The History Of Asian Indian Immigrants History Essay

The History Of Asiatic Indian Immigrants History sternvasAs immigration historians have established, the history of Asiatic Indian immigrants consisted of tierce major significant quavers. The stolon tramp began at round the midsection of the nineteenth century when the first Asiatic Indians arrived in the States. In fact, by the end of the nineteenth century, about 7300 Indian immigrants somely sett direct in atomic spot 20 and the Pacific Northwest of the United States (Leonard, 1992, p. 232). According to Bhatia and Takaki, the first flourish immigrants were most(prenominal)ly farmers and laborers. Most of these immigrants were Sikhs from the Punjab region in India. However, afterwards immigrating to the U.S., initially, much of these immigrants were use as railroad meshers on the Western Pacific Railroad and helped to build up the Three-Mile Spring Garden Tunnel. Sometimes they also re orderd Italian railroad civilizeers who were on strike in Tacoma, Washi ngton (Bhatia, 2007, p. 82 Takaki, 1989, p. 302). Later these immigrants go to California to work with the Southern Pacific Railroad whither they found employ custodyt in agri agri grow. After a patch these immigrants settled throughout the Sacramento valley in northern California and found work on the output and rice farms of Marysville, Tudor, Willows, and Chico. These Punjabi immigrants also spread to the San Joaquin Valley, and joined the work in grapevine and celery dramaturgys.Further, Asian Indians moved to the Imperial Valley, where they utilise to gather cantaloupes and picked cotton wool (Takaki, 1989, p. 302-303). These Punjabi farm laborers organized themselves into teams of workers ranging from three to fifty people. Each group had a leader who was more exceedingly educated and could communicate in incline and keep the group working efficiently. They used to grow crops that were old(prenominal) to them in India. Skilled in cultivating and harvesting, most of t hese Punjabis were exceptional farmers, to a great extent workers who were allowing to work in any circumstance (Takaki, 1989, p. 306).Despite working from ten to xiv hours per daytime Indian immigrants were paid from twenty-five to fifty cents less per day than Japanese laborers (Takaki, 1989, p. 303). As the main objective of the first wafture immigrants was to search economic opportunity, the main identifying characteristic of these immigrants was their need to survive and have monetary stability. Opportunities in the United States provided an economic solution to their problems. For example, salaries in India ranged from 5 to 8 cents per day, and in the United States from 75 cents to 2 dollars per day (Wherry, 1907, p. 918-919). Therefore transportation to the United States offered relief from p all overty and hope for financial stability.In the first beat, most of the immigrants were potent. These immigrants were non allowed to bring their family with them. Most of t hem were habituated to live alone and broken most of the contacts with their family and home country. One immigrant named Saint Nihal Singh in his essay, which was published in the magazine Out West, argued that One of the chief points of difference amongst the immigrant from India and those hailing from europium lies in the fact that the European brings along with him his family (La Brack, 1982, p. 60).The immigrants economic status, lack of quick inter-continental communication or travel, as well as restrictive immigration and citizenship laws made it difficult for them to visit India. At the same time, due to separate by-product of immigration laws, they were non allowed to bring their family which explains the shortage of Indian immigrant women. on with the lack of Indian women, their exclusion from social interaction with American prevail society, which was reinforced by anti-miscegenation laws, led this immigrant cohort to marry Mexican American women (Leonard, 1992, p. 131-132 Takaki, 1989, p. 309-310). This fact gene treasures clear when comparing the percentage of Mexican wives among Indian immigrants in California between 1913 and 1947. In northern California, where there is a relatively minuscular population of Indian immigrants, only 47 percent of wives ar Mexican, but in southern California, where the immigrant population is much higher, almost 92 percent of wives came from Mexico. As a result, an different identifying characteristic of the first ruffle Indian immigrants was their willingness to mix with other races in the absence of Indian women, win cutting ties with their Indian culture and heritage. This mixing led to a locomote of the cultural traditions of Asian Indians and Mexicans and sometimes to a dominant Spanish culture in their home life. For example, their progeny spoke Spanish not Punjabi, keep Christian sort of than Sikh holidays, they replaced some Indian fodders with similar Mexican foods much(prenominal) as tortillas for rotis and Jalapeno peppers for Punjabi chili peppers. withal the Catholic trust was adopted and the first names of children were most lots Spanish (Takaki, 1989, p. 311). e genuinelywhere time, the traces of Indian heritage became thinner and thinner which also brought cultural differences and conflicts and led to more divorces among these couples (Takaki, 1989, p. 310).In the 1890s America attracted more Indian immigrants however, as these immigrants were getting more in number than required, they became labor competitors with white workers and were oft victimized by white working-class antagonism and violence. In result to exclusionist pressures, immigration