Launching in December 2023, A Portrait of Grief and Courage documents the lives of Hmong refugees in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the 1980s and 1990s.

Forced to flee from their homes to escape The Secret War in Laos, many Hmong fled to Thailand as refugees, then to the U.S. The first Hmong families arrived in the US in 1975, and thousands soon followed.

Amid the challenges and triumphs of a new life, oral storytelling initially thrived,  providing cultural salvation, safety, and a sense of belonging for Hmong refugees.  However, over time, its role, value, and relevance diminished.

Now, in this unique collection of oral histories, documentary artist Sandra Shackelford— along with collaborator and interpreter May Lee Lor and translator and transcriber Ma Lee Lor— captures the storytellers, storytelling, folktales, and harrowing journeys of these early Hmong residents in Northeastern Wisconsin.  In 1991, when a woman  in a freezing apartment implored the author to “give me the words to tell my grief,” Shackelford listened.  Readers, too, will be moved by the stories in this haunting, yet hopeful, book.

A Portrait of Grief and Courage: Hmong Oral Histories and Folktales, by Sandra Shackelford, with translations by May Lee Lor and transcriptions by Ma Lee Lor, is now on sale. Click this link for purchase and pick up information.