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BIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY

Becky Marburger, PBS Wisconsin Education��EDITED BY�Kerri Lintl, Merrimac Community School, Merrimac, WI

Darcy Maxwell, Summit Environmental School, La Crosse, WI

Tanya Schmidt, Oshkosh Area School District, Oshkosh, WI��SPECIAL THANKS TO

Joe Bee Xiong Family

Kristen Christopherson, Eau Claire Area School District

Elizabeth Duellman, Eau Claire Area School District

Karen Jacobson, Chippewa Valley Museum

Gwen Kong, Madison Metropolitan School District

Karla Lien, Eau Claire Area School District

Briana Odegard, Eau Claire Area School District

Mike Peplinski, Eau Claire Area School District

Joel Raney, Chippewa Valley Technical College

Blia Schwahn, Eau Claire Area School District

Bradley Sommer, Eau Claire Area School District

Pua Song, Hmong American Peace Academy

Chia Vang, Madison Metropolitan School District

Long Vang, Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association

True Vue, Eau Claire Area School District

Thay Yang, Milwaukee PBS

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Introduction	4
Early Life	5
The Secret War	7
In the US	10
Serving the Community	13
Living Traditions	14
Conclusion	17
Map	19

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When Joe Bee Xiong (sh-ih-aw-ng) was very young, he probably wasn’t thinking about Wisconsin yet. He lived halfway across the world, and had other things to worry about, like helping his family gather firewood. And riding water buffalo!

There was no way Joe Bee could have known what was in store for him… how he would be forced to leave his home and find his way, through struggles and success, to become a leader in his community. �

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Joua (Joe) Bee Xiong (1961-2007). Photo courtesy of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

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Joe Bee Xiong was born in Laos, in Southeast Asia, in 1961. His parents named him Bee. Bee was the oldest of nine children in his family. He had seven younger brothers and one younger sister.

Bee’s family lived in a mountain village in Laos. Most �people in the village lived in homes made of bamboo, wood, and thatch. At that time, the homes did not have electricity or plumbing.

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Can you find the country where Joe Bee was born using this map? Modified from “Asia Location Map,” Wikimedia Commons.

thatch (n): straw, reeds, or palm leaves

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Everyone in the family worked. Boys often helped with gathering firewood. Girls helped cook and carried water �from streams. Children helped in the rice fields once they were old enough.��Water buffalo helped plow the rice fields. Bee was one of �the best water buffalo riders in the area. He sometimes �stood on the animal’s back as it plowed.

�Children played games like tub lub (too loo) and kab taub �(ka tao). Tub lub involved racing wooden tops on the �ground. Kab taub involved kicking a woven ball in the air.

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This man and his water buffalo are plowing a rice paddy. Image by Laurent Bélanger, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

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East of Laos, North Vietnam had been at war with South Vietnam since 1955. The United States and some Hmong (mawng) people in Laos supported the South.

The United States secretly trained some of the Hmong people to be soldiers and supplied them with weapons.

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General Vang Pao (left) poses with an American. Pao was the leader of the Hmong soldiers in Laos during the Vietnam War. Photo courtesy of the Chippewa Valley Museum.

Hmong (adj): of an ethnic group of people who live in southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar

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When Bee was only 12 years old, he became a soldier. He and other Hmong soldiers blocked supplies from being delivered to the North Vietnamese and rescued United States pilots whose planes had been shot down. When North Vietnam won the war in 1975, the Hmong fled to Thailand to avoid being taken prisoner or killed. Many hid in jungles while trying to reach safety. Some hid for years.��Bee and other soldiers led about 1,000 Hmong people nearly 150 miles through jungles and across mountains to Thailand. The Mekong (mey-kong) River divides Laos and Thailand. The Hmong snuck across by swimming or paying someone to take them by boat. Many drowned or were shot crossing. Bee and the other leaders crossed first, but were not allowed to return. The group had to find its own way to Thailand. Not all made it. Bee’s family did.

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The Xiongs became refugees in Thailand in 1978. The refugee camp had long buildings with many tiny rooms, but no electricity. Families stayed for different lengths of time. Some were there for many years. Bee’s family stayed in the camp for eight months. While in the camp, Bee learned some English, which he used to help his family come to the United States.

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refugee (n): someone who leaves their country, especially because of war or other threatening events

refugee camp (n): a temporary place people live after fleeing their home country

Joe Bee (right) in Thailand (1978). Photo �courtesy of the Xiong Family.

