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You are viewing all collections in the South Asian American Digital Archive. Each collection is a grouping of items according to their subject matter. From this page you can either view the items in the Collection or read more information about the Collection.

Anti-Imperialist Writing

Description: A collection of writings published in the U.S., organized around the theme of anti-imperialism. These writings do not include materials from members affiliated with the Gadar Party or the India Home Rule League.

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Bellingham Riot

Description: On September 4, 1907, a mob of several hundred white men organized an attack on the home of the South Asian laborers in the local lumber mills. The South Asian workers, primarily Sikhs, were attacked, and corralled and eventually held in detainment at the city hall and in Bellingham Jail overnight. This collection traces the press coverage of the riot.

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Bhagat Singh Thind

Description: A collection of written materials and photographs of Dr. Bhagat Singh Thind (1892-1967). Born in Punjab, Thind migrated first to the Philippines, before arriving in Seattle, Washington in 1913. Thind worked at a lumbermill in Astoria, Oregon in an area known as "Hindoo Alley" for its population of South Asians, and eventually attended University of California, Berkeley and earned his Ph.D. During World War I, Thind enlisted in the U.S. Army, training at Camp Lewis, Washington; he was honorably discharged December 18, 1918. During this same period, he petitioned for U.S. citizenship, and was granted citizenship on December 9, 1918. Four days later, his U.S. citizenship was revoked. He continued to petition for citizenship over the next few years, until finally the issue reached the U.S. Supreme Court for a decision. On February 19, 1923, the Supreme Court rescinded his citizenship on the grounds that Thind was not "white," and disqualified "Hindus" from naturalization. In the years that followed, Thind wrote a series of books on metaphysics, including a trilogy titled Divine Wisdom. He lectured across the country on his philosophical and theological beliefs based in Sikh teachings. In 1936, he was finally granted American citizenship, and in 1940, he married Vivian Davies, with whom he had a son, David, and a daughter, Rosalind. In 1963, Thind visited India, where he and his wife were honored by Prime Ministur Nehru and President Radha Krishna. On September 15, 1967 he passed away in Los Angeles.

More information can be found at bhagatsinghthind.com

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Bhai Bhagwan Singh Gyanee

Description: Born in Punjab in 1884, Bhai Bhagwan Singh was an Indian revolutionary, who traveled extensively throughout Asia, South America and North America. In 1914, Singh arrived in San Francisco with Barkatullah, where he would become the president of the Ghadar Party. Singh was arrested during the Hindu-German Conspiracy trial of 1916, where he was held in custody for six months and eventually imprisoned at McNeill Island Federal Penitentiary in Washington state. Before he was to be released, Singh was slated for deportation, but in 1920, after a protracted legal battle, the deportation proceedings were dropped. In 1948, Singh returned to the Pacific Coast, where he published the Punjabi monthly Nav-Yug. He returned to India after independence, when he was invited by the Chief Minister of Punjab Partap Singh Kairon.

Most of the materials in this collection were donated to SAADA by S.P. Singh, grandson of Bhai Bhagwan Singh Gyanee.

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Dalip Singh Saund

Description: Dalip Singh Saund was the first Indian American member of the United States Congress. Born September 20, 1899 in Chhajulwadi, Punjab, Congressman Saund immigrated to the United States to study at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a PhD in mathematics in 1924. After graduation, he moved to Southern California's Imperial Valley, where he became a lettuce farmer. In the 1940s, he successfully campaigned to repeal laws that prevented Indian immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens, and was himself naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1949. He became increasingly active in Democratic Party politics and in 1956, he was elected a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 29th congressional district. An ardent supporter of civil rights, Saund was reelected twice to the House of Representatives, where he served until 1963, after suffering a debilitating stroke. To date, he is the only Sikh to have served in the U.S. Congress.

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