The term immigration is used to refer to the movement of people between countries. The problem of immigration is almost as old as immigration itself. For American immigration history, it means that it coincides with the settlement of the country: the settlement of America was influenced more by the immigration processes rather than by the natural increase of the citizens.
The first cases of U.S. immigration date back to 1559 when the first American cities were founded by immigrants (Pensacola by the Spaniards, Fort Caroline by the French, etc.) In 1640 the population of colonies was 25,000. By 1854 the figures of annual immigration had reached 428,000 (Garis 1). The bad times of the war negatively influenced the immigration processes. Still, the American population was increased by a total of 38 million immigrants. New York and other metropolitan centers have become a modern Babel of tongues, the ethnic complexity of numerous American cities turned into an important feature of modern civilization (Ziegler 1).
According to Fairchild, the history of immigration in the United States can be divided into five periods:
The first of these includes the time between the first settlement of the North American colonies and the year 1783. This date is chosen for the end of this first period because […] ‘At that time the state was established, and any further additions to the population had little influence in changing its form or the language and customs of the people.’ The second period, from 1783 to 1830, may be called the period of ‘free immigration.’ It coincides with the beginning of our independent life and the beginning of immigration as a distinctly American national problem. It was a period of small immigration and may be designated as the period of free immigration because no attempt was made by any governmental agency to control the movement.
The action of the Federal Government is beginning to count the immigrants in 1820 is of great importance as marking the beginning of our immigration statistics. The third period begins in 1830 and ends in 1882. It may be called the period of ‘agitation and state regulation.’ The year 1830 is chosen rather arbitrarily as representing better than any other assignable date the appearance of a new sentiment toward immigration on the part of the American people. The fourth period, from 1882 to 1917, is marked by the passage of two important pieces of legislation and may be called the period of ‘federal control: individual selection.’ The final period, from 1917 to the present, maybe designated the period of ‘federal control: group selection and restriction (Fairchild 31-2).
During each of these periods, the United States immigration policy was differently adapted to the needs of the country. For a long time, the conditions under which immigrants could be admitted into the United States remained a rather debatable subject. Up to the present day, the problem of American immigration was considered as a strictly internal one with little or no attention paid to the impact that immigration policy had on foreign countries. After World War II, the principles of the immigration policy have undergone significant changes. The immigration problem has not been treated as a domestic problem since the United States became sensitive to world opinion (Garis 3).
The current paper is concerned with the problem of American immigration, focusing on Asian Indians’ role in it. Being rather short, the history of Asian Indian immigration in the USA has affected the overall situation in the United States’ population and continues to shape its general tendencies.
The most extensive studies on the problem under consideration are the ones by Bruce La Brack, Joan M. Jensen, Rabindra Ziegler, and Mark Juergensmeyer. Our research will also be based on the findings of Fairchild, Garis, Fenton, and other scientists dealing with this problem. Contemporary research is important for understanding the current situation with Asian Indians’ position in terms of the rest of the American population.
The history of Asian Indian immigration counts two waves. Though the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service informs about one Asian Indian immigrant in 1820 and a total of 660 immigrants during the whole nineteenth century (Fenton 1), the history of immigration is considered to begin from the turn of the twentieth century. The first wave of immigration started from this time and lasted up to the mid of the 1920s. The second wave began after 1965 and continues up to the present day. The two waves contrast sharply with each other.
During the first years of the twentieth century, about 7,000 Asian Indians immigrated to the United States. According to La Brack’s research (1980), more than three quarters came from northwest India, from Punjab mostly. Ninety percent of them were Sikhs. The immigrants worked as manual laborers first in Canada and then on the West Coast of the U.S. San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, and Mid West admitted educated professionals and businessmen from various parts of India, almost all Hindu and Muslim. Also, there were 125 students who came on temporary visas from 1908 to 1920 (67).
The Indians of rural California, mostly Sikhs of the Jat (farmer) caste, were involved in farming labor, “wintering in such towns as Yuba City and Stockton in northern California and El Centro in the extreme south, and working during the growing season in the fields of the Imperial, San Joaquin, and Sacramento valleys” (Fenton 3). The reason for their coming was to earn money to send it to their families in India and to return home after that. Some of them earned enough money and launched their small farms. Most of the immigrants who remained in the United States gained financial independence and success, but they were significantly fewer; the vast majority returned to India.
