Time zone. We have run out of time. It has been an interesting to enough hours. Thank you so much are being a part of it. It is the centennial week of the u. S. Entering world war i. We think the museum for allowing us to be part of their busy week to tell you more about the history of our countrys role in the first world war. Thanks to our callers for adding your questions to it. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] if you missed any program today, all coverage will read air tomorrow night on cspan3 starting at 6 00 p. M. , and then again at 10 00 p. M. Eastern. Join us on American History tv next sunday at 10 a clock a. M. Eastern for a ceremony marking the americas entry into world war i. The United States world war i Centennial Commission is the host of the program for the National World war i museum and memorial in kansas city, missouri. All weekend long American History tv is joining our Comcast Cable partners to showcase the history of. Chico, california to learn more about the city ies on the current tour, go to cspan. Org citiestour. Up, it was hard because during the 1980s, as you know historically, a lot of folks did not know about the hmong people. People would ask me what nationality, what race i am. When i would tell them hmong, they would be a blank face. What is that . What country are you from . I would tell them thailand. They would say, oh, wait you are thai. No, not really but close. Having to explain that all the kid, it was a lot. It just made me feel like it was different because nobody knew about me. Wasdy knew what hmong because there is no hmongland. I felt ashamed of being hmong because i didnt want to have to explain and do a History Lesson every time i told somebody i was hmong. When people would say your name sounds like chinese or hawaiian, i would just go along with that. Yeah, sure, i am. That way i didnt have to do the whole History Lesson. I think that goes to the same with our generation not knowing a lot of our history. And the background. That is something they feel is somewhat of a burden, having to tell somebody every time to the hmong people are. When we know so clearly our parents, my dad, my brothers are americans to fight the vietnam war. How come nobody knows about us . We helped americans. Our uncles and aunts aunts only people died during this war, how come nobody knows about us . Thats when you realize we are truly a secret as it was called the secret war. The americans really did not know about us. Right now we are at the valene l. Smith museum of anthropology at California State University chico campus. We are one of the only museum of anthropology in the north state of california. We cater to a large public audience. The current exhibit is called hmong reflections stories of our own. It is a specific exhibit on the hmong population and her journey from Southeast Asia to the United States. It is an exhibit not just for the hmong but of the hmong, trying to understand their journey, their hardships, their challenges, but also their determination to create a new life in the United States. This is the first part of our exhibit. This is a put together section called hmong beginnings. This introduces the visitor to the idea of where the hmong came from, considering there is no hmongland. It is a more difficult history to tell and represent. In Traditional Museum approaches, you will often see a map explaining a group of people came from a particular area with a defined date in history. And our approach we work with different Hmong Community and explainiscuss their history to an audience that might not know that much information about the hmong. One of the first things that came out with the idea of folk tales and myths, legends that came about. One of the first things we wanted to emphasize in our exhibit is that the hmong have a specific story about the creation of the world. Thatow we have individuals talk about this and how the sun and moon were created. For example we have the son of a he pushes upally the sky and stretches out the earth to make it bigger. Than he makes a gold lamp that he calls the sun. In makes a silver lamp that he calls the moon. These stories help create a better context instead of just thinking about the hmong from a particular place. Another very important story, a folktale, is the story of the famous flood in which a couple get into a big drum as the massive flood occurs. They survived by staying within this drum. Has they emerge from the drum, they procreate and create a baby who will then who was then distributed across the land to create the different clans and people of the hmong. Finally, with the help of the National Exam that museum in beijing, we received a map that talks more about the origins hmong of the origins of the hmong from china. Many hmong think of themselves as coming from china. This is a very challenging history considering that the greater han chinese expansion south we start to see more and more hmong people being pushed from northern, central and finally in the Southern China. There were several conflicts, ethnic conflict between the chinese, the han considering their land was being taken from them and they were being greatly oppressed and marginalized. We have the meo rebellion and the tai ping rebellion where they were pitted against the han chinese. This, because of these conflicts in china, we start to see greater migration of the hmong from Southern China into areas such as laos and vietnam. An important thing to also understand about the history of the hmong people and their migrations to the United States is the influence of the secret war, specifically, as the history that led up to the secret war. Actually behind me is an image of the plane of jars, one of the many places that was bombed heavily during this particular time in history. This is around the vietnam war. Anticommunist conflict that took place greatly influenced the hmong people at this time. We can take a little bit more of a history, and learn more about the history of this specific situation starting with the french and have a set of colonies in the mid1800s in vietnam and laos. Laos again the protectorate or colony of the french. The french were actually accessing different resources, changing the dynamics in which people could own and use different land. We did see under French Colonial rule is certain amount of oppression and also extensive taxing on local farmers and people specifically, and in particular the hmong people. 