Asian Indians in Michigan

The Old Immigration, before 1968

The Old Immigration, before 1968 Asian Indians Come to America Although there have been a few Asian Indians in North America since colonial times, the significant influx of these immigrants began at the turn of the century with Sikhs who claimed Punjab as their homeland and entered the continent through Vancouver, Canada. They learned about the city from soldiers who had paraded for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887. Many of the soldiers who were serving in the British armed forces in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia passed through Vancouver on their way to and returning from the Jubilee.9 Their brief stay in Canada while in transit was pleasant, for they were welcomed and treated like celebrities. India's Punjab region has traditionally been, and still is, an area of high agricultural productivity. At the turn of the century, however, the region was experiencing economic problems. The population pressure on the land was high and increasing, the fertility ofthe soil was decreasing due to waterlogging and intensive cultivation, and debtwas increasing among landowners. Alternative employment was not available, and political unrest was fermenting. Past famines and plagues were fresh in the peoples' memories. Thus, when the glowing stories about life in 9 10 Arthur W. Helweg Canadaflowed back to the Punjab, there was already a contingent ready to take advantage of the opportunities in North America. Early Sikhs in Vancouver came from land-owning families of Punjab's Malwa, Ludhiana, Jullundur, andAmritsar regions. Though the stereotypical immigrant is poor, this certainly was not the case for the first Asian Indian immigrants to North America. The rich did not need to leave India, and the poor could not afford the passage. These first immigrants were of middle-class background, often borrowing money from their parents and families in order to make the trip. Emigration and service in the military have traditionally been a means for younger sons in India to obtain a livelihood, because landholdings would be too small to support the family if they were divided among all those eligible for inheritance. Thus, the younger sons of middle-class families usually emigrated. ASIAN INDIANS IN MICHIGAN 11 In response to hostility and violence in Vancouver,1O some drifted across the border to the Bellingham, Washington, area. Here they worked in the lumber industry but again faced mob violence and discrimination . As a result, they followed the railroads down to the regions around Stockton and Yuba City, California, to work in the rich farming regions of the Imperial, San Joaquin, and Sacramento valleys. There they initially did farm labor, but many soon bought land and settled in the region, developing prominent Asian communities in and around Stockton, Yuba City, and Sacramento.ll Opportunities in America were communicated back to Punjab, and other immigrants were sponsored.12 California was the state ofdestination for three-fourths of the Sikh immigrants to America. It was from that contingent that one Arjin Singh learned about America. In spite of his affluent background, he wanted to enter the land of "bread and honey." The vast majority of the Asian Indian population in America arrived after 1965. Of the 130,000 who immigrated between 1820 and 1976, only l7,000 arrived before 1965. During the nineteenth century only about seven hundred merchants, monks, and professional men from India entered the United States, most from North India. Of the 7,000 immigrants who arrived between 1904 and 1923, the vast majority were agricultural workers from Punjab. However, anti-Asian hostility and restrictive immigration legislation of the day, especially in 1917 and 1923, virtually halted Asian Indian immigration. Between 1920 and 1940, 3,000 Asian Indians entered the United States illegally through Mexico, while several thousand students and merchants entered legally. However, between 1911 and 1920, 1,500 returned to India, while another 3,000 left during the period between 1921 and 1930. Restrictive immigration laws, racial hostility, and the inability to bring wives to America resulted in a decline of the Asian Indian population to less than 1,500 in 1946. Between1947 and 1965, 6,000 entered as a result of the Luce-Celler Bill loosening immigration restrictions. The experience of the Asian Indians in America during the Old Immigration period (prior to 1968) had three themes: cultural survival, fighting for India's independence, and fighting for immigrants' rights in America. In California, there was a lot of anti-Asian sentiment, just as...