The many lives of Mohan Singh, a pioneering aviator who conned America as a yoga guru
A singular early South Asian immigrant to the US, Singh repeatedly reinvented himself, becoming a butler, aviator, chauffeur, investor and dubious guru.
The many lives of Mohan Singh, a pioneering aviator who conned America as a yoga guru
Mohan Singh behind the controls of a Curtiss aircraft, undated.
In February 1927, newspapers around the United States published reports of a Hindu yogi who had taken up residence in Chicago. Soon after his arrival, Yogi Hari Rama – tall, wispy-thin and with a faint sing-song voice – had quickly amassed hundreds of followers with teachings on how to cure all diseases, and “awaken the great forces within”.
Reporters mocked Yogi Hari Rama and painted him as a conman taking advantage of a gullible public. The yogi’s students insisted he possessed superhuman powers, which included levitation. In a sense, both sides had claims to the truth. Fifteen years earlier, Yogi Hari Rama was known as Mohan Singh, and he flew above Chicago as a daredevil airplane pilot.
Singh was one of the most remarkable and singular early South Asian immigrants to the US, and his is a story filled with an extraordinary series of ups and downs in less than a quarter of a century.
Flying high
Singh was born in the village of Himmatpura in Punjab around 1885, and was just out of his teenage years when he went to the United States. He settled in Chicago and worked as a butler for about six years before moving to San Diego to study aviation at the school of Glenn Curtiss in early 1912.
Curtiss was one of the most important and influential figures in aviation history, a pioneer who developed aircraft, built engines and promoted flight, in addition to being an accomplished pilot. The Curtiss camp was an international hub for aviation, and his magazine Aero and Hydro described it as “the most cosmopolitan gathering of flyers and pupils ever assembled in this or any other country”.
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Singh was among students from nine countries, including Russia, Greece and Japan, but even in this motley crowd, he stood out. He avoided meat and liquids other than water, and he rarely smiled or spoke. He was so much taller than the shortest student at the camp that there were issues with setting the controls for the practice machine to fit everyone.
Mohan Singh (back row, second from right) with fellow aviators at Glenn Curtiss’ camp in San Diego, 1912.
Foreshadowing his future career as a yogi, Singh took liberties with his past on the rare occasions when he did speak to the press. He described himself alternately as a Hindu prince, both a captain and a major in the Indian army, and as hailing from Bombay and Delhi.
After seven weeks of training, Singh took his flying trials in a Curtiss biplane on an early dewy Wednesday morning on May 1, 1912, and became the first person from India to become a licensed pilot in the world.
Singh then left for Curtiss’ other camp in upstate New York, where he quickly became proficient on the Curtiss hydroplane, which could take off and land on water. Not only was Singh one of the few pilots of his day who could operate several kinds of aircrafts, but he was also a stunt pilot, who performed death-defying feats at flying demonstrations known as aerial circuses.
Curtiss held Singh in high regard. After the daredevil pilot Lincoln Beachy came out of his self-imposed retirement and wanted to try out the new hydroplane, Curtiss insisted that he take Singh along as his passenger. When Curtiss travelled to Europe in the beginning of 1914 to demonstrate his flying boat for commercial and military uses, Singh was the only one within his small circle who was not a close relative.
The pilot’s license of Mohan Singh, 1912.
Although Singh continued to fly and perform in demonstrations, there seemed to be a ceiling on his future in aviation, and he moved out west. On July 4, 1916, Singh arrived in Los Angeles and began working once again as a butler and chauffeur for the family of a wealthy manufacturer. After a year in the city, Singh declared his intention to naturalise, and formally began the process of becoming an American citizen.
Naturalisation struggles
Citizenship at this time was dependent on being classified as a “free white person”, but there was little agreement on whether immigrants from India qualified. Citing everything from theories of early Aryan migration and skin tone, to geography and their own prejudices, Indians were alternately considered Caucasian, Black, Asian or simply non-White. In legal cases of racial eligibility for citizenship, Indians were compared to Syrians, Jews and even hypothetical aliens from Mars.
In less than two weeks, Singh’s initial petition to naturalise was rejected on the grounds that he was “not a white man”. Singh appealed and was assisted by Sakharam Ganesh Pandit, a Bombay-born lawyer who arrived in America under the auspices of the Theosophical Society in 1906.
Certificate denying Mohan Singh American citizenship, 1917.
When Singh’s appeal was heard in federal court two years later, it was seen as an important case and was covered by several newspapers. The judge was convinced that Singh qualified as Caucasian and granted his application for citizenship. Not long after, Singh attempted to change his name to Harry Mohan to formally adopt the Americanised name his friends used to address him.
Although it was a hard-won victory, Singh’s status as an American did not last long. While Singh struggled for citizenship in the courts of California, another Punjabi immigrant named Bhagat Singh Thind fought similar battles in Oregon and Washington State. Thind took his appeals to the United States Supreme Court in the beginning of 1923 and lost.
The judges unanimously denied citizenship to Thind, and ruled that immigrants from Asia were ineligible for citizenship. Soon after, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service moved to revoke the citizenship of dozens of South Asian Americans, including Singh. Four years after he became an American, Singh was effectively left without any citizenship at all.
In a set of cruel ironies, the decree that took away Mohan Singh’s citizenship was signed by the same judge who had ruled on his behalf five years earlier (who declared that denying Singh citizenship would be “a travesty”), and that decree was pasted directly on top of Singh’s earlier oath of allegiance to the US. Compounding his misfortune, he lost a considerable amount of money in a fraudulent investment scheme based on buying plots in a Los Angeles cemetery.
Stripped of citizenship, swindled out of his money, and unable to either build a future for himself in America or fall back on what he had earned, Singh launched himself into a daring third act. He became a godman.
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Holy journey
Becoming a guru was a surprisingly common career change at the time. Dozens of South Asians in the US remade themselves into swamis and yogis during the interwar decades of the 1920s and 1930s. They made their living by travelling from one city to another and teaching eager American spiritual seekers who saw India as the source of mystic wisdom. With little agreement at the time on what yoga actually was – diet reform, visualisation, breathing exercises or philosophy – nerve, rather than skill or pedigree, was often the biggest obstacle to becoming a godman.
Portrait of Mohan Singh as Yogi Hari Rama, 1926.
To remake himself into a guru, Singh liberally borrowed from his peers and predecessors. From Swami Ram Tirtha, a Punjabi expounder of Advaita Vedanta who had toured the US two decades earlier, he claimed a lineage (without any connection), and attached his own name to a reprinted collection of Ram Tirtha’s quotes. From his contemporary Yogi Wassan, Singh took visual materials like diagrams and logos, literally tracing them in some cases.
Most brazenly, Singh took a series of lessons in Kriya Yoga from Paramahansa Yogananda and then promptly used them as the core of his own lessons, “word for word, without permission”, as one of Yogananda’s infuriated students recalled. To this combination, he added affirmations from the proto-positive thinking New Thought movement, stagecraft from spiritualism, and numerous cues from the health reformers of the time.
After a few months in different cities, where he added and subtracted various titles – doctor, “psychologist and metaphysician”, “seer of India” – Singh settled on a name for himself and his teachings. He became Yogi Hari Rama and took his newly-minted Super Yoga Science on the road to American audiences in earnest.
Smooth operator
Like his contemporaries, at each stop on his tour, Yogi Hari Rama would offer a series of free lectures to draw in interested and curious members of the public in the hope that many of them would then sign up for a series of private classes for a fee. In smaller cities, he would stay for a few weeks and spend just enough time for a single set of public lectures and private classes, while in larger cities like Chicago and Detroit, he would run longer campaigns, which could last for several months.
Display advertisements for Yogi Hari Rama’s appearances in Sacramento, California and Des Moines, Iowa, 1925 and 1926.
Howsoever haphazard Singh was in creating his yogic persona, he was extraordinarily savvy in selling it to the public. Advertising campaigns would start before his arrival in a given city, and one medical journal noted that Yogi Hari Rama had “assistants galore who drum up business for him”. Once in a city, students of Super Yoga Science would appear on stage and give testimonials as to why they called Yoga Hari Rama “miracle man”. One woman gave a sworn affidavit, and testified that she had been cured from cancer and “been made new” by his teachings.
In bright orange robes and a matching turban, Yogi Hari Rama cut an impressive figure, and according to reporters, he was given an amazing amount of adoration from his audiences. He gave dietary advice, counselled on love and marriage, offered instructions on business and prosperity, claimed to hold the secret techniques of acquiring occult power, and offered remedies for a host of ailments, including bad breath, kidney troubles, poor eyesight and rheumatism.
Unlike his peers, who would return to the same cities in a regular pattern, Yogi Hari Rama made a single sweep through the country and visited over 30 cities in one extended three-and-a-half-year tour. After travelling up the West Coast in 1925, he spent 18 months in the Midwest, before going to the Northeast for the better part of a year, and then hopped across the country to make a final appearance in Los Angeles.
