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 Although
a vast majority of the 1.2 million Indian Americans in the
United States arrived after 1965, the history of Indians in
this country goes back much further. A brief glimpse of the
history of Indian immigrants in the U.S. reveals a distinct
experience from many other immigrant groups.
Early
Immigration
Very few Indians came to the U.S. prior to 1906 since the
prevailing Hindu socio-religious traditions deemed crossing
of the "black water" to the West as extremely inauspicious.
As a result, many of the early arrivals from India were
young Christian men who were brought as indentured servants
or slaves via England. As trade developed with India, some
Indians also arrived in the US as sailors on merchant ships.
Such was the case of the first recorded arrival of an
unnamed "man from Madras" in the streets of Salem,
Massachussetts in 1790.
Between 1820 and 1898, only 523 Indians immigrated to
North America, mostly unskilled laborers and agricultural
workers. They were reported to have married and disappeared
into the black slave population of Salem.
After the Civil War, the US Consul discouraged Indian
immigration, particularly by Mormon converts, stating that
"Indians are of no value to the American West."
'Early
Immigrants and Organized Labor'
 Between
1899 and 1913, close to 7,000 Indians immigrated to the US.
Although some of these were students, a vast majority were
unskilled laborers from Punjab who were lured by Canadian
railroad and steamship companies to the Pacific
Northwest.
In order to distinguish them from the Native American
population, Indians were often referred to as 'Hindus,'
irrespective of their religion. They were resented by labor
unions and white protectionists who feared competition by
cheap Indian labor.
In 1907, the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League of San
Francisco was renamed the Asian Exclusion League (AEL) to
include Indians in its agenda to oppose Asian immigration.
In their first report of the "Hindoo (sic) question," the
AEL warned that East Indians were "untrustworthy, immodest,
unsanitary, insolent, and lustful."
The AEL played a key role in attacks on the Indian
populations living in Bellingham and Everett, Washington in
fall of 1907. Several hundred whites raided and demolished
Indian living quarters and drove them out of the cities. The
actions were condoned by authorities, particularly President
Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft (Secretary of War), and
Henry Cabot Lodge (later Supreme Court Justice). As a
result, more Indian immigrants were denied admission to the
United States.
These restrictions were relaxed later in 1910, as demand
for laborers increased for the construction of the Western
Pacific Railroad.
 In
1913, California enacted the Alien Land Law, restricting the
ability to sell or lease land to persons inelegible for
citizenship. Indians were able to discover several loopholes
to this law. Many Indians married Mexican-American women,
whom were exempted from the law. Others were able to take
advantage of rulings in United States v. Balsara (1910) and
United States v. A. Kumar (1913) which permitted Indians to
naturalize since they were tecnically considered
Caucasian.
Despite their insignificant numbers, the AEL continued to
apply pressure to restrict immigration, often greatly
exaggerating the numbers of Indian immigrants. In 1917,
Congress passed an immigration law over Woodrow Wilson's
veto placing a 'barred zone' on immigration from Asia.
Any public sympathy for the plight of Indians was
destroyed in the well publicized San Francisco Hindu
Conspiracy case, in which 100 Indians were convicted of
violating the American Neutrality Laws in their ambitious,
but ill-conceived plot to overthrow the British government
from the United States.
Naturalization
& Citizenship
 In
1923, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Bhagat
Singh Thind that a 'white person' was defined by a common
man's understanding of the term, therefore Congress never
intended for Indians to be able to naturalize.
This was a significant turn of events for the Indian
population since the Thind decision not only provided a
precedent for denying Indian petitions for citizenship, it
also provided a basis for anulling all previous
naturalizations. As a result, Federal authorities actively
worked to 'denaturalize' Indians, arguing that they had
procured their citizenship illegally, a claim upheld in many
courts.
Moreover, Thind also subjected Indian land owners to the
California Alien Land Law. As a result of significant media
pressure, Attorney General U.S. Webb revoked Indian land
purchases and promisedto forbid Indians from buying or
leasing land.
Under these pressures, many Indians left the United
States. By 1940, the number of Indian has dropped in half,
with only 2,405 remaining in the US. They were an aging and
isolated community. Unable to sustain a strong cultural
identity, many married into the Mexican American
community.
World War II invigorated public support for Indians as
the prospect of India's independence came closer to reality.
After 1943, when barriers on Chinese immigration and
naturalization were lifted, Indians argued for the same
rights as Chinese.
Despite resistance from many Members of Congress and the
American Federation of Labor, the Indian community was
successful in gaining support of several prominent
Congressman and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
As a result, the Asian American Citizenship Act was
signed into law by President Truman on July 3, 1946. The Act
reversed the Thind decision allowing naturalization and set
an annual quota for Indian immigrantion at 100 per year.
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