April 4, 2024, 4:32 PM EDT / Updated April 5, 2024, 9:27 AM EDT
Wisconsin will now require K-12 public schools to teach Asian American and Hmong history, following a bill the state’s governor signed into law Thursday.
“The Hmong and Asian American communities are a critical part of our state’s history, culture, economy, and our future,” Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said in a news release. “It’s important that we celebrate our shared histories and honor the people who help make Wisconsin the state it is today.”
Wisconsin currently requires instruction of Black, Native American and Latino American history, the release said, and the new legislation cements Asian American history into the curriculum as well. Considering the state’s significant Hmong population, Hmong history was also added.
Evers signed the bill at an elementary school in Wausau, a Wisconsin town where Hmong residents make up 12% of the population and Asian American students comprise 29.7% of the school’s student body.
“It allows students who haven’t seen themselves in textbooks to feel safer and to be able to share their stories, and for there to be an understanding amongst students, teachers and administrators about the importance of Asian American stories in our history,” state Rep. Francesca Hong, who was among several lawmakers to introduce the bill in the Assembly, told NBC News in February.
Similar mandates have passed in Florida, New Jersey and Illinois. Asian Americans make up 3% of people in Wisconsin, but the populace has grown by 82% since 2000. Hmongs are the largest of the state’s Asian American groups, comprising 29%.