Location of Mohan Singh’s stops on his three-year tour as Yogi Hari Rama.
From the outset, Yogi Hari Rama consistently told the public that once he taught in a city, he would never return. This could have been astute marketing to enhance his mysterious persona, or as a more cynical observer noted, a way to avoid running into dissatisfied former students and the police.
Perhaps the most important reason Yogi Hari Rama never retraced his steps was that there was no reason to. Like many South Asians in America who returned to India in the wake of the Thind decision and denaturalisation, Singh may have felt that he had no future in the US and his best option was to make whatever money he could and go home.
Set for life
Selling the techniques of God-consciousness and unlimited occult power was an incredibly lucrative venture. A student could acquire five keys or lessons in Yogi Hari Rama’s Super Yogic Science over a week of evening classes for the equivalent of $350 today. For what would be another $150, they could receive an additional four keys in a series of afternoon courses, complete with secret mantras given directly by Yogi Hari Rama.
One reporter in New York tallied the audience at a Super Yoga Science lecture there and calculated that Yogi Hari Rama earned the contemporary equivalent of about a quarter of a million dollars after only a few months in the city. With an estimated total of 10,000 students during his three-year tour, Yogi Hari Rama left the US in August 1928 with enough money for the rest of his life.
Diagram of the Chakras from manual of Super Yoga Science, 1926.
Yogi Hari Rama established local chapters of what he called The Benares League of America in cities he visited on his tour. These chapters would meet regularly and continue to practise Super Yoga Science after he left. On the final stop of his tour in Los Angeles, just before he left the country, Yogi Hari Rama claimed to enter into a deep state of samadhi and then appointed six men and seven women to serve as authorised teachers known as Disciples of the Absolute to “carry on the Master’s work” and run the Benares League in his absence.
While at first glance, this might seem to have been a matter of serious institution-building, it might be more evidence for the theory that Singh was looking to maximise the money he made on his tour. Yogi Hari Rama sold lifetime memberships in the Benares League for $25 (or about $350 today) that allowed a card holder to attend any Super Yoga Science classes for the rest of their life, effectively doubling his yogic largesse from each student who also became a member.
A headquarters in Los Angeles kept the Benares League organised. Several of the teachers in the Benares League adopted a kind of clerical uniform, consisting of a white Nehru jacket, trousers and a large red sash across the chest emblazoned with the title “Disciple of the Absolute”. Their biggest help was the network of cities that Yogi Hari Rama had previously visited, and the local chapters of the Benares League from which these teachers could find a ready and waiting pool of students.
For a few years after the departure of Yogi Hari Rama, the Benares League of America was the most widespread organisation of its kind in the United States, larger than the organisations of Swami Vivekananda’s heirs in the Vedanta Society and Yogananda’s Self-Realisation Fellowship put together. It was common for multiple classes in Super Yoga Science to take place simultaneously across the country: Boston and Dallas, Seattle and Cleveland, New York and Los Angeles.
Portrait of A William Goetz, one of the 13 ‘Disciples of the Absolute’ who made up the Benares League, 1929.
Disappearing act
But the Benares League declined as quickly as it emerged. The original territorial structure dissolved and soon most of the appointed teachers were overlapping with each other in the same cities. The most crucial weakness was the absence of Yogi Hari Rama himself. He was no longer there to act as an authority, generate new lessons, or serve as a living representative of an imagined mystic East for American audiences.
This charismatic void played into the hands of rival yogis and swamis who tried to win over the former students of Yogi Hari Rama. Fittingly, many of these yogis were the ones that he had stolen from earlier. One tried to appeal to chapters of the Benares League in Ohio, a stronghold of Super Yoga Science, by offering himself in advertisements as “Guru Brother of the Hari Rama, your former teacher”. Another started referring to his lessons as keys and offered a special discounted rate to any members of the Benares League who took his classes.
After the Second World War, only one of the original 13 teachers, a chiropractor named JH Clark, still taught Super Yoga Science. He believed that he had briefly levitated like Yogi Hari Rama, became obsessed with recreating the experience, and moved into a mobile home in the California desert to focus on the task. Scattered local chapters of the Benares League survived for about another decade in Ohio, and by the 1960s hardly any trace of Yogi Hari Rama remained.
Singh’s ability to obscure his past and disappear from the public stage worked all too well. Despite his pioneering accomplishments and skill as a pilot, he was, when not forgotten, confused with and overshadowed by the similarly named pilot Manmohan Singh, who competed for a prize offered by Aga Khan to fly solo between England and India in 1930. Today, JRD Tata, the founder of Tata Motors, is most often remembered as the first Indian to receive a pilot’s licence, although Singh did so 18 years earlier in the US.
Similarly, while Singh and his attorney Pandit were willing to take their case for citizenship to the Supreme Court, it was Thind who ended up at the highest court in America, and the efforts of Singh were relegated to minor footnotes, known only to legal scholars and historians.
And although the Benares League of America was the largest organisation of its kind for several years, without a lasting institution or followers to prop up his memory, it also faded into obscurity along with its founder, leaving figures like Swami Vivekananda and Yogananda to be the few reference points in yoga’s early history in America.
It is difficult to encapsulate a person who went by so many names – Mohan Singh, Harry Mohan, Yogi Hari Rama, and lived so many lives – butler and domestic servant, aviator, chauffeur, aspiring American citizen, failed investor and dubious guru.
Perhaps an appropriate legacy is not in any one of these aspects, but rather all of them taken together, as an individual who was both heroic and conniving. Singh was bold and audacious enough to repeatedly reinvent himself despite the limitations of his time.
Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are Americans with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans.
Contents
1 Terminology
2 History
2.1 Pre 1800
2.2 19th century
2.3 20th century
2.4 21st century
3 Demographics
3.1 U.S. metropolitan areas with large Asian Indian populations
3.2 List of U.S. states by the population of Asian Indians
4 Statistics
5 Socioeconomic status
5.1 Education
5.2 Household income
6 Culture
6.1 Media
7 Religion
7.1 Hindus
7.2 Sikhs
7.3 Jains
7.4 Muslims
7.5 Christians
7.6 Others
8 Ethnicity
9 Linguistic affiliation
10 Progress
10.1 Timeline
10.2 Classification
10.3 Citizenship
11 Current issues
11.1 Discrimination
11.2 Illegal immigration
11.3 Immigration
11.4 Media
12 Politics
13 Notable people
14 See also
15 References
16 Further reading
17 External links
Terminology
In the Americas, the term "Indian" has historically been used for indigenous people since European colonization in the 15th century. Qualifying terms such as "American Indian" and "East Indian" were and still are commonly used in order to avoid ambiguity. The U.S. government has since coined the term "Native American" in reference to the indigenous peoples of the United States, but terms such as "American Indian" remain popular among indigenous as well as non-indigenous populations. Since the 1980s, Indian Americans have been categorized as "Asian Indian" (within the broader subgroup of Asian American) by the United States Census Bureau.[7]
While "East Indian" remains in use, the term "South Asian" is often chosen instead for academic and governmental purposes.[8] Indian Americans are included in the census grouping of "South Asian Americans", which includes Bangladeshi Americans, Bhutanese Americans, Burmese Americans, Nepalese Americans, Pakistani Americans, and Sri Lankan Americans.[9][10]
History
See also: Asian immigration to the United States
Pre 1800
Beginning in the 17th century, the East India Company began bringing indentured Indian servants to the American colonies.[11]
The Naturalization Act of 1790 made Asians ineligible for citizenship.[12]
19th century
The first significant wave of Indian immigrants entered the United States in the 19th century. By 1900, there were more than two thousand Indian Sikhs living in the United States, primarily in California.[13] (At least one scholar has set the level lower, finding a total of 716 Indian immigrants to the U.S. between 1820 and 1900.[14]) Emigration from India was driven by difficulties facing Indian farmers, including the challenges posed by the British land tenure system for small landowners, and by drought and food shortages, which worsened in the 1890s. At the same time, Canadian steamship companies, acting on behalf of Pacific coast employers, recruited Sikh farmers with economic opportunities in British Columbia. Racist attacks in British Columbia, however, prompted Sikhs and new Sikh immigrants to move down the Pacific Coast to Washington and Oregon, where they worked in lumber mills and in the railroad industry.[14] Many Punjabi Sikhs who settled in California, around the Yuba City area, formed close ties with Mexican Americans.[11] The presence of Indian Americans also helped develop interest in Eastern religions in the US and would result in its influence on American philosophies such as Transcendentalism. Swami Vivekananda arriving in Chicago at the World's Fair led to the establishment of the Vedanta Society.
