recognition in the classroom, and similar bills had previously fallen flat. But with Asian American issues at the forefront after pandemic-related racism, she said everyone is finally paying attention.

“With me being the first and only Asian American legislator in the Legislature, I was able to leverage both the uptick of anti-Asian hate since the Covid pandemic, in addition to having my colleagues recognize how important, especially the Hmong and Lao community, have been to their districts and how powerful they are as a voting bloc,” Hong said.

A Wisconsin English teacher, Kabby Hong, said she confronts this dearth of knowledge in real time.

“Wisconsin is home to the third largest Hmong population in the country. And I wrote the word ‘Hmong’ on the board. I asked my students to write down anything you know about the word Hmong. And my students wrote nothing or ‘I have no idea,’” she said in February. “So 99% of my students knew nothing about Hmong people, about their culture, about their identity, about the fact that many of their teachers or counselors or fellow classmates are Hmong.”

Evers has signed other bills acknowledging the Hmong population in the state, including one that made May 14 Hmong-Lao Veterans Day in Wisconsin, the news release said.

“I’ve been proud to sign several key pieces of bipartisan legislation into law to recognize the contributions Hmong and Asian American folks have made to our state and our country, and this bill builds upon those efforts, ensuring the histories and stories of Hmong and Asian American communities are part of state curriculum for future generations,” Evers said.