officials targets Asian Indians seeking admission to the United States and denied many Indians between 1908 and 1920, on the grounds that they would akinly be go far public charges (Takaki, 1989, p. 297).The ontogenesis of the Punjabi f ordainrnity was cut short by the 1917 Immigration Act, which prohibi ted further immigrants from India (Leonard, 1992, p. 32 Bankston, 2006, p. 68).However, a few decades later Indian immigrants of this first riffle had become a part of the society and some were actively involved in social affairs and gained higher positions. For example, Dalip Saund in 1957 became the first Asian Indian senator from California when he was elected to Congress after it had passed a bill allowing naturalization for Indians in July 1946. Like many early Indian immigrants, Saund had come to the United States from Punjab and had worked initially in the fields and farms of California. Then, he had earned a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley (Dasgupta, 2006, p. 139).2.1.2. Second Wave of Indian American ImmigrantsIn 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed a bill that has dramatically changed the method by which immigrants be admitted to America (Kutler, 2003, p. 230 Bankston, 2006, p. 320). The significance of this bill was that future immigrants were to b e welcomed because of their professed(prenominal) skills, but not based on their country of origin. After the super of this bill, significantly gargantuanr numbers of Asian Indian immigrants started migrating to the U.S. leading to the insurgent boom. Between 1965 and 1974, Indian immigrants to the U.S. change magnitude at a rate greater than those from any other country (U.S. census Bureau, 2000). This was mainly because of their fluency in side of meat, high professional skills and level of education.Bhatia has stated that the import wave of immigrants was very different from the first wave of Indian immigrants in terms of their economic, educational and social status (Bhatia, 2007, p. 14). Takaki also claims that the first and second waves of Indian immigrants were worlds apart. In a published interview by Barkan, Dr. S. Patel who was a second wave immigrant, agreed with Takaki, describing the difference of the first and second waves It is a class thing. They came from t he farming, the raze class. We came from the educated middle class. We spoke English. We went to college. We were already assimilated in India, sooner we came here (Barkan, 1983, p. 48).The immigrants who emigrated after 1965 were overwhelmingly urban, professional, highly educated and quickly engaged in gainful employment in many U.S. cities. Many had prior delineation to Western society and education which led to a relatively liquified transition to the United States. In between 1966 and 1977, 83 percent of Indians who entered the U.S. d receivestairs the occupational category of professional and technical workers the entrants of this time included many scientists, doctors, and engineers (Prashad, 2000, p. 75). In addition, Bhatia states that most of this group of Asian Indians was trained as aesculapian doctors, engineers, scientists, university professors, and doctoral and postdoctoral students in mostly science- cogitate disciplines like chemistry, biochemistry, mathemati cs, physics and biology (Bhatia, 2007, p. 14).However, both(prenominal)(prenominal) waves of immigrants from India shared a desire for a better life in America with greater opportunities for economic process and independence (Takaki, 1989, p. 445). The second wave of immigrants enjoyed greater success with the greater economic opportunities in America because of their education. They could perchance make their life in India, but they also saw more opportunity in America. Unlike the first wave of immigrants, the second wave of immigrants defined themselves differently in relation to the U.S. and their home country. They were more educated, professional, and socially stable as they were allowed to bring their families. Though the search for economic opportunities brought both waves to the United States, the second wave of immigrants was able to earn more gold and have improved standard of living than first wave immigrants. Also they maintained their ties with their culture and he ritage through their families.Unlike the first wave immigrants, who were mainly male, the second wave immigrants were both male and female. Some Indian immigrant women used to work out of their home, contrary to conventionalistic Indian American norms as well as to those in the first wave of Asian Indian immigrants. As a result, they participated in the mainstream of America and adapted to US culture faster and became more bicultural than those Indian immigrant women who adopted more traditional sections (Nandan, 2007, p. 395). Contrary to the first wave of immigrants from India, the second wave had the means to frequently visit their homeland to visit friends, attend important events and care for their parents.The second wave of immigrants had the means to own property such as houses which was not so easy for the first wave immigrants due to their low recompense and restrictions. receivable to this reason some Indian immigrants in this wave moved to the suburbs which made the m isolated from the many Indian families living in the city. Therefore, they often felt loneliness and did not felt comfortable in development close bonds with the neighborhood too. This made them to maintain some of the Indian food and religious customs within their homes (Nandan, 2007, p. 396).2.1.3. Third Wave of Indian American ImmigrantsThe third wave