20th century
Between 1907 and 1908, Sikhs moved further south to warmer climates in California, where they were employed by various railroad companies. Some white Americans, resentful of economic competition and the arrival of people from different cultures, responded to Sikh immigration with racism and violent attacks.[14] The Bellingham riots in Bellingham, Washington on September 5, 1907 epitomized the low tolerance in the U.S. for Indians and Sikhs, who were called "hindoos" by locals. While anti-Asian racism was embedded in U.S. politics and culture in the early 20th century, Indians were also racialized for their anticolonialism, with U.S. officials pushing for Western imperial expansion abroad casting them as a "Hindu" menace. Although labeled Hindu, the majority of Indians were Sikh.[15] In the early 20th century, a range of state and federal laws restricted Indian immigration and the rights of Indian immigrants in the U.S. In the 1910s, American nativist organizations campaigned to end immigration from India, culminating in the passage of the Barred Zone Act in 1917. In 1913, the Alien Land Act of California prevented Sikhs (in addition to Japanese and Chinese immigrants) from owning land. However, Asian immigrants got around the system by having Anglo friends or their own U.S. born children legally own the land that they worked on. In some states, anti-miscegenation laws made it illegal for Indian men to marry white women. However, it was legal for "brown" races to mix. Many Indian men, especially Punjabi men, married Hispanic women and Punjabi-Mexican marriages became a norm in the West.[14][16]
Mohini Bhardwaj, 2004 Summer Olympics medalist in gymnastics
Bhicaji Balsara became the first known Indian to gain naturalized U.S. citizenship. As a Parsi, he was considered a "pure member of the Persian sect" and therefore a "free white person". The judge Emile Henry Lacombe, of the Southern District of New York, only gave Balsara citizenship on the hope that the United States attorney would indeed challenge his decision and appeal it to create "an authoritative interpretation" of the law. The U.S. attorney adhered to Lacombe's wishes and took the matter to the Circuit Court of Appeals in 1910. The Circuit Court of Appeal agreed that Parsis are classified as white.[17]
A. K. Mozumdar was also considered "Caucasian" and therefore eligible for citizenship. Between 1913 and 1923, about 100 Indians were naturalized.
In 1923, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that Indians were ineligible for citizenship because they were not "free white persons".[14] The Court argued that the "great body of our people" would reject Indians.[18] Over fifty Indians had their citizenship revoked after this decision, but Sakharam Ganesh Pandit fought against denaturalization. He was a lawyer and married to a white American, and he regained his citizenship in 1927. However, no other naturalization was permitted after the ruling, which led to about 3,000 Indians leaving the United States. Many other Indians had no means of returning to India. One such immigrant, Vaisho Das Bagai, committed suicide in despair: "The return migration was large enough to render questionable the idea of immigration as a one-way system."[14]
After the Immigration Act of 1917, Indian immigration into the U.S. decreased. Illegal entry through the Mexican border became the way of entering the country for Punjabi immigrants. California's Imperial Valley had a large population of Punjabis who assisted these immigrants and provided support. Immigrants were able to blend in with this relatively homogenous population. The Ghadar Party, a group in California that opposed British rule of India, facilitated illegal crossing of the Mexican border, using funds from this migration "as a means to bolster the party's finances".[16] The Ghadar Party charged different prices for entering the US depending on whether Punjabi immigrants were willing to shave off their beard and cut their hair. It is estimated that between 1920 and 1935, about 1,800 to 2,000 Indian immigrants entered the U.S. illegally.[16]
Indians started moving up the social ladder by getting higher education. In 1910, Dhan Gopal Mukerji came to UC Berkeley when he was 20 years old. He was an author of many children's books and won the Newbery Medal in 1928 for his book Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon. However, he committed suicide at the age of 46 while he was suffering from depression. Another student, Yellapragada Subbarow, came to the U.S. in 1922. He became a biochemist at Harvard University, and he "discovered the function of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as an energy source in cells, and developed methotrexate for the treatment of cancer." However, being a foreigner, he was refused tenure at Harvard. Gobind Behari Lal, who came to UC Berkeley in 1912, became the science editor of the San Francisco Examiner and was the first Indian American to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism.[16]
After WWII, U.S. policy re-opened the door to Indian immigration, although slowly at first. The Luce–Celler Act of 1946 Luce–Celler Act of 1946 permitted a quota of 100 Indians per year to immigrate to the U.S. It also allowed Indian immigrants to naturalize and become citizens of the U.S., effectively reversing the Supreme Court's 1923 ruling in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind.[19] The Naturalization Act of 1952, also known as the McCarran-Walter Act, repealed the Barred Zone Act of 1917, but limited immigration from the former Barred Zone to a total of 2,000 per year. In 1910, 95% of all Indian Americans lived on the western coast of the United States. In 1920, that proportion decreased to 75%; by 1940, it was 65%, as more Indian Americans moved to the east coast. In that year, Indian Americans were registered residents in 43 states. The majority of Indian Americans on the west coast were in rural areas, but on the east coast they became residents of urban areas. In the 1940s, the prices of the land increased, and the Bracero program brought thousands of Mexican guest workers to work on farms, which helped shift second-generation Indian American farmers into "commercial, nonagricultural occupations, from running small shops and grocery stores, to operating taxi services and becoming engineers." In Stockton and Sacramento, a new group of Indian immigrants from the state of Gujarat opened several small hotels.[16] In 1955, 14 of 21 hotels enterprises in San Francisco were operated by Gujarati Hindus. By the 1980s, Gujaratis had come to "dominate the industry." An article published by National Geographic mentions several stories of Gujarati immigrants in the hospitality industry.[20] The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional Northern European groups, which would significantly alter the demographic mix in the U.S.[21] Not all Indian Americans came directly from India; some came to the U.S. via Indian communities in other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, (South Africa, the former British colonies of East Africa,[22] (namely Kenya, Tanzania), and Uganda, Mauritius), the Asia-Pacific region (Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Fiji),[22] and the Caribbean (Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and Jamaica).[22] From 1965 until the mid-1990s, long-term immigration from Indian averaged about 40,000 people per year. From 1995 onward, the flow of Indian immigration increased significantly, reaching a high of about 90,000 immigrants in the year 2000.[16]
21st century
The beginning of the 21st century marked a huge significance in the migration trend from India to the United States. The implementation of Privatization and liberalization had changed the entire outflow of migrants. The emergence of Information Technology industry in Indian cities as Bangalore and Hyderabad had led to the large number of migrations to the USA primarily from the erstwhile states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in South India. There are sizable population of people from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala who have settled in different parts of the United States. Indians comprise over 80% of all H-1B visas. Indian Americans have risen to become the richest ethnicity in America, with an average household income of $126,891 (compared to the US average of $65,316).
In the last twenty years, a large number of students have started migrating to the United States to pursue higher education. A variety of estimates state that over 500,000 Indian American students attend higher-education institutions in any given year.[23][24] As per Institute of International Education (IIE) 'Opendoors' report, 202,014 new students from India enrolled in US education institutions.[25] Organizations like the North American Association of Indian Students help organize for the large demographic.
Demographics
See also: Indians in the New York City metropolitan region
India Square, in the heart of Bombay, Jersey City, New Jersey, US, home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere,[26] is one of at least 24 Indian American enclaves characterized as a Little India which have emerged within the New York City Metropolitan Area, with the largest metropolitan Indian population outside Asia, as large-scale immigration from India continues into New York.[27][28][29]
According to the 2010 United States Census,[30] the Asian Indian population in the United States grew from almost 1,678,765 in 2000 (0.6% of U.S. population) to 2,843,391 in 2010 (0.9% of U.S. population), a growth rate of 69.37%, one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States.[31]
The New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area, consisting of New York City, Long Island, and adjacent areas within New York, as well as nearby areas within the states of New Jersey (extending to Trenton), Connecticut (extending to Bridgeport), and including Pike County, Pennsylvania, was home to an estimated 711,174 uniracial Indian Americans as of the 2017 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, comprising by far the largest Indian American population of any metropolitan area in the United States;[32] New York City itself also contains by far the highest Indian American population of any individual city in North America, estimated at 246,454 as of 2017.[33] Monroe Township, Middlesex County, in central New Jersey, the geographic heart of the Northeast megalopolis, has displayed one of the fastest growth rates of its Indian population in the Western Hemisphere, increasing from 256 (0.9%) as of the 2000 Census[34] to an estimated 5,943 (13.6%) as of 2017,[35] representing a 2,221.5% (a multiple of 23) numerical increase over that period, including many affluent professionals and senior citizens. In 2014, 12,350 Indians legally immigrated to the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA core based statistical area;[36] As of December 2019, Indian airline carrier Air India as well as United States airline carrier United Airlines were offering direct flights from the New York City Metropolitan Area to and from Delhi and Mumbai. In May 2019, Delta Air Lines announced non-stop flight service between New York JFK and Mumbai, to begin on December 22, 2019.[37] At least twenty Indian American enclaves characterized as a Little India have emerged in the New York City Metropolitan Area.[citation needed]
Other metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations include Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore–Washington, Boston, Chicago, Dallas–Ft. Worth, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Raleigh, San Francisco–San Jose–Oakland, and Seattle.
