When Minnesota was a new state, thousands of settlers arrived, many of them from Europe. But in recent decades, the state has attracted large numbers of Hmong and Somali refugees. There are also thousands of people from India, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Mexico and the People’s Republic of China living in Minnesota.
The state has become more racially diverse in the last 10 years, and demographers said that's especially true among children. About 83 percent of Minnesotans were white, non-Hispanic for the 2010 census, compared to 88 percent in 2000.
September 26, 2017 - MPR’s Nancy Yang reports that art and farming join forces when the Hmong American Farmers Association and a trio of Twin Cities artists add a new staple to the CSA produce box. The result is ArtCrop.
October 27, 2017 - MPR’s Tim Nelson takes a look at Dai Thao, a St. Paul city council member and a former Hmong refugee, who is running for mayor. Thao shares his personal history and political platform.
December 4, 2017 - On All Things Considered, Steven John interviews Sophia Vuelo, a lawyer of Hmong descent, on becoming a Minnesota judge. Vuelo discusses the need for diversity in the court system.
August 16, 2019 - In the early 2000s, Hmong Americans from Minneapolis and St. Paul flocked to Walnut Grove in southwestern Minnesota. The city is best known for its hero, Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote about life in the town. The Hmong immigrants were drawn to farmland, jobs at local factories, and the slower pace of life. That influx of newcomers helped keep Walnut Grove’s main drag alive. But a generation in, the Hmong Americans who came to the region are facing a challenge familiar to other rural Americans…How do you give young people a reason to stay?
October 21, 2019 - MPR’s Riham Feshir profiles Andrea Duarte-Alonso, who has been documenting the stories of immigrants and their children in southwest Minnesota.
May 14, 2021 - Kao Ly Ilean Her, a pioneering leader in Minnesota's Hmong community and the first Hmong person to serve on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, died Thursday at the age of 52. MPR’s Steven John interviews Dr. MayKao Hang, Her’s longtime friend. Hang says Her helped pave the way for young Hmong American women.
June 17, 2022 - MPR’s Hannah Yang reports on Sharing Our Roots, a nonprofit group that creating a support system for beginning and newly emerging farmers and BIPOC farmers. It also teaches regenerative agriculture techniques while also addressing food insecurity within southern Minnesota.
September 14, 2023 - MPR’s Jon Collins profiles Hmong immigrants who have put down roots on Dakota County farmland. The Hmong American Farmers Association closed on farmland just south of the Twin Cities in Dakota County in 2022. The more than 150 acres are home base for the organization and 20 families of Hmong farmers.