Asian Americans in Wisconsin

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History

Throughout the nineteenth century, there was very little immigration by the Asian population into Wisconsin¹. United States immigration policies, spanning from 1882 to 1934, were used to ban Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Philippine populations from immigrating to this country². During World War II, over 100,000 Japanese American citizens were sent to internment camps, including Wisconsin's Camp McCoy³.

Immigration reform policy removed previously established restrictions based on national origin by giving preference to family reunification and political refugees with the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act⁴. In more recent times, the Asian population has increased with the immigration of Hmong refugees from Laos. About 100,000 Hmong fled to this country as political refugees from 1975 to the 1990s⁵. Thirty-eight percent of Asians in Wisconsin are Hmong ⁶.

Hmong people were recruited during the Vietnam War as guerilla soldiers⁷. They were United States allies in a fight against communist rule. Their fight against the North Vietnamese caused them to live directly in the conflict and in constant danger⁸. After the war ended, the Hmong population sought refuge in neighboring Thailand refugee camps because of persecution and imprisonment⁹. With the sponsorship of organizations, such as the U.S. Catholic Conference and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, the Hmong began to immigrate to the United States¹⁰. Many small towns in Wisconsin began Asian-refugee settlement programs, with the encouragement of religious leaders and the government¹¹.

Currently, Wisconsin has the third largest Hmong population in the U.S; Minnesota and California have the top two populations¹². The largest communities in Wisconsin are in La Crosse, Sheboygan, Green Bay, Wausau, and Milwaukee¹³. Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese, and ethnic Chinese are additional refugee populations found in Wisconsin¹⁴.

Health Facts

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Additional Information

Back to Minority Populations in Wisconsin

Citations:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-052/?action=more_essay
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/
http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/health/minorityhealth/ReportPDF/asians.pdf
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-052/?action=more_essay
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Atlantic Monthly, April 1994
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-052/?action=more_essay
http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR= 57429&REC=10

Additional Information About Asian Americans in Wisconsin:

More information on Asian American population estimates is available from an interactive data query system, Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health (WISH), on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services site.
A synopsis of health-related findings about Asian Americans in Wisconsin is provided by this excerpt from the Department's Wisconsin Minority Health Report, 2001-2005 (PDF, 23 KB). The full report is also available.
The State of Public School Integration project provides information on the racial and ethnic composition of Wisconsin public schools.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

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