The three oldest Indian American communities going back to around 1910 are in lesser populated agricultural areas like Stockton, California south of Sacramento; the Central Valley of California like Yuba City; and Imperial County, California aka Imperial Valley. These were all primarily Sikh settlements.
Census Bureau 2000, Asian Indians in the United States.png
U.S. metropolitan areas with large Asian Indian populations
Asian Indian population in Metropolitan Statistical Areas of the United States of America
Metropolitan Statistical Area Indian American
population (2010)[38] Total population (2010) % of Total
population Combined Statistical Area
New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ–PA 526,133 18,897,109 2.8% New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 171,901 9,461,105 1.8% Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV 127,963 5,582,170 2.3% Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 119,901 12,828,837 0.9% Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA 119,854 4,335,391 2.8% San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 117,711 1,836,911 6.4% San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX 100,386 6,371,773 1.6% Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK
Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, TX 91,637 5,946,800 1.5% Houston-The Woodlands, TX
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 90,286 5,965,343 1.5% Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 78,980 5,268,860 1.5% Atlanta–Athens-Clarke County–Sandy Springs, GA
Boston–Cambridge–Newton, MA-NH 62,598 4,552,402 1.4% Boston–Worcester–Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT
Detroit–Warren–Livonia, MI 55,087 4,296,250 1.3% Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI
Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA 52,652 3,439,809 1.5% Seattle-Tacoma, WA
Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach, FL 41,334 5,564,635 0.7% Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL
Baltimore–Columbia–Towson, MD 32,193 2,710,489 1.2% Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA
Phoenix–Mesa–Glendale, AZ 31,203 4,192,887 0.7%
Minneapolis-St. Paul–Bloomington, MN-WI 29,453 3,279,833 0.9% Minneapolis-St. Paul MN-WI
Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, FL 26,105 2,134,411 1.2% Orlando–Deltona–Daytona Beach, FL
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA 24,306 3,095,313 0.8% [39]
Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA 23,587 4,224,851 0.6% Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater, FL 23,526 2,783,243 0.8%
Austin-Round Rock, TX 23,503 1,716,289 1.4%
Raleigh, NC 20,192 1,130,490 1.8% Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
Columbus, OH 19,529 1,836,536 1.1% Columbus–Marion–Zanesville, OH
Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT 18,764 1,212,381 1.5% Hartford-East Hartford, CT
St. Louis, MO–IL 16,874 2,812,896 0.6% St. Louis–St. Charles–Farmington, MO–IL
Fresno, CA 15,469 930,450 1.7% Fresno–Madera, CA
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT 15,439 916,829 1.7% New York–Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA
Trenton, NJ 15,352 366,513 4.2% New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA
Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA 15,117 2,226,009 0.7% Portland–Vancouver–Salem, OR-WA
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 14,696 2,130,151 0.7% Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN
Pittsburgh, PA 14,568 2,356,285 0.6% Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV
Cleveland–Elyria, OH 14,215 2,077,240 0.7% Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH
Stockton, CA 12,951 685,306 1.9% San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO 13,649 2,543,482 0.5% Denver–Aurora, CO
Richmond, VA 12,926 1,258,251 1.0%
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN 12,669 1,756,241 0.7% Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI[40] 11,945 1,555,908 0.8% Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, CI
Kansas City, MO-KS 11,646 2,035,334 0.6% Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO 3,534 422,610 0.9% Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area
While the table above provides a picture of the population of Indian American (alone) and Asian Americans (alone) in some of the metropolitan areas of the US, it is incomplete as it does not include multi-racial Asian Americans. Please note that data for multi-racial Asian Americans has not yet been released by the US Census Bureau.
List of U.S. states by the population of Asian Indians
Asian-Indian population by states
State Asian Indian population
(2010 Census)[41] % of state's population
(2010 Census) Asian Indian population
(2000 Census) % change
(2000–2010)
California 528,120 1.42% 314,819 46.6%
New York 313,620 1.62% 251,724 5.9%
New Jersey 292,256 3.32% 169,180 72.7%
Texas 245,981 0.98% 129,365 90.1%
Illinois 188,328 1.47% 124,723 51.0%
Florida 128,735 0.68% 70,740 82.0%
Virginia 103,916 1.30% 48,815 112.9%
Pennsylvania 103,026 0.81% 57,241 80.0%
Georgia 96,116 0.99% 46,132 108.3%
Maryland 79,051 1.37% 49,909 58.4%
Massachusetts 77,177 1.18% 43,801 76.2%
Michigan 77,132 0.78% 54,656 41.1%
Ohio 64,187 0.56% 38,752 65.6%
Washington 61,124 0.91% 23,992 154.8%
North Carolina 57,400 0.60% 26,197 119.1%
Connecticut 46,415 1.30% 23,662 96.2%
Arizona 36,047 0.56% 14,741 144.5%
Minnesota 33,031 0.52% 16,887 95.6%
Indiana 27,598 0.43% 14,865 85.7%
Tennessee 23,900 0.38% 12,835 86.2%
Missouri 23,223 0.39% 12,169 90.8%
Wisconsin 22,899 0.40% 12,665 80.85
Colorado 20,369 0.41% 11,720 73.8%
Oregon 16,740 0.44% 9,575 74.8%
South Carolina 15,941 0.34% 8,856 80.0%
Kansas 13,852 0.49% 8,153 69.9%
Alabama 13,036 0.27% 6,900 88.9%
Kentucky 12,501 0.29% 6,771 84.6%
Oklahoma 11,906 0.32% 8,502 40.0%
Nevada 11,671 0.43% 5,535 110.9%
Delaware 11,424 1.27% 5,280 116.4%
Louisiana 11,174 0.25% 8,280 35.0%
Iowa 11,081 0.36% 5,641 96.4%
New Hampshire 8,268 0.63% 3,873 113.5%
Arkansas 7,973 0.27% 3,104 156.9%
Utah 6,212 0.22% 3,065 102.7%
Nebraska 5,903 0.32% 3,273 80.4%
Mississippi 5,494 0.19% 3,827 43.6%
Washington, D.C. 5,214 0.87% 2,845 83.3%
Rhode Island 4,653 0.44% 2,942 58.2%
New Mexico 4,550 0.22% 3,104 46.6%
Puerto Rico 3,523 0.09% 4,789 −26.4%
West Virginia 3,304 0.18% 2,856 15.7%
Hawaii 2,201 0.16% 1,441 52.7%
Idaho 2,152 0.14% 1,289 67.0%
Maine 1,959 0.15% 1,021 91.9%
North Dakota 1,543 0.23% 822 87.7%
Vermont 1,359 0.22% 858 58.4%
Alaska 1,218 0.17% 723 68.5%
South Dakota 1,152 0.14% 611 88.5%
Montana 618 0.06% 379 63.1%
Wyoming 589 0.10% 354 66.4%
Total Asian-Indian population in US 2,843,391 0.92% 1,678,765 69.4%
Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1910 2,545 —
1920 2,507 −1.5%
1930 3,130 +24.9%
1940 2,405 −23.2%
1980 361,531 +14932.5%
1990 815,447 +125.6%
2000 1,678,765 +105.9%
2010 2,843,391 +69.4%
2017 4,402,362 +54.8%
2020 5,400,000+ —
Statistics
The United States is host to the second largest Indian diaspora on the planet
In 2006, of the 1,266,264 legal immigrants to the United States, 58,072 were from India. Between 2000 and 2006, 421,006 Indian immigrants were admitted to the U.S., up from 352,278 during the 1990–1999 period.[44] According to the 2000 U.S. census, the overall growth rate for Indians from 1990 to 2000 was 105.87 percent. The average growth rate for the U.S. was 7.6 percent. Indians comprise 16.4 percent of the Asian-American community. In 2000, the Indian-born population in the U.S. was 1.007 million. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000, the Indian population in the U.S. grew 130% – 10 times the national average of 13%. Indian Americans are the third largest Asian American ethnic group, following Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.[45][46][47]
A joint Duke University – UC Berkeley study revealed that Indian immigrants have founded more engineering and technology companies from 1995 to 2005 than immigrants from the UK, China, Taiwan and Japan combined.[48] The percentage of Silicon Valley startups founded by Indian immigrants has increased from 7% in 1999 to 15.5% in 2006, as reported in the 1999 study by AnnaLee Saxenian [49] and her updated work in 2006 in collaboration with Vivek Wadhawa.[50] Indian Americans are making their way to the top positions of almost every big technology company (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Adobe, Softbank, Cognizant, Sun microsystems, etc.) Many of them came from very humble origins, for example the current google CEO "Sundar Pichai did not have the privilege of watching television or travelling by car during his childhood. Born and raised in a middle class household, Mr. Pichai used to sleep with his brother in the living room of their two-room apartment that barely had any technology. Despite facing these hardships of everyday life in India, Pichai had a gleam in his eyes of sheer ambition and relentless pursuit."[51]
A recent study shows that 23% of Indian business school graduates take a job in United States.[52]
Year Asian Indians (per ACS)
2005 2,319,222
2006 2,482,141
2007 2,570,166
2008 2,495,998
2009 2,602,676
2010 2,765,155
2011 2,908,204
2012 3,049,201
2013 3,189,485
2014 3,491,052
2015 3,699,957
2016 3,813,407
2017 4,094,539
2018 4,312,526
2019 4,602,151
2020 4,821,134
Socioeconomic status
See also: Contribution of Indian diaspora and Indianisation
Manjul Bhargava, Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University and Fields Medal winner.
