ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES
Indian Americans
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Have Indian Americans found belonging in the United States?
Chapter objectives
- Learn about the history of Indian Americans from the late nineteenth century to the present.
- Understand how racial identity and religion have come to shape Indian American communities.
- Explore how, in the face of cultural prejudice and other forms of adversity, an immigrant community puts down roots in the US.
Indian Americans are among the fastest growing ethnic community in the US. In 1890, they first came as farmers, students, lumbermen, and political dissenters, facing acute cultural prejudice and racism. Their numbers remained very small until the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act initiated a significant wave of new immigrants that drastically shifted the community’s demographics. Today, Indian Americans have distinguished themselves in various professions, especially medicine, higher education, engineering, and computer sciences, and the tech industry, where they are disproportionately represented. Recently, they have also gained prominent visibility in political and public life. A majority of Indian Americans identify as Hindus, but Indian American diversity is expressed through a variety of festivals, places of worship, dance, art, and literature. This chapter explores the experiences and conditions that shape the religious and cultural lives of Indian Americans.
Modules in this chapter
History
Demographic Profile and Economic Life
Religious Life
Indian Culture
Politics, Public Life, and the Motherland
History
Demographic Profile and Economic Life
Religious Life
Indian Culture
Politics, Public Life, and the Motherland
Chapter Sources
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California Legislative Assembly. State Bill 403. (2023). Online:
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se%20these,for%20purposes%20of%20the%20FEHA.