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Not all Hmong refugees came to the United States. Some went to Australia, France, or other countries. The Xiong family arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 17, 1979.

Bee and his family found adjusting to life in the United States to be challenging. Daily tasks like cooking meant learning to use electricity and running water. Knowing little English made communicating difficult. On top of that, some people did not understand why Hmong people were coming to the United States, and would sometimes tell them to go back to Laos or treat them in other hurtful ways.

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While in Philadelphia, Bee attended school and learned to read and �write in English, and he also met his future wife, Ta Moua (moo-ah). �Bee felt grateful to live in the United States, but Philadelphia did not feel like home. There was nowhere to grow food, or do things he enjoyed.��After speaking to a relative who lived in Eau Claire (oh klair), Wisconsin, Bee and his family decided to move there in August 1980. “I saw the �area as a place to fish, grow vegetables, and a place to hunt,” Bee said. �He felt he would be much happier there. In Eau Claire, Bee took high school classes and graduated in June 1982 when he was 21 years old. �He went on to earn college degrees in computer science and criminal justice, which he would use in his career.

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Ta Moua loves dancing, especially line dancing. This photo of her was taken in 2018. Photo credit: PBS Wisconsin Education.

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Bee and Ta got married and had two sons and six daughters. When a Hmong man marries and has children, he receives an elder name from his wife’s parents. Bee’s elder name was Joua (jh-oo-ah) Bee.

�He went by Joe Bee to make it easier for others �who spoke English.

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elder name (n): a name given to a Hmong man after he is married and has children

Joe Bee’s family (from left to right): Cara, Shua, Pa Gnia, Lar Zeng, Ta, Lar Kong, Pa Koua, Pama, and Gaoly. Photo courtesy of PBS Wisconsin Education.

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Joe Bee served as a police officer for the City of Eau Claire and became the first Hmong American police officer in Wisconsin. After he left that position, he became a social worker, and later worked for the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association to support the area’s Hmong community. Joe Bee also invested in homes and often rented them to Hmong Americans who could not find a place to live because of the same hostile treatment he and his family had experienced when they arrived in Philadelphia.

Hmong American (n): a Hmong person who relocated to the US from Southeast Asia

�social worker (n): someone whose job is to help other people handle life challenges and support their wellbeing

hostile (adj): mean or unwelcoming

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To give others a voice, Joe Bee ran for and served two terms on the Eau Claire City Council, beginning in 1996. That made him the first Hmong American elected to public office in Wisconsin. Joe Bee learned how the government worked and shared that knowledge with Hmong Americans.

He ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2004 and lost, but that did not stop him from advocating for the causes he cared about. He worked with others to end human rights abuse in Laos and Southeast Asia.�

Joe Bee Xiong served two terms on the Eau Claire City Council from 1996-2000. Photo courtesy of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

public office (n): a government job to which a person is appointed or elected

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Joe Bee learned to play the qeej (g-eng) in Laos and continued to play in Eau Claire. Over the years he had become a master qeej player, and he taught his sons how to play.

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Lar Zeng and Lar Kong, Joe Bee’s sons, playing children’s-sized qeej at the Hmong Music Festival (1994). Photo courtesy of the Chippewa Valley Museum.

qeej (n): a Hmong instrument made of reed pipes used in funerals and rituals to communicate with the spiritual world

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At school and community events, he played the qeej, jaw harp, and flutes, and often demonstrated games like tub lub and kab taub to help others learn about Hmong culture. Joe Bee and Ta wanted their children to know about their culture, too, so they taught them to speak Hmong, and to practice Shamanism, the traditional Hmong beliefs.

Joe Bee demonstrated how to play Hmong instruments, including the qeej he plays here. Photo courtesy of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

Shamanism (n): a belief system led by a shaman who communicates with the spiritual world to help heal and guide people

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On March 30, 2007, Joe Bee passed away while traveling back in Laos. His body was brought back to Eau Claire, where his family held a traditional three-day Hmong funeral to remember him.

In his journey from his mountain village in Laos, to finding a new home in Eau Claire, Joe Bee became a role model. He showed how to be a leader while leading refugees in Laos and when serving on the Eau Claire City Council, and helped members of his community in Eau Claire learn about each other's cultures.

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How might you help others in your community? How can you share about your own culture and learn about others?

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Joe Bee was a role model not only for his family but for others in his community and throughout Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of PBS Wisconsin Education.

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