Indian Americans continuously outpace every other ethnic group socioeconomically per U.S. Census statistics.[53] Thomas Friedman, in his 2005 book The World Is Flat, explains this trend in terms of brain drain, whereby a sample of the best and brightest elements in India emigrate to the US in order to seek better financial opportunities.[54] Indians form the second largest group of physicians after non-Hispanic whites (3.9%) as of the 1990 survey, and the percentage of Indian physicians rose to around 6% in 2005.[55]
Education
According to Pew Research in 2015, of Indian Americans aged 25 and older, 72% had obtained a bachelor's degree and 40% had obtained a postgraduate degree, whereas of all Americans, 19% had obtained a bachelor's degree and 11% had obtained a postgraduate degree.[56]
Household income
The median household income for Indian immigrants in 2015 was much higher than that of the overall foreign- and native-born populations. Households headed by Indian immigrants had a median income of $101,591, compared to $51,000 and $56,000 for overall immigrant and native-born households, respectively. By far they are the richest and most successful ethnic group in the USA due to many factors including relatively low wages for highly skilled workers in India which creates an incentive for highly skilled Indians to seek better-paid career opportunities overseas.
Approximately 7% of Indian immigrants lived in poverty in 2015, a much lower rate than the foreign-born population overall and the U.S. born (17 percent and 14 percent, respectively).[57]
Culture
Media
Media
Sheetal Sheth Publicity Still 5.jpg
Sheetal Sheth
NorahJones Parque Independencia 2010.jpg
Norah Jones is an American singer, songwriter, and actress.
Punjabi and Hindi radio stations are available in areas with high Indian populations, for example, Punjabi Radio USA in California and Easy96.com in the New York City metropolitan area, KLOK 1170 AM in San Francisco, RBC Radio; Radio Humsafar, Desi Junction in Chicago; Radio Salaam Namaste and FunAsia Radio in Dallas; and Masala Radio, FunAsia Radio, Sangeet Radio, Radio Naya Andaz in Houston and Washington Bangla Radio on Internet from the Washington DC Metro Area. There are also some radio stations broadcasting in Tamil and Telugu within these communities.[58][59] Houston-based Kannada Kaaranji radio focuses on a multitude of programs for children and adults.[60]
AVS (Asian Variety Show) and Namaste America are nationally available South Asian programming available free to air and can be watched with a television antenna.
Several cable and satellite television providers offer Indian channels: Sony TV, Zee TV, TV Asia, Star Plus, Sahara One, Colors, Big Magic, regional channels, and others have offered Indian content for subscription, such as the Cricket World Cup. There is also an American cricket channel called Willow.
Many metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations now have movie theaters which specialize in showing Indian movies, especially from Bollywood and Telugu cinema.
In July 2005, MTV premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi which targets Indian Americans.[61] It has been discontinued by MTV.
In 2012, the film Not a Feather, but a Dot directed by Teju Prasad, was released which investigates the history, perceptions and changes in the Indian American community over the last century.
In popular media, several Indian American personalities have made their mark in recent years, including Kovid Gupta, Kal Penn, Hari Kondabolu, Karan Brar, Aziz Ansari, Hasan Minhaj, and Mindy Kaling.
Religion
Religious Makeup of Indian-Americans (2012)[62]
Hinduism (53%)
Protestantism (11%)
Islam (8%)
Unaffiliated (10%)
Catholicism (5%)
Sikhism (5%)
Jainism (2%)
Other Christian (2%)
Other (Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Bahá’ís, and Indian Jews) (4%)
Indian religions in US
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Akshardham, New Jersey, one of the largest Hindu temples.[63]
Gurdwara Sahib of San Jose
Jain Center of Greater Phoenix (JCGP)
Communities of Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Indian Jews have established their religions in the United States. According to 2012 Pew Research Center research, 53% consider themselves Hindu, 18% as Christian (Protestant 11%, Catholic 5%, other Christian 3%), 10% as unaffiliated, 8% as Muslims, 5% as Sikh, 2% as Jain.[6] The first religious center of an Indian religion to be established in the US was a Sikh Gurudwara in Stockton, California in 1912. Today there are many Sikh Gurudwaras, Hindu temples, Christian churches, and Buddhist and Jain temples in all 50 states.
Hindus
Further information: Hinduism in the United States
Nikki Haley and other Indian Americans participated in the Diwali celebrations at the White House, 2017
Some have claimed that as of 2008, the American Hindu population was around 2.2 million,[64] but this estimation is based on the flawed assumption that percentage of Hindus among Indian Americans is the same as in India. Regardless, Hindus are the majority of Indian Americans.[65][66] Many organizations such as ISKCON, Swaminarayan Sampraday, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Chinmaya Mission, and Swadhyay Pariwar are well-established in the U.S. Hindu Americans have formed the Hindu American Foundation which represents American Hindus and aim to educate people about Hinduism. Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism to the West at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions.[67] The Vedanta Society has been important in subsequent Parliaments. Today, many Hindu temples, most of them built by Indian Americans, have emerged in different cities and towns in the United States.[68][69] More than 18 million Americans are now practicing some form of Yoga. Kriya Yoga was introduced to America by Paramahansa Yogananda. A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada initiated the popular ISKCON, also known as the Hare Krishna movement, while preaching Bhakti yoga.
Sikhs
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Further information: Sikhism in the United States
There are nearly 30 million Sikhs around the world today, and a vast majority of them live in the Indian state of Punjab. There is also a robust and flourishing diaspora, with communities large and small all over the globe. Much of the diaspora is concentrated in the commonwealth due to migration within the British empire, yet Sikhs continue to establish themselves in various countries throughout the world.
From the time of their arrival in the late 1800s, Sikh men and women have been making notable contributions to American society. In 2007, there were estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000 Sikhs living in the United States, with largest populations living on the East and West Coasts, together with additional populations in Detroit, Chicago, and Austin. The United States also has a number of non-Punjabi converts to Sikhism. Sikh men are typically identifiable by their unshorn beards and turbans (head coverings), articles of their faith. Many organisations like World Sikh Organisation (WSO), Sikh Riders of America, SikhNet, Sikh Coalition, SALDEF, United Sikhs, National Sikh Campaign continue to educate people about Sikhism. There are many "Gurudwaras" Sikh temples present in all states of USA.
Jains
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Further information: Jainism in the United States
Adherents of Jainism first arrived in the United States in the 20th century. The most significant time of Jain immigration was in the early 1970s. The US has since become a center of the Jain diaspora. The Federation of Jain Associations in North America is an umbrella organization of local American and Canadian Jain congregations.[70] Unlike India and United Kingdom, the Jain community in United States doesn't find sectarian differences, Both Digambara and Śvētāmbara share a common roof.