1850s,around the leading up to the early 1900s. Seeactually we start to with world war ii, the start of world war ii in 1940, 31940 in 1945, we start to see the japanese start to come in and take over hearts of laos. Parts of laos. This creates a certain hmong side in which the hmong ethnic group took. Instead of siding with the japanese, they sided with the french in the royal laos government. They helped the king of laos actually to get out of the control of the japanese at that time. After world war ii, we have this 1954 ween i 45 ino 1940 five and 1954 for the french bow out of laos. This is an opportunity for the expanding Chinese Communist forces to come in and influence greatly what we start to see the influence on vietnam and eventually in laos. We have some important characters and individuals that participated in these different battles and skirmishes at this time. Its important to know why we call the hmong engagement in this particular fight against the communists the secret war. Why do we call it that. Earlierrts a little than john f. Kennedy. It starts with the dwight d. Actuallyr, who emphasized the problem in 1953 of the domino theory. Deemphasized if laos happened to fall to vietnam, to the communist of the northern the enemies, the potentially this could lead to the fall of myanmar, thailand, can eventually india. After this we start to see that eisenhower signs in 1954 the Southeast Asia treaty organization, and attempt to halt the communists expansion in the area of Southeast Asia. This is followed with john f. 1962 thiso signs in foreign assistance act, which is a way to watch the deployment of u. S. Troops to vietnam and to train allied forces. Prior to this, with the french vietnamfrom laos and and laos becoming an independent country in 1954, this kind of gives the opportunity for the expanding Viet Cong Communist forces to come in and expand even into laos. We start to see a very large communist group that starts to emerge in laos. An important thing to remember is that the what were the hmong doing at this time . First, i mentioned they were supporting the royal government against the japanese. Reproaching and laos and laos started to expand, the hmong for also anticommunist. They were fighting against the communists in laos, to protect their freedom protect their land. We start to see the emergence of a particular character, and important individual who actually created a force of about 3000 to 4000 hmong fighters, engaging in guerrilla warfare. He fought against the communists. Was trying tow expand his efforts in fighting against the communists. This is what happens in which john f. Kennedy, in a covert operation with the cia and specifically built layer bill layer, they find the general fighting is the communists. They decide to side with the general and give him military support. Dropping military weapons as well as rice into the area to support his forces. We start to see a force that started with only a few thousand people start to turn into tens of thousands of fighters against the communists. Over the course of this period from the 1960s to the early 1970s we start to see the expansion of the communists throughout laos and the eventual demise of hmong the guerrilla warriors fighting against them. We start to see tens of thousands of individuals dying. It is recorded at about 50,000 hmong civilians and fighters died at this time. That fathers who were fighting at this were fighting over the course of fighting had their sons actually take their place. Children froms of the ages of 11, 12, 13 and 14, and 15 fighting and the frontlines against the communists. Ms. Lo we did not come into United States until 1980. Making the decision was a big decision. My dad was not sure if this is what he wanted to do. That my older brother wanted to come in handy, head, we would eventually follow him. The first location was tulsa, oklahoma. Of all places, oklahoma is where he landed. When my dad decided to move here, chico, where is chico . My uncle had just gotten here to the United States from thailand. Roughly 1990. Probably two or three years before that. My dad came to visit him. He liked the town. He said we are moving to chico. Uncle lives there and we will go in with their. That is how we came here. To wisconsin and now to chico, california. The population is based on 2010 is over 4000. Maybe a little more now. That, are nearest other give orh the orville, take 2000 or 3000 there. It is growing. Area weook at the city are not even counting the outskirts of the county area. Mr. Nitzky this is a story cloth. It is actually a very important part of the hmong culture. Actually aided in their survival in the refugee camps. In the refugee camps they were given and allocated certain amount of food, but really do have any financial means to live off of. Many of the women and the refugee camps engaged in using their traditional techniques of textile creations textile making. In collaboration with thai and hmong clients living outside the camps they started to take some of the textiles given to them, the thread given to them, and they started creating story cloths. Starting toally occur in the refugee camps in thailand. In this particular story cloth, theyis a very large one, come in different sizes, shapes, and colors, they had to take different things. Not just people but animals on them. Folktales as well. In this particular story cloth we start to trace the journey of the hmong people. This is Southeast Asia specifically a mouse or they are engaging in different farming techniques, growing corn, rice cutting sugarcane. We also start to see the different types of livestock they had and took care of. Them start moving into the area where the communists start to expand in laos. They start to attack hmong people in laos itself. See thise start to migration and fleeing from laos and thailand, crossing the mekong river on bamboo rafts, as well as rubber inner tubes. Thailand they are situated in different refugee camps. Eventually making their way to bangkok to then migrate to foreign nations such as the United States. Left to other countries in the world such as australia am a france, germany and countries in south america. Give it was up to our parents they probably would never they just woke up and say lets go to america because he won a better opportunity. To know that, we are just like anybody else. We live here, we work hard. We want to be accepted. Just like any other group that comes to america for whatever reason. And to understand that even though we dont have hmongland, the other generations are born here. We doing to color self hmong americans. We are the neighbors and tha that we are their friends. Our staffties t traveled to chico, california twin about his history. You can learn about chico and its history at cspan. Org citiestour. You are watching American History tv, all weekend every weekend on cspan3. Investigative journalist and bestselling author Annie Jacobsen is the guest on book tvs in depth. The pentagon documents, it is clear it is moving humans in the military environment towards being comfortable with this idea of merging man and machine. She is known for her writings on war, weapons, security and government secrets, and will discuss her for recent books. Area 51, operation paperclip, depending on sprai the pentagons brain, and phenomena. Join a conversation with annie