The Teaching Press

UW-Green Bay's student-managed publisher and press

Tag: Oral History

Experience Hmong Storytelling in its Original Tongue: An Interview with Ma Lee Lor

Oral storytelling serves as a connection to the past, present, and future while preserving history, culture, and traditions.

In Hmong culture, stories are classified as neej neeg, stories of the living, or dab neeg, stories of the dead. Neej neeg are stories that encapsulate life experiences; some are filled with grief, some serve to empower, some document spiritual or supernatural experiences, and many contain life lessons. Dab neeg are fairy tales, folktales, myths, and legends that highlight traditional beliefs, practices, and history. Both genres come together to preserve history by capturing the Hmong experience, past or present, and passing it on to future generations.

A Portrait of Grief and Courage: Hmong Oral Histories and Folktales is a collection of both neej neeg and dab neeg. It goes beyond oral storytelling and documents the stories of the earliest Hmong refugees in Northeastern Wisconsin. To celebrate Hmong Heritage Month, as well as the importance of oral storytelling, the Teaching Press conducted an interview with Ma Lee Lor, A Portrait of Grief and Courage’s transcriber and translator. Continue reading

Launched! A Portrait of Grief and Courage: Hmong Oral Histories and Folktales

One of the most moving events we could hope for was our December 2023 launch of Sandra Shackelford’s A Portrait of Grief and Courage: Hmong Oral Histories and Folktales, translated and transcribed by May Lee Lor and Ma Lee Lor, and with an introduction by Pao Lor.  Feel free to peruse our photo gallery here, or watch the YouTube video,

This historic collection of oral histories, folktales, and photographs is on sale now at Lion’s Mouth Bookstore (Green Bay), WordHaven BookHouse (Sheboygan). You can order a copy directly from the Teaching Press here. 

 

Who is Pa Lee?

Pa Lee was born in a village called Khang Kay. She got married and had two children in Longcheng, living under a cruel communist regime for 14 years. Pa Lee’s family feared retribution from the Viet Cong because her husband had worked with the U.S. military, so they decided it would be safer to live in the jungle, poor and hungry, but at least away from the Viet Cong. They lived this solitary life of fear and poverty for six years before Pa Lee’s husband was shot by the Viet Cong, so she chose to take their children to Thailand. It was a long and difficult journey, but they were successful. Pa Lee remarried, had a humble house, and survived on foraging, but they had to leave when Pa Lee’s second husband was killed by the Viet Cong. She now had three children to take care of as the family fled west, crossing treacherous rivers and being shot at by soldiers. Pa Lee and her children survived the jungle and the war; they made it to a refugee camp in Thailand, where they were finally taken care of and kept safe until the Viet Cong pressed in. When she resettled in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the 1980s-90s, her encounter with artist Sandra Shackelford changed both of their lives. 

Her story continues in A Portrait of Grief and Courage: Hmong Oral Histories and Folktales, documented and photographed by Sandra Shackelford, translated by May Lee Lor, transcribed by Ma Lee Lor.

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. 

 

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