Muslims
Further information: Islam in the United States
South Asian Muslims (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) population is about 33% of all Muslims in USA, which makes approximately 400,000 Muslims of India (After 1947) origin living in United States of America.[71] American Muslims of Indian origin is a vibrant community actively engaged in various social, political and economic activities taking place all over the country.[72]
Hasan Minhaj, Farid Zakaria, Aziz Ansari,[73] Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan [74] are few well known Indian American Muslims. Indian Muslim Americans also congregate with other American Muslims, including those from Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh when there are events particularly related to their faith and religious believes as the same can be applied for any other religious community, but there are prominent organizations such as the Indian Muslim Council – USA.[75]
Christians
There are many Indian Christian churches across the US; Church of South India, Church of North India, Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Christhava Tamil Koil, Indian Orthodox Church, Mar Thoma Church (reformed), Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, The Pentecostal Mission, Assemblies Of God, Church of God, Sharon Pentecostal Church, Independent Non Denominational Churches like Heavenly Feast, Plymouth Brethren, and the India Pentecostal Church of God. Saint Thomas Christians from Kerala have established their own places of worship across the United States. The website USIndian.org has collected a comprehensive list of all the traditional St. Thomas Christian Churches in the US.[76] There are also Catholic Indians hailing originally from Goa, Karnataka and Kerala, who attend the same services as other American Catholics, but may celebrate the feast of Saint Francis Xavier as a special event of their identity.[77][78][79] The Indian Christian Americans have formed the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA) to represent a network of Indian Christian organizations in the US. FIACONA estimates the Indian American Christian population to be 1,050,000.[80]
Others
The large Parsi and Irani community is represented by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.[81] Indian Jews are perhaps the smallest organized religious group among Indian Americans, consisting of approximately 350 members in the US. They form the Indian Jewish Congregation of USA, with their headquarters in New York City.[82]
Ethnicity
Davuluri speaking, wearing her Miss America tiara, large earrings and a long necklace of red flowers
Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014 "first contestant of Indian descent to win the Miss America Competition"
Like the terms "Asian American" or "South Asian American", the term "Indian American" is also an umbrella label applying to a variety of views, values, lifestyles, and appearances. Although Asian-Indian Americans retain a high ethnic identity, they are known to assimilate into American culture while at the same time keeping the culture of their ancestors.[83]
Linguistic affiliation
Kiran Desai, winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize
The United States is home to various associations that promote Indian languages and cultures. Some major organizations include Telugu Association of North America (TANA), American Telugu Association (ATA), Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, Federation of Kerala Associations in North America, Association of Kannada Kootas of America (AKKA), North American Bengali Conference, Orissa Society of the Americas, and Maharashtra Mandal.
Progress
Timeline
1600: Beginning of the East India Company.[11]
1635: An "East Indian" is documented present in Jamestown, Virginia.[84]
1790: The first officially confirmed Indian immigrant arrives in the United States from Madras on a British ship.[85][86]
1899–1914: The first significant wave of Indian immigrants arrives in the United States, mostly consisting of Sikh farmers and businessmen from the Punjab region of British India. They arrive in Angel Island, California via Hong Kong. They start businesses including farms and lumber mills in California, Oregon, and Washington.
1909: Bhicaji Balsara becomes the first known Indian-born person to gain naturalised U.S. citizenship. As a Parsi, he was considered a "pure member of the Persian sect" and therefore a free White person. The judge Emile Henry Lacombe, of the Southern District of New York, only gave Balsara citizenship on the hope that the United States attorney would indeed challenge his decision and appeal it to create "an authoritative interpretation" of the law. The U.S. attorney adhered to Lacombe's wishes and took the matter to the Circuit Court of Appeals in 1910. The Circuit Court of Appeal agrees that Parsis are classified as white.[17]
1912: The first Sikh temple opens in Stockton, California.
1913: A.K. Mozumdar becomes the second Indian-born person to earn U.S. citizenship, having convinced the Spokane district judge that he was "Caucasian" and met the requirements of naturalization law that restricted citizenship to free White persons. In 1923, as a result of United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, his citizenship was revoked.
1914: Dhan Gopal Mukerji obtains a graduate degree from Stanford University, studying also at University of California, Berkeley and later goes on to win the Newbery Medal in 1928, and thus becomes the first successful India-born man of letters in the United States, as well as the first popular Indian writer in English.
1917: The Barred Zone Act passes in Congress through two-thirds majority, overriding President Woodrow Wilson's earlier veto. Asians, including Indians, are barred from entering the United States.
1918: Due to anti-miscegenation laws, there was significant controversy in Arizona when an Indian farmer B. K. Singh married the sixteen-year-old daughter of one of his White American tenants.[87]
1918: Private Raghunath N. Banawalkar is the first Indian American recruited into the U.S. Army on February 25, 1918 and serves in the Sanitary Detachment of the 305th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division, American Expeditionary Forces in France. Gassed while on active service in October 1918 and subsequently awarded Purple Heart medal.[88]
1918: Earliest record of LGBT Indian Americans, Jamil Singh in Sacramento, California[89]
1922: Yellapragada Subbarao, a Telugu from the state of Andhra Pradesh in Southern India arrived in Boston on October 26, 1922. He discovered the role of phosphocreatine and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in muscular activity, which earned him an entry into biochemistry textbooks in the 1930s. He obtained his Ph.D the same year, and went on to make other major discoveries; including the synthesis of aminopterin (later developed into methotrexate), the first cancer chemotherapy.
1923: In United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, the Supreme Court unanimously rules that Indian people are aliens ineligible for United States citizenship. Bhagat Singh Thind regained his citizenship years later in New York.[90]
1943: Republican Clare Boothe Luce and Democrat Emanuel Celler introduce a bill to open naturalization to Indian immigrants to the United States. Prominent Americans Pearl Buck, Louis Fischer, Albert Einstein and Robert Millikan give their endorsement to the bill. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, also endorses the bill, calling for an end to the "statutory discrimination against the Indians".
1946: President Harry Truman signs into law the Luce–Celler Act of 1946, returning the right to Indian Americans to immigrate to the United States and become naturalized citizens.
1956: Dalip Singh Saund elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from California. He was re-elected to a second and third term, winning over 60% of the vote. He is also the first Asian immigrant from any country to be elected to Congress.
1962: Zubin Mehta appointed music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, becoming the first person of Indian origin to become the principal conductor of a major American orchestra. Subsequently, he was appointed principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
1964: Amar G. Bose founded Bose Corporation. He was the chairman, primary stockholder, and also holds the title of Technical Director at Bose Corporation. He was former professor of electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1965: President Lyndon Johnson signs the INS Act of 1965 into law, eliminating per-country immigration quotas and introducing immigration on the basis of professional experience and education. Satinder Mullick is one of the first to immigrate under the new law in November 1965—sponsored by Corning Glass Works.
1968: Hargobind Khorana shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for discovering the mechanisms by which RNA codes for the synthesis of proteins. He was then on faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but later moved to MIT.
1974: Mafat and Tulsi Patel open the first location of Patel Brothers on Devon Avenue in Chicago, one of the first Indian grocery chains in America
1975: Launch of India-West, a leading newspaper covering issues of relevance to the Indian American community.
1981: Suhas Patil co-founded Cirrus Logic, one of the first fabless semiconductor companies.
1982: Vinod Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems.
1983: Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar won the Nobel Prize for Physics; Asian Indian Women in America[91] attended the first White House Briefing for Asian American Women. (AAIWA, formed in 1980, is the 1st Indian women's organization in North America.)
1987: President Ronald Reagan appoints Joy Cherian, the first Indian Commissioner of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
1988: Sanjay Mehrotra co-founded SanDisk.
1994: Rajat Gupta elected managing director of McKinsey & Company, the first Indian-born CEO of a multinational company.
1994: Guitarist Kim Thayil, of Indian origin, wins Grammy award for his Indian inspired guitarwork on the album Superunknown by his band Soundgarden.
1994: Raj Reddy received the ACM Turing Award (with Edward Feigenbaum) "For pioneering the design and construction of large scale artificial intelligence systems, demonstrating the practical importance and potential commercial impact of artificial intelligence technology".
1996: Pradeep Sindhu co-founded Juniper Networks
1996: Rajat Gupta and Anil Kumar of McKinsey & Company co-found the Indian School of Business.
1997: Kalpana Chawla, one of the six-member crew of STS-87 mission, becomes the first Indian American astronaut.
Kalpana Chawla
1999: NASA names the third of its four "Great Observatories" Chandra X-ray Observatory after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar the Indian-born American astrophysicist and a Nobel laureate.
1999: Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan enters film history with his film The Sixth Sense becoming one of the all-time highest-grossing films worldwide.
1999: Rono Dutta becomes the president of United Airlines.
2001: Professor Dipak C. Jain (born in Tezpur – Assam, India) appointed as dean of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He is the Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor in Entrepreneurial Studies and a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1987.
2002: Professor Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao — 'the world-renowned statistician' is awarded National Medal of Science by President George W. Bush.
2005: Abhi Talwalkar, president and chief executive officer of LSI Corporation
Indra Nooyi, former chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo
2006: Indra Nooyi (born in Chennai, India) appointed as CEO of PepsiCo. She is a Successor Fellow of the Yale Corporation — sometimes, and more formally, known as The President and Fellows of Yale College, is the governing body of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She also serves as a member of the boards of the International Rescue Committee, Catalyst and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, trustees of Eisenhower Fellowships, and currently serves as chairman of the U.S.–India Business Council.
2007: Bobby Jindal is elected governor of Louisiana and is the first person of Indian descent to be elected governor of an American state; he is inaugurated on January 14, 2008.
2007: Renu Khator appointed to a dual-role as chancellor of the University of Houston System and president of the University of Houston on October 15, 2007.
2007: Francisco D'Souza appointed as the president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Cognizant Technology Solutions. He is one of the youngest chief executive officers in the software services sector at the age 38 in the United States. He was part of the team founded, in 1994, the NASDAQ-100 Cognizant Technology Solutions.