of immigrants was marked by important shifts in the legitimate and sociopolitical environment, resulting in red-hot patterns and dynamics in Indian American immigration. receivable to Family Reunification Act which was passed in 1990, a large proportion of Indian Americans entered in to the US. This led to a third wave (from 1990 to the present time) of new arrivals of Indian American immigrants, which included both highly skilled professionals and a working and lower middle class population (Landale, 1997, p. 283).As a part of the Reunification Act, some of the third wave of Indian immigrants came specifically to join their f amily. Most of them are either siblings (sometimes they are very scant(p) or uneducated) or aged parents (who are old and/or retired) of the highly skilled professionals unlike the second wave (Ross-Sheriff, 2004, p. 150). Therefore, economic stability or opportunity meant very little to this group in comparison with the anterior waves of immigrants and also the highly skilled professionals. However this group of people act to find work or started small businesses or worked in small businesses such as motels, gift shops, grocery/convenience stores or go down on stations. In addition, many of these newcomers could not become financially independent, but rather stayed closely level(p) to their children or siblings (Bankston, 2006, p. 69 Ross-Sheriff, 2004, p. 150).According to Prashads statistics, 9,910 Indians, 1,694 Pakistanis, and 711 Bangladeshis came to the U.S. as highly skilled laborers in 1996. In comparison to the figures for those who came under the family reunification intention are far higher, that is 34,291 Indians, 9,122 Pakistanis, and 8,221 Bangladeshis (Prashad, 2000, p. 79). With this shift in mode of entry, the education and socioeconomic profile of Indian Americans has become more diverse, complex and heterogeneous than the foregoing wave of immigrants.The second wave of immigrants who were already settled, invited their family members when the reunification act passed, allowing them to custody on more tightly to their culture. As a result, the third wave failed to assimilate into their new culture, choosing to live according to their own customs. Because of the arrival of the broaden families, their culture and heritage could be maintained through the large number of Asian Indians living together in one area. As a result, small Indian communities were established allowing the third wave of immigrants to avoid the American culture. They could wear their own clothes they could eat their food they could speak their own language, and the y could practice their own religion (Khandelwal, 2002, p. 164). avocation the 2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S. on 9/11, the heavy and political context of South Asian immigration once again shifted in some important ways. Thus, South Asian immigrants, in particular men from the majority Muslim countries of Bangladesh and Pakistan, have been subject to a variety of supervision measures instituted by the United States. It is not yet clear how these new measures will affect immigration from South Asia. As a result, there are some signs of decline in the rates of South Asian immigration, especially from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Reports in 2003 suggested those from Bangladesh and Pakistan are moving to more receptive countries like Canada (Sachs, 2003, p. A1).2.2. using of Asian Indian ImmigrantsThis section describes briefly the facts and figures about Indian Americans in terms of population numbers, growth rate, education, language, etcetera The growth of the population of Indian Americans has changed dramatically over the past few decades. According to the records the first wave consisted of 2000 immigrants. Between 1948 and 1965, 6,474 Asian Indians entered the United States as immigrants (Bankston, 2006, p. 68). During the 1980s the number of immigrants increased exponentially. According to the 1990 US Census about 570,000 Indians immigrated to America.Table 1 shows that the growth rate of Indian American immigrants from 1980 to 1990 increased significantly by about 35%. This growth rate continued from the 1980s to the 1990s. The growth rate from 1990-2000 is 14.42%. Even though the growth rate is lower compared to the previous growth rate, the population of Indian Americans in 2000 crossed the number of 1.5 million.The US Census 2000 shows that among all Asian cultural groups the Indian Americans are the third largest ethnic group consisting of about 1,678,765 people (Table 2). Over 50 percent of nonnative Asian Indians entered the U.S. between 1990 and 2000, compared with a rate of about 18% who entered before 1980. In 2007 over 2 million Indian Americans are listed in the data (U.S. Census Bureau). This is due to the land of opportunities with a good arrive of perks and salary. In addition, globalization and multiculturalism is also playing a major role to attract immigrants.Most of the Indian Americans settled in populated states such as New York, California, New Jersey, Maryland, Texas and Illinois as well as large cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. This is largely due to the availability of jobs in larger cities as well as the personal preference of being a part of an urban and ethnically diverse environment. Yet, there are sizable Asian Indian communities in suburban areas also such as Silver Springs in Maryland, San Jose and Fremont in California, Queens in New York and etc. (Bankston, 2006, p. 69-72).Education and career success are more highly cherished among Indian immigrants as compared to other