The thing is that according to the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Thind case of 1923, Indians were barred from U.S. citizenship for the reason they were nonwhite. Direct ownership of farms by Indians became more and more problematic because of the uncertainty about the legal rights of Indians. In 1908 Canada blocked all future Asian Indian immigration; in 1917, the United States made the same decision. The violation of the Asian Indians’ rights gradually became a common thing throughout America. For example, on the West Coast, the Asian Indians were excluded from private clubs; they were not allowed to visit restaurants and stay at hotels and were often prevented from purchasing residential property (Jensen 298).
At this time, two political institutions become important in terms of racial discrimination and cultural survival, namely, the Ghadar (Revolution) Party and the (Sikh) Khalsa Diwan Society. They were founded in 1914 and 1910, correspondingly. The aim of the Ghadar Party was to struggle for independence in India through “maintaining a sense of identity and personal integrity in the face of prejudice and uncertain legal status in America” (Juergensmeyer 177). At the beginning of its activity, the party succeeded in uniting Indians throughout the United States. After the outbreak of World War I, it was severely weakened because of the pressure from the U.S. government (Fenton 3). In 1915, the Khalsa Diwan Society had its place for worship in Stockton, California. The Society played a crucial role in retaining Asian Indians’ cultural and religious traditions under the circumstances of American oppression.
The 1920–1940s saw about 5,400 additional legal and illegal Asian Indians, but in general, the population decreased as 4,500 Indians returned to India (Fenton 5). Some returned to India because they earned enough money; others were inspired by independence movements in Indian and went to the country to participate in them. A lot of Indians returned to their native country because they found it extremely difficult to live in the States. By the early 1940s, the Indian population in America dropped to 2,400 (about 1,400 of them lived in California), and by 1946, the Indian American population had decreased to less than 1,500 persons (Fenton 5).
India’s gaining independence influenced the U.S. immigration policy. The United States needed to establish good relations with independent India; therefore, the government secured an annual immigration quota of 100 persons for Indian immigration. Though a small number of Indian immigrates were admitted during the following twenty years, this quota had a rather symbolic meaning for Indians in America: “brides could be obtained from India, families could be reconstituted, travel home to India was once again possible, and American land could be owned with a clear legal title.” In 1955, Dalip Singh Saund, a California Sikh, was even elected to the U.S. Congress (Fenton 6).
As was mentioned above, after World War II, American immigration changed significantly. The main reasons for transformation were the new ideology that the country followed. America was considered a leader of the “free world” responsible for treating all nations equally. Liberalized immigration regulations became a basis for the American immigration policy. The latter propagated open American attitudes to foreigners and tolerance for cultural pluralism and ethnic diversity. In terms of the Cold War, America’s corporation with Asian countries was important for restraining Soviet expansion. As a result of this policy, preferential admissions attracted educated immigrants from India. They played an important role in American economic development (Fenton 8). Indian immigrants were provided with education and financial resources. They could have options in living arrangements.
The changes in the immigration policy determined the increased number of Indian immigrates during the last several decades. In particular, the Law on Immigration (1965) liquidated a quota system that was based on a country principle and limited immigration from non-European countries. The law of 1986 concerning the reform and control of immigration policy promoted an increase in the share of natives of Asia in the population of the USA by the legalization of a large number of immigrants.
According to the 2000 Census, Asian Indians number 1.7 million in a national population of about 280 million. Most of these immigrants have arrived since 1970; about 57 percent of them have immigrated during 1990-99. The figure does not include thousands of Indian students who get their education in various colleges and universities (The Census 2000).
The current situation with the citizenship rate of Indians is that it counts about 36% because most of them have arrived during 1990-99 and need time to obtain citizenship. If compared to the citizenship rate for immigrants from other countries, from the Philippines, for instance, it is not that high (it is over 60% there), if compared to the rate for the Mexican immigrants, it is not that low (20%) (Pattnayak).
