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.
January 3, 1994 - MPR’s Karen Boothe reports on the struggles Southeast Asian elders and research from University of Minnesota Family Studies Professor Dan Detzner. His study looks at the changes in family type and where successes may lie in a bi-cultural environment.
January 7, 1994 - Pai Yang wrote a commentary for MPR about what happened when she left Minnesota and went to college at Harvard. Yang reflects on what it means to be Hmong.
March 3, 1994 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports on a group of Hmong parents demanding that Saint Paul School District address inadequate education of Asian students. Parents want district to provide Hmong interpreters, teachers, and parent representation.
August 2, 1994 - Nils Hasselmo, president of the University of Minnesota, discusses the differences between Swedes and Norwegians. Hasselmo states that a once tense relationship is now a much more fun rivalry.
August 24, 1994 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Yee Chang, Pioneer Press library researcher and Hmong Youth Cultural Awareness Project coordinator; and Pang Xiong, a project contributor, about a student written book titled "A Free People: Tracing Our Hmong Roots." Chang and Xiong describe the purpose of book is to better connect young Hmong students and their parents/grandparents through history of Hmong culture.
September 28, 1994 - Midday presents historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former special assistant to President John F. Kennedy, speaking at Macalester College on the polarization caused by an emphasis on multiculturalism.
September 28, 1994 - Local activist, scholar, and professor Mahmoud El-Kati shares his thoughts on topic of multiculturalism in the United States. El-Kati strongly disagrees with the view from academic Arthur Schlesinger Jr. that multiculturalism is damaging unity in U.S. society.
November 4, 1994 - MPR’s John Rabe talks with Esther Tomljanovich, Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and Kao Ly Ilean Her, the first female Hmong lawyer in state. Justice Tomljanovich and Her discuss the challenges of being a woman in law profession, and of unique needs of Hmong community regarding law.
December 9, 1994 - MPR’s Bob Potter interviews Bea Vue-Benson, the first Hmong female pastor in Minnesota. Vue-Benson talks about the challenges of being a woman public leader. She also speaks on Christianity in the Hmong community.
February 8, 1995 - MPR’s John Biewen reports on Hmong women breaking tradition by going to work, changing the family dynamic. The friction between traditional and new gender roles have led to divorce for some in Hmong community.