Asian groups. The 1990 US census discipline shows that 52 % of adult Asian Indians were college graduates which is considerably higher than the 35% rate among all adult Asian Americans. Their academic achievements were bolstered by their fluency in English. In addition, in 1990 over 80 percent of Indian male immigrants held a college degree and five percent of all Indian American doctors received their primary education in India. Due to the high educational status of Indian Americans, 65 percent of them worked as managers, or in the professional/technical industry (Helweg, 1990, p. 61).Many graduates from elite engineering institutions like IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) came to America for higher education at various educational institutions. Most of such graduates after finishing their higher studies from US universities used their new degrees to obtain positions with lucrative salaries, which in turn led them to work and settle in the United States. Very few of t hem returned to India immediately after finishing their higher education.In 2000, about 87% of Asian Indians had at least a High School Diploma and 70% had a Bachelors Degree or higher, and they were proficient in English. Of the general population, 33.6% were in management, professional, and related positions. Among the Asian Indian population, 59.9 % were in those types of position, which was more than any other Asian group. This was mainly because Indian Americans in fact were well-educated, hard-working, and proficient in the English language. Indian Americans had the highest labor force participation rate of about 79% as compared to all Asian Americans, who participated in the labor force at a rate of about 71%. Besides this, male Indian immigrants had median yearly earnings of $51,904, which was also more than any other Asian American group. As a result Asian Indians had a lower poverty rate than that of the total population (9.8% versus 12.4%). Moreover, statistics showed tha t Indians had a larger percentage (71.4) of the populace between the ages of 16 and 64 than any other Asian group, except immigrants from Thailand (82.2%) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).Accordingly, Indian Americans remain one of the most socio-economically successful groups of all immigrants or ethnicities in the U.S. and are often presented as a model from which other ethnic/immigrant groups could learn. As Wadhwa reports on Bloomberg Businessweek in 2006Not only are they leaving their mark in the field of technology, but also in real estate, journalism, literature, and entertainment. They run some of the most successful small businesses and lead a few of the largest corporations. Valuable lessons can be learned from their various successes (Wadhwa, 2006, Bloomberg Business Week).This article also cites twelve main factors that account for the success of Indian Americans such as education, upbringing, hard work, entrepreneurial spirit, social networks, integration into the U.S. societ y, etc. These statistics show and prove that Indian immigrants tend to have high levels of education and English proficiency, which gives them an advantage over other Asian communities. However, along with the advantages, there are also issues such as assimilation, religious beliefs, traditions and race which are also challenging.2.3 Generational interchangeAfter many years these immigrants over time settled and became durable citizens, who are treated as first-generation of Asian Indian Americans. This led to four-fold generations of Indian Americans. The children of the first-generation, unlike their parents, grew up with an Indian culture and an American culture. Due to this different background, historians distinguish between first, second, and third-generations of Asian Indian Americans who differ in terms of their values, customs and traditions.First-generation Indian Americans from the Indian subcontinent are more familiar with the culture of India as well as the culture o f America. They tend to be more traditional than later generations. Attempting to preserve their religious and cultural heritage, these first-generation Indian Americans built temples and formed local organizations representative of the subcultures (Sindi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Bengali) from which they came. Parents exposed their children to those subcultures through functions hosted by these organizations and within their home (Bankston, 2006, p. 73).In the case of second-generation of the Indian Americans, most of their traditional and cultural values were slowly changed. They grow up in American culture and learn more about American culture and at the same time they used to face Indian traditions in their homes. Following this dual culture lead to understand and search their identity in the society. As cultural historians have suggested, they find themselves at a place in-between the Indian and the American cultures due to the adoption of American culture as well as compromise of some Indian traditions.Third-generation Asian Indian Americans, who strongly adhere to the U.S. cultural values, but do not endorse any traditional Asian Indian values, could be tell to be highly acculturated but not enculturated (Tewari, 2009, p. 105). They are naturalized citizens of America and they do not fit India. However, physically they are always tied to India because of their appearance. Those immigrants who succeed in business can shed the label of immigrant, while those who are poor continue to be viewed as immigrants, even though their family has been in the U.S. for three generations.