Folk Arts - The Indian Community: From India to the Pacific Northwest

by Prem Kumar

 

One of the earliest records of Indian Americans in the Northwest is Iqbal Singh Hundal, a student who graduated from the University of Washington in 1925 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.  Hundal's parents were among the Indians, mainly from the state of Panjab, who migrated to Vancouver, Canada at the beginning of the century.  These people had left their homes in India where they could not afford to pay high taxes imposed by the British government on their property.  Western Canada attracted them because there was work available and the wages were 15 times higher than those they could earn in British India.

 

The records kept by the Canadian immigration department show that the first group of Indians arrived in Vancouver in 1904.  By 1908, there were over 5000 Indians living in Vancouver and Victoria area.  The immigration policies at the time were purposely made restrictive to stop, or at least limit, the entry of Indians who were considered the “white man's burden” and a blot on the white way of life.  Nonetheless, their numbers continued to grow as migration was the only way to escape the tyranny of poverty and foreign rule at home.

 

Struggle for Survival

The men made the long trip from India alone.  To control growth, women were not generally allowed by the immigration authorities.  The men only found rough work in lumberyards, road construction, railway, and farms.  The lumber mill owners liked these migrant laborers because not only did they work for about half the wages paid to white workers but they were also hard working and reliable employees.  However, their limited knowledge of western culture and the English language made them the victims of social prejudice and racial discrimination.  Many of these men later crossed the border to Washington state and found work in lumber mills in the Bellingham area.

 

Violence in Bellingham

The growing number of migrant European workers in the Northwest brought new challenges for the Indian workers who were seen as “not really Americans." When some Mormon Evangelists tried to bring Indians to the Northwest, they were told by the American Consul that the Indians were "not fit for the American West."  General hostility and prejudice resulted in constant violence against the Indian workers in Bellingham.  The labor unions started a movement, Asian Exclusion League, to ban them from working in the lumberyards.  Consequently, many of these workers moved down to northern California and started to work on farms.

 

Getting Organized

In 1914, the Komagata Maru, a ship chartered by an Indian to transport 376 Indians to Vancouver, was forced by the Canadian government to return to Calcutta where many of the passengers were tried for sedition and hanged.  This event, followed by the massacre of thousands of innocent men, women and children in Amritsar, Panjab on April 13, 1919, prompted the South Asian community in North America to get organized.  Although there were a few British loyalists, most people supported the struggle for independence of India.  Many students at universities formed associations and succeeded in winning support for their cause.  The British government kept a close watch on such activities by hiring spies.  The most notable among them was William Hopkinson, who pressured the U.S. government to deport a large numbers of Indian students for allegedly planning a revolution to overthrow the British government in India.  Hopkinson was later assassinated by Mewa Singh in a Vancouver, B.C. court where he had gone to testify against an Indian.  The students were later prosecuted in India.

 

Racist Legislation and Immigration Policies

How successful were the British government’s efforts to heighten anti-Indian sentiment in the U.S.?  Considerably.  For example, on April 15, 1929, the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who was invited by the Indian community in Vancouver, was not allowed to enter the U.S. by immigration officials.  In the face of such a climate, the number of Indians remained limited in the Northwest.  The Immigration Regional Restriction Act of 1917 had already excluded Indians from legally immigrating to the U.S.  It was only after the end of World War II that the immigration restrictions on Asians were lifted.

 

Freedom Followed by Growth

Although India became a free country on August 15, 1947, which should have made immigration of Indians to the U.S. easier, the Indian Exclusion Act was repealed much later than the similar Chinese Exclusion Act.  The major growth in the Indian population in the Northwest occurred in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when Indian doctors and nurses were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. to fill the shortage of doctors created by the Vietnam War.  Many students who had completed their education at American universities also found employment with American companies.  Notably, The Boeing Company hired several engineers and technicians, followed by Lockheed Shipbuilding, Weyerhaeuser, and other major companies.  Most recently, Microsoft Corporation has employed a large number of programmers, analysts, and other personnel.

 

Indian Americans in the Northwest Today

The Indian American population in the Northwest is now estimated at over 10,000.  This includes people from the Indian subcontinent and the Indians of origin in the Fiji Islands, West Indies, and South Africa.  It is a vibrant community of individuals working in predominantly professional fields.  Many have opted to start their own business ventures in engineering, construction, and consulting with considerable success.  Although a relatively young community compared with other ethnic communities, Indian Americans have started to play an active role in the political and civic process.  In 1992, an Indian American was elected to become mayor of Burien, while another Indian American entered the race for the Washington State Legislature.

 

Social and Cultural Life

The India American community in the Northwest, as in other parts of the country, continues to preserve the cultural, spiritual, and artistic traditions of their heritage.  Several organizations work year-round to present the cultural life of various regions in India where the people came from.  A new cultural center is being planned to fulfill the social need of the community.  The number of businesses-restaurants, boutiques, food stores, and music and video stores-is steadily growing in proportion to the growing population in the area.

 

Indian American Youth

Indian American Youth have continued to prove the highest value placed on education by their parents by winning high honors and landing admission to the top rated universities around the country.  Several youngsters have won prestigious titles and positions as the SeaFair Queen, Miss Teen Washington, and SeaFair Ambassadors, to name a few.  Many young people are involved in community and civic affairs – making a significant contribution to the economic, social, and cultural prosperity of the United States of America.

 

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