2007: Vikram Pandit (born in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India) appointed as CEO of Citigroup. He was previously the president and chief operating officer of the Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group at Morgan Stanley. He also serves on the boards of Columbia University, Columbia Business School, the Indian School of Business and The Trinity School. He is a former board member of NASDAQ (2000–2003), the New York City Investment Fund.
2007: Shantanu Narayen appointed as CEO of Adobe Systems.
2008: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson appoints Neel Kashkari as the Interim U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability.
2008: Raj Chetty appointed as professor of economics at Harvard University the age of 29, one of the youngest ever to receive tenure of professorship in the Department of Economics at Harvard. He is one of the top young economists in the world.
2008: Sanjay Jha appointed as Co-CEO of Motorola, Inc..
2008: Establishment of the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) to document the history of the South Asian American community.[92]
2009: President Barack Obama appoints Preet Bharara (born in Firozpur, India; graduate of Harvard College Class of 1990 and Columbia Law School Class of 1993) as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York Manhattan.
Farah Pandith appointed as Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States Department of State.
2009: President Barack Obama appoints Aneesh Paul Chopra as the first American Federal Chief Technology Officer of the United States (CTO).
2009: President Barack Obama appoints Eboo Patel and Anju Bhargava on President's Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
2009: President Barack Obama appoints Vinai Thummalapally as the U.S. Ambassador to Belize
2009: President Barack Obama nominates Rajiv Shah, M.D. as the new head of United States Agency for International Development.
2009: President Barack Obama nominates Islam A. Siddiqui as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
2010: President of Harvard University Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust appoints Nitin Nohria as the tenth dean of Harvard Business School.
2010: President of University of Chicago Robert Zimmer appoints Sunil Kumar as the dean of University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
2010: Deven Sharma appointed president of Standard & Poor's.
2010: Ajaypal Banga appointed president and CEO of MasterCard.
2010: President Barack Obama nominates Subra Suresh, Dean of Engineering at MIT as director of National Science Foundation.
2010: Year marks the most number of candidates of Indian origin, running for political offices in the United States, including candidates such as: Kamala Harris and Ami Bera.
2010: State Representative Nikki Haley is elected Governor of South Carolina, and becomes the first Indian American woman, and second Indian American in general to become Governor of an American state.
2010: The World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland names Sanjay Gupta, an Indian American senior executive at Abraxis BioScience and advisor to billionaire investor Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong to its 2010 list of 'Young Global Leaders'
2011: Jamshed Bharucha named president of Cooper Union. Previous to that, he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Dartmouth College in 2001, the first Indian American dean at an Ivy League institution, and Provost at Tufts University in 2002.[93]
2011: Satish K. Tripathi appointed as President of University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
2011: Rohit Gupta wins over 100 international awards & accolades for his films Life! Camera Action... and Another Day Another Life.
2011: Bobby Jindal is re-elected Governor of Louisiana.
2012: Ami Bera is elected to the House of Representatives from California.
2013: Vistap Karbhari appointed as president of University of Texas at Arlington
2013: Hachette publishes cartoonist Francis Cleetus' compilation of It's Geek 2 Me tech toons titled "Total Timepass Tech Toons".
2013: Sri Srinivasan is confirmed as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
2013: Nina Davuluri wins Miss America 2014.
2013: Arun M Kumar appointed as assistant secretary and director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade Administration in the Department of Commerce.[94]
2014: Satya Nadella appointed as CEO of Microsoft.
Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of U.S.; former Vice Admiral of U.S. Health Corps
2014: Vivek Murthy appointed as the nineteenth Surgeon General of the United States.
2014: Rakesh Khurana appointed as the dean of Harvard College, the original founding college of Harvard University.
2014: Nikki Haley re-elected to a second term as the Governor of South Carolina in November 2014.[95] She was later appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, in the Trump Administration, in 2017.
2014: Manjul Bhargava wins Fields Medal in Mathematics.
2015: Sundar Pichai appointed as the chairman and CEO of Google.
2016: Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, and Raja Krishnamoorthi are elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and Kamala Harris to the Senate. This puts the total number of people of Indian and South Asian origin in Congress at 5, the largest in history.
2017: Hasan Minhaj roasts President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, becoming the first Indian-American and Muslim-American to perform at the event. Also significant due to Donald Trump's vocal disdain for Muslim-Americans during his election campaign.
2017: President Donald Trump nominates Ajit Pai as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
2017: Balvir Singh was elected to the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders, New Jersey on November 7, 2017. He became the first Asian-American to win a countywide election in Burlington County and the first Sikh-American to win a countywide election in New Jersey.[96]
2019: Seven out of the eight winners of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (Saketh Sundar, Abhijay Kodali, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Christopher Serrao, Rohan Raja, and Rishik Gandhasri), a long-running American academic institution, are Indian Americans. They have broken the spelling bee according to several experts and have dominated this American institution.[97]
2019: Abhijit Banerjee is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.[98][99]
2020: Kamala Harris named Democratic Candidate for Vice President of the United States of America, making her the first person of Indian-American descent to run for any executive position
Classification
Main article: Racial classification of Indian Americans
A man giving a speech. He wears a white blouse with a dark label pin. In front of him, there are two microphones.
Kal Penn speaking at a rally for President Barack Obama at the University of Maryland's Nyumburu Cultural Center.
According to the official U.S. racial categories employed by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S. government agencies, American citizens or resident aliens who marked "Asian Indian" as their ancestry or wrote in a term that was automatically classified as an Asian Indian became classified as part of the Asian race at the 2000 US Census.[100] As with other modern official U.S. government racial categories, the term "Asian" is in itself a broad and heterogeneous classification, encompassing all peoples with origins in the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
In previous decades, Indian Americans were also variously classified as White American, the "Hindu race", and "other".[101] Even today, where individual Indian Americans do not racially self-identify, and instead report Muslim, Jewish, and Zoroastrian as their "race" in the "some other race" section without noting their country of origin, they are automatically tallied as white.[102] This may result in the counting of persons such as Indian Muslims, Indian Jews, and Indian Zoroastrians as white, if they solely report their religious heritage without their national origin.
Citizenship
Unlike many countries, India does not allow dual citizenship.[103] Consequently, many Indian citizens residing in U.S., who do not want to lose their Indian nationality, do not apply for American citizenship (ex. Raghuram Rajan[104]).
Current issues
Discrimination
See also: Stereotypes of South Asians
Sergeant Bhagat Singh Thind in U.S. Army uniform during World War I at Camp Lewis, Washington, in 1918. Thind, an American Sikh, was the first U.S. serviceman to be allowed for religious reasons to wear a turban as part of their military uniform.