The Asian Indian community in the U.S. is a rather ethnically diverse one. There are different subgroups that originate from different regions or states within India. The Indian groups within the United States include Gujaratis, Bengalis, Punjabis, Marathis, and Tamils, to name a few. They differ in their origin, language, and traditions. Still, they strive to retain their culture in terms of the American environment. Though numerous segments of the American economy and social life have influenced the Asian Indian community, the immigrants preserve their traditional values, transmitting them through generations.
The occupational profile of Asian Indians is also characterized by diversity. Some of them are professionals in different spheres; some are employed as semi- or nonskilled workers; others own small businesses like travel agencies, Indian groceries, and garment stores. There are a lot of professionals in the group with a post-secondary education: doctors, engineers, computer specialists, college and university professors constitute a significant layer among the Asian Indian population of the USA. A high percentage of Asian Indians is engaged in managerial positions. About 50 percent of the motels in the U.S. are the property of Asian Indians. Asian Indians are known as industrious and professionally and educationally advanced. Due to their hard work and well-grounded ambitions, they are one of the wealthiest among American immigrants. Pattnayak’s research shows that “Asian Indians as a group earn about 80% more than the average of the native-born. The median family income in the U.S. in 2000 was about 47,000 dollars.” (Pattnyak) As for the rate of self-employment of Asian Indians, none of the other immigrant groups surpasses them in it.
Considering all this, one still cannot say that Asian Indians’ American dream came true, as the “glass ceiling” keeps on existing and prevents Asian Indians from getting the highest political, managerial, and executive positions. Despite their economic success, the Asian Indians are less important to the political life of the United States if compared to other groups of comparable size (for instance, the Koreans in Los Angeles and the Cubans in Miami). Mass media and television, in particular, cannot boast of many representatives of Asian Indians. In professional sport and entertainment, there are also very few figures of Asian Indian origin.
Still, one cannot underestimate the individual and group contributions of Asian Indians to various spheres of American life. Asian Indians occupy prestigious positions at universities and colleges all over the United States. Arjun Appadurai, Jagdish Bhagwati, Shyam Bhatiya, Pramod Chandra, Shanti Swarup Gupta, Jayadev Misra, Rustum Ray, Gayatri Chakravarti Spivak, Ramesh Tripathi are the brightest names that stand to represent the U.S. science and education. Culinary arts, film industry, music, journalism, literature are some of the numerous spheres where the Asian Indians succeeded. Natvar Bhavsar, Madhur Jaffrey, Ismail Merchant, Pranay Gupte, Dinesh D’Souza, Deepak Chopra, Dhan Gopal Mukerji, Zubin Mehta, Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta are just a few names among dozens of others that stand to represent the contributions of the Asian Indians into the American culture.
Thus, we conclude that Asian Indian immigration has its peculiar place in the overall process of American immigration. It can be divided into two periods which differ significantly from another. Both of them are important for working out the principles of the current American immigration policy. Asian Indians now occupy their own niche in the American population, contribute to the overall development of the country, adjusting to the realities of the American Society, and preserving their own values at the same time.
Works Cited
Bacon, J. Life Lines: Community, Family, and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Brack, La B.W. The Sikhs of Northern California: A Socio-Historical Study. Syracuse University, 1980.
Fairchild, H.P. Immigration. Macmillan, 1913.
Fenton, J.Y. Transplanting Religious Traditions: Asian Indians in America. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1988.
Garis, R.L. Immigration Restriction: A Study of the Opposition to and Regulation of Immigration into the United States. Macmillan, 1927.
Jensen, J.M. “East Indians.” Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Ed. Stephan Thernstrom. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Juergensmeyer, M. “The Ghadar Syndrome: Immigrant Sikhs and Nationalist Pride.” Sikh Studies: Comparative Perspectives on a Changing Tradition. Ed. Mark Juergensmeyer and N. Gerald Barrier. Berkeley, Calif.: Graduate Theological Union, 1979. 173-90.
Pattaya, S.R. “Ethnic Identity and Income Patterns Among Asian Indians in America.” Web.
Shepherd, G.W., and David Penna, eds. Racism and the Underclass: State Policy and Discrimination against Minorities. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.
“The Census 2000”. The Census Bureau’s Web Site. Web.
Ziegler, B.M., ed. Immigration: An American Dilemma. Boston: D. C. Heath, 1953.