Back to the Future: Huron’s Karen refugees recall SD’s settlement by ethnic communities

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One doesn’t need to live in South Dakota for very long to see the legacy left by the European immigrants who settled here. Especially in eastern South Dakota, many towns were first settled in the late 1880s by communities of immigrants, who often came to South Dakota en masse, or followed friends and family to an ethnic enclave.

This history is still evident today, perhaps most noticeably in the local festivals and traditions of our small towns, from Danish Days in Viborg to Czech Day in Tabor. My home of Armour is just to the south of the area of Dutch settlement that includes Corsica, Platte, New Holland, and Harrison. Much of north central South Dakota was settled by the Russian-Germans. And of course, many towns have strong communities of German or Scandinavian immigrants, the two most prevalent ethnicities to settle the state.

I mention this because, last week, reporter John Hult of South Dakota Searchlight published two excellent articles about one of the most under-reported South Dakota stories of the past two decades: the settlement of the Karen community in Huron. Here are links to the two articles: “Desperation and Renewal” and “Bridge Generation.”

A vendor uses a machine to extract sugarcane juice at a soccer tournament in Huron in July 2023. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

The Karen are an ethnic group from Myanmar in Southeast Asia and, due to a long civil war, they really have no home country to return to. Many spent years in refugees camps, and today millions of Karen have resettled in communities all over the world.

One of those Karen communities is in Huron, where the first immigrants arrived in 2006 to work at The Dakota Provisions turkey plant (which is owned by the Hutterites, another ethnic and religious group that settled in eastern South Dakota). I have been fascinated by this story for years, because today in 21st Century South Dakota we are witnessing a modern replay of what was so common in 19th Century South Dakota: the settlement of a community en masse by a new ethnic community.

I don’t want to repeat Hult’s excellent articles, but just to share a couple of facts: In 2006, the Huron School District had 1753 white students, only 12 Asian students, and 267 of other races (including Hispanic as well as African-American or Native American). In 2022, those numbers are White 1186, Asian 619, and Other 1112 (driven by a large increase in Hispanics, another aspect of Huron’s recent growth). The Karen community has been in Huron for long enough now that second-generation immigrants, who arrived with their parents as small children, have received higher education and are working in the Huron community today as areas such as healthcare, education, law enforcement, and business. The community has begun to hold Karen events and festivals that attract attendees from other Karen communities worldwide.

Hult offers much more detail in his articles and I would strongly encourage you to read them. Again, ere are links: “Desperation and Renewal” and “Bridge Generation.”