Hmongstory Legacy partners with Fresno State to preserve history digitally

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Central Valley is home to over 60,000 Hmong residents, and as new generations continue to blossom, there's a new effort to keep stories of their history alive.

Fresno State is helping preserve and make public a collection of stories, photos, documents, and videos about the Hmong journey from Laos to the United States.

"All Hmong refugees who came to this country, the thing they want the most is to reaffirm that their history has dignity and they can trace it and teach it and they are not forgotten," explained Lar Yang, a founder of the Hmongstory Legacy Project.

For over three decades, Yang has collected over 30,000 photographs, over 100 in-person interviews, declassified historical documents, and more about Hmong history.

Recently, they partnered with Fresno State to create a digital repository where countless stories will be preserved and made accessible to the public.

"What we want collectively is for any future generations, whether that be 10 or 100. When they are ready to understand and connect with their identity or their history, everything we would have done would have been packaged for them," said Yang.

Bao Johri, vice president for information technology at Fresno State, says working on this project is personal and reminds her of the many stories her mother shared with her.

"My mom always tells the story of how my family escaped Laos to Thailand," said Johri.

"My uncle was in the secret war so when I look at the pictures and think of my mom's words of his journey, it brought back a lot of memories."

She believes it's important for stories that shape the history of the Hmong community to be accessible to anyone and is proud of the partnership making it happen.

The Fresno State Hmong Digital Repository is available now on the library website and more content will be added in the coming months.

"I hope that this work will expand beyond Fresno State because these stories are worth looking at, and these stories will uplift the next generations and community," said Bao.

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