South Asian Immigrant

Colonialism (Britain)

1858

Britain formally took control of India

WP Railroad Construction

1910

South Asian migrants worked on railroad construction projects in western US

Balsara Case — Caucasian

1910

early legal case in which a South Asian immigrant argued he was Caucasian and therefore eligible for citizenship

granted Balsara citizenship

Mozumar Case —- Caucasian

1913

early legal case in which a South Asian immigrant argued he was Caucasian and therefore eligible for citizenship

granted Mozumar citizenship

Immigration (Asiastic Barred Zone Act)

1917

Major US immigration law that created a geographic “barred zone” covering most Asia and the Pacific

Rowlatt Act of India (marital law)

1919

British colonial law that allowed detention without trial for suspected political activists

Cable Act

1922

Married Women’s Citizenship Act

A US woman’s citizenship could be affected if she married a man classified as “aliens ineligible for citizenship”

US vs Bhagat Singh Thind

1923

Thind argue that Indians were Caucasian and therefore legally white

Supreme Court rejected this argument

many south asians who had previously had naturalized lost their citizenship after this ruling

Immigration Act

1924

banned immigration from most Asian countries

Asiatic Exclusion League saw them as threats of white labor

1910

Ghadar Party

1913

Most important South Asian revolutionary organization in diaspora

called for overthrow of British rule in India

Hindustani Welfare Reform Society

Community organization that supported South Asian immigrants socially and politically

Helped address everyday immigrant needs while also building community solidarity

Taraknath Das/Free Hindustan

1908

Tarkanath Das = South Asian activist and writer in North America

Free Hindustan = political newspaper promoting Indian independence

Alien Land Laws

1913 and 1920

Komagata Maru

1914

Ship carrying Indian migrants to Canada

Canadian authorities refused to let most passengers disembark because of racist immigration laws

Sikh Temples

Sikh gurdwaras = central institutions in South Asian immigrant life

Khalsa Diwans

Sikh religious community organizations that reinforced collective identity and support