Thailand, Laos Human Rights, Refugee Advocate, Author Honored By Hmong Across America
Dr. Hamilton-Merritt also spoke at the University of Wisconsin following her keynote remarks in Rhode Island. The Lao and Hmong community events helped launch the nation-wide commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the publication of her book Tragic Mountains regarding the persecution and forced repatriation of the Hmong and Laotian people.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Hmong New Year events and meetings were concluded in Rhode Island honoring distinguished author and human rights advocate Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt. Dr. Hamilton-Merritt also spoke at the University of Wisconsin following her keynote remarks in Rhode Island. The Lao and Hmong community events helped launch the nation-wide commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the publication of her book Tragic Mountains regarding the persecution and forced repatriation of the Hmong and Laotian people.
Providence, Rhode Island, Platteville, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. October 14, 2008 -
Hmong New Year events and meetings were concluded in Rhode Island and Wisconsin honoring distinguished author, journalist and human rights advocate Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt. The Lao and Hmong community events, meetings and festivities in Rhode Island and Wisconsin helped launch the nation-wide commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the publication of her book Tragic Mountains.
Hmong-American students in Wisconsin welcomed Dr. Hamilton-Merritt as a keynote speaker at a special conference organized at the University of Wisconsin following ceremonies in Rhode Island. http://www.tragicmountians.org
The University of Wisconsin Chancellors Office, School of Education, women's center and Campus Programming and Relations are sponsoring the Hamilton-Merritt’s presentation. According to a recent press release by the University of Wisconsin-Plateville: “For 25 years, Hamilton-Merritt did extensive research on the Hmong people of Laos.”
Dr. Hamilton-Merritt’s book Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, The Americans, and The Secret Wars for Laos 1942-1992 ( Indiana University Press ) was published to acclaim and selected as a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in History. It is now available in paperback. http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=21032
Indiana University Press stated in a recent press release: “In celebration of the 15th anniversary of its publication, Tragic Mountains, is a must. Jane Hamilton-Merritt recounts the story of the Hmong’s struggle for freedom and survival in Laos from 1942 through 1992.” http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/em/email_images/Tragic_Mts_PR.pdf
The Hmong New Year event, followed by meetings and festivities, was concluded by the Hmong United Association of Rhode Island. Its President, Mr. Toua Changcha Thao, helped kick-off the events along with New Year Chairman Chue Toua Yang and other community leaders.
Invited keynote speakers, participants, cosponsors include U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy ( D-RI ), the U.S. Congressman James Langevin ( D-RI ), U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse ( D-RI ), U.S. Senator Jack Reed ( D-RI ), Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Philip Smith, Executive Director, of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis and members of the Laotian and Hmong community.
An award was presented to Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt by the Hmong and Laotian community for her leadership role on behalf of human rights, refugee and humanitarian issues and to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the publication of Tragic Mountians. Hmong and Laotian dancers performed at the events.
Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt, journalist, photographer, war-correspondent, historian, human rights advocate, expert on Southeast Asia, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 and again in 2000 for her work on behalf of the Hmong tribal people of Laos.
In 1999, she was elected to the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame and inducted into the Explorer’s Club. She has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress on chemical-biological warfare, genocide, refugee issues, and human rights violations by Asian governments. During the early 1980s, she worked as an Expert Consultant on Highland Lao Refugees to the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.
As an expert on Southeast Asia, Dr. Hamilton-Merritt has lectured extensively in secondary schools and universities throughout the country on Asian peoples and their cultures and on the Vietnam War Era. At a Connecticut university, she created and taught a course on the Vietnam War Era for both undergraduates and graduates.
In 1969, she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Vietnam War. Dr. Hamilton-Merritt was the winner of the Inland Daily Press Associations Grand Prize Trophy for her frontline combat photography in Vietnam.
She is the author of six books and hundreds of articles. She has written for the Washington Post, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Dayton Daily News, Bangkok Post, Reader’s Digest, Saturday Review, Vietnam Magazine, VVA Veteran, Stars and Stripes, Freedom Review, American Spectator, and Asian Fortune. She has appeared on numerous television specials, including an hour feature on Japanese national television.
Other honors include her participation as a Yale-Mellon Visiting Faculty Fellow at Yale University.
Thousands of Hmong and Laotian-Americans attended the New Year events in Rhode Island which include cultural, artistic, sporting and civic activities.
Philip Smith, Executive Director for the Center for Public Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C. also received a leadership award from the Hmong and Laotian community for his human rights work on behalf of Laotian and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand and in Laos.
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