In the 1980s, a gang known as the Dotbusters specifically targeted Indian Americans in Jersey City, New Jersey with violence and harassment.[105] Studies of racial discrimination, as well as stereotyping and scapegoating of Indian Americans have been conducted in recent years.[106] In particular, racial discrimination against Indian Americans in the workplace has been correlated with Indophobia due to the rise in outsourcing/offshoring, whereby Indian Americans are blamed for US companies offshoring white-collar labor to India.[107][108] According to the offices of the Congressional Caucus on India, many Indian Americans are severely concerned of a backlash, though nothing serious has taken place.[108] Due to various socio-cultural reasons, implicit racial discrimination against Indian Americans largely go unreported by the Indian American community.[106]
Numerous cases of religious stereotyping of American Hindus (mainly of Indian origin) have also been documented.[109]
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, there have been scattered incidents of Indian Americans becoming mistaken targets for hate crimes. In one example, a Sikh, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was murdered at a Phoenix gas station by a white supremacist. This happened after September 11, and the murderer claimed that his turban made him think that the victim was a Middle Eastern American.[citation needed] In another example, a pizza deliverer was mugged and beaten in Massachusetts for "being Muslim" though the victim pleaded with the assailants that he was in fact a Hindu.[110] In December 2012, an Indian American in New York City was pushed from behind onto the tracks at the 40th Street-Lowery Street station in Sunnyside and killed.[111] The police arrested a woman, Erika Menendez, who admitted to the act and justified it, stating that she shoved him onto the tracks because she believed he was "a Hindu or a Muslim" and she wanted to retaliate for the attacks of September 11, 2001.[112]
In 2004, New York Senator Hillary Clinton joked at a fundraising event with South Asians for Nancy Farmer that Mahatma Gandhi owned a gas station in downtown St. Louis, fueling the stereotype that gas stations are owned by Indians and other South Asians. She clarified in the speech later that she was just joking, but still received some criticism for the statement later on for which she apologized again.[113]
On April 5, 2006, the Hindu Mandir of Minnesota was vandalized allegedly on the basis of religious discrimination.[114] The vandals damaged temple property leading to $200,000 worth of damage.[115][116][117]
On August 11, 2006, Senator George Allen allegedly referred to an opponent's political staffer of Indian ancestry as "macaca" and commenting, "Welcome to America, to the real world of Virginia". Some members of the Indian American community saw Allen's comments, and the backlash that may have contributed to Allen losing his re-election bid, as demonstrative of the power of YouTube in the 21st century.[118]
In 2006, then Delaware Senator and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was caught on microphone saying: "In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking."[119]
On August 5, 2012, white supremacist Wade Michael Page shot eight people and killed six at a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
On February 22, 2017, recent immigrants Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani were shot at a bar in Olathe, Kansas by Adam Purinton, a white American who mistook them for persons of Middle Eastern descent, yelling "get out of my country" and "terrorist". Kuchibhotla died instantly while Madasani was injured, but later recovered.[120]
On December 22, 2018, rapper Famous Dex uploaded a video post to his Instagram page in which he made racially-charged jokes at the expense of an elderly Indian American Hindu cashier at a convenience store in Los Angeles he was frequenting with a friend.[121] During the video, he remarks “Witcho’ lil’... ,” referring to the man's tilaka on his forehead, following a brief exchange about the packaging of the Backwoods Smokes box Famous Dex was purchasing. He then stops and rhetorically adds “That's a mark of Buddha in between yo’ face?,” laughing along with his friend. This is in reference to the 2001 stoner film How High, in which Chuck Deezy's character Ivory opined that the pubic patch between his eyebrows was the ‘mark of Buddha.’[122]
Illegal immigration
See also: Illegal immigration to the United States and Illegal immigration amongst Asian Americans
In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security estimated that there were fifty thousand (50,000) Indian unauthorized immigrants; they are the sixth largest nationality (tied with Koreans) of illegal immigrants behind Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Philippines.[123] Indian Americans have had an increase in illegal immigration of 25% since 2000.[124][125] In 2014, Pew Research Center estimated that there are 50 thousand undocumented Indians in the United States.[126]
Immigration
Indians are among the largest ethnic groups legally immigrating to the United States. The immigration of Indians has taken place in several waves since the first Indian came to the United States in the 1700s. A major wave of immigration to California from the region of Punjab took place in the first decade of the 20th century. Another significant wave followed in the 1950s which mainly included students and professionals. The elimination of immigration quotas in 1965 spurred successively larger waves of immigrants in the late 1970s and early 1980s. With the technology boom of the 1990s, the largest influx of Indians arrived between 1995 and 2000. This latter group has also caused surge in the application for various immigration benefits including applications for green card. This has resulted in long waiting periods for people born in India from receiving these benefits.
As of 2012, over 330,000 Indians were on the visa wait list, third only to Mexico and The Philippines.[127]
In December, 2015, over 30 Indian students seeking admission in two US universities—Silicon Valley University and the Northwestern Polytechnic University—were denied entry by Customs and Border Protection and were deported to India. Conflicting reports suggested that the students were deported because of the controversies surrounding the above-mentioned two universities. However, another report suggested that the students were deported as they had provided conflicting information at the time of their arrival in US to what was mentioned in their visa application. "According to the US Government, the deported persons had presented information to the border patrol agent which was inconsistent with their visa status," read an advisory published by Ministry of External Affairs (India) which was published in the Hindustan Times.[128]
Following the incident, the Indian government asked the US government to honour the visas given by its embassies and consulates. In response, the United States embassy advised the students considering studying in the US to seek assistance from Education USA.[128][129]
Media
Main article: List of Indian American media
Politics
Politics
Dalip Singh Saund was the first Asian American, Indian American, and member of a non-Abrahamic faith (Sikhism) to be elected to the United States Congress.
Nikki Haley was the 29th United States Ambassador to the United Nations and 11th Governor of South Carolina.
Bobby Jindal was the 58th Governor of Louisiana and a former representative.
Kamala Harris was the first person of Indian descent elected to the United States Senate, and first person of Indian origin chosen as the running mate of a major party's presidential candidate.
Representative Ami Bera from California.
Representative Pramila Jayapal from Washington.
Representative Ro Khanna from California.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois.
Several groups have tried to create a voice for the community in political affairs, including the United States India Political Action Committee and the Indian American Leadership Initiative, as well as panethnic groups such as South Asian Americans Leading Together and Desis Rising Up and Moving.[130][131][132][133] Additionally, there are industry groups such as the Asian American Hotel Owners Association and the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin.
A majority tend to identify as moderates and have voted for Democrats in recent elections, in particular supporting Barack Obama in vast numbers.[134] Polls before the 2004 presidential election showed Indian Americans favoring Democratic candidate John Kerry over Republican George W. Bush by a 53% to 14% margin, with 30% undecided at the time.[135] The Republican party has tried to target this community for political support,[136] and in 2007, Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal became the first United States Governor of Indian descent when he was elected Governor of Louisiana.[137] Nikki Haley, also of Indian descent and a fellow Republican, became Governor of South Carolina in 2010. Republican Neel Kashkari is also of Indian descent and ran for Governor of California in 2014. Raja Krishnamoorthi who is a lawyer, engineer and community leader from Schaumburg, Illinois has been the Congressman representing Illinois's 8th congressional district since 2017.[138] Jenifer Rajkumar is a Lower Manhattan district leader and 2020 candidate for the New York State Assembly. If elected, she will be the first Indian American woman elected to the state legislature in New York history.[139] In 2016, Kamala Harris (the daughter of a Tamil Indian American mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, and an Afro-Jamaican American father, Donald Harris[140][141][142]) became the first Indian American[143] and second African American female to serve in the United States Senate.[144] Indian Americans have played a significant role in promoting better India–United States relations, turning the cold attitude of American legislators to a positive perception of India in the post-Cold War era.
Fred Hartsook (26 October 1876 – 30 September 1930) was an American photographer and owner of a California studio chain described as "the largest photographic business in the world" at the time,[1] who counted Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Mary Pickford, and sitting President Woodrow Wilson among his celebrity clients. He later became the owner of the Hartsook Inn, a resort in Humboldt County, and two ranches in Southern California on which he reared prized Holstein cattle. Hartsook was married to Bess Hesby, queen of the San Francisco Pan-Pacific Exposition of 1915.
Contents
1 Early life and career as photographer
2 Later life as rancher and resort owner
3 Gallery
4 Notes
5 References
Early life and career as photographer
Copyright mark of Hartsook Photo, S.F.–L.A., 1918.
Fred Hartsook was born on 26 October 1876 in Marion, Indiana to John Hartsook and Abbie, née Gorham. He was born into a family of photographers and studio owners, his father and two uncles were all successful in the business and his grandfather had been the first photographer to open a studio in Virginia. According to a 1921 profile by John S. McGroarty, "the first Hartsooks [took] up the profession when it was in the infancy of development with the old daguerrotype and the first wet plate processes."[1]
After graduating from high school at age sixteen Hartsook was apprenticed by his uncle as a civil engineer, but spent most of his time in his father's studio. He moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and married Florence Newcomb, 12 September 1901. Flossie came from a family of photographers. She operated her own studio in Vernal, Utah in 1906. Flossie served as Fred's assistant for their traveling photographic studio throughout the Utah territory. They had one daughter; Frances born 25 June 1902. Fred and family then set out to establish themselves in California, arriving sometime after 1906.[1] Initially, Hartsook operated as an "itinerant shutterbug, [wandering] all over the state, his team of mules pulling a homemade darkroom."[2] Later he opened two studios, in Santa Ana and Santa Barbara, but eventually closed them in order to open a studio on 636 South Broadway in Los Angeles.[1]
Hartsook's success as a photographer and studio owner allowed him to expand into other cities along the Pacific Coast, including San Francisco and Oakland. In 1921, McGroarty gives the number of studios as 20 and describes it as the "largest photographic business in the world".[1] Bill Robertson, director of the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services, cited by KPCC in 2009, mentions 30 studios.[2]
Even if the bulk of the business came from everyday studio portraiture, Hartsook gained prominence through his celebrity clients, which included silent era Hollywood actors such as Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, and Carlyle Blackwell, other celebrities such as pilot Charles Lindbergh, entrepreneur Henry Ford, and opera singer Geraldine Farrar, and politicians like House leaders Champ Clark and Joseph Gurney Cannon.[3] McGroarty describes a 40-minute sitting with President Woodrow Wilson in September 1919 as "the first formal sitting since Mr. Wilson became president."[1] Also in 1919, Fred Hartsook married Bess Hesby, who in 1915 was "Miss Liberty" at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. They honeymooned in a cabin six miles (10 km) south of Garberville in the redwood forest of Humboldt County, California.[2]
Later life as rancher and resort owner
The success of his photographic business allowed Fred Hartsook to acquire three properties in California and take up life as a rancher and resort owner. In addition to 3,000 acres (12.1 km2) of pastureland at the mouth of Red Rock Canyon in Kern County, Hartsook also owned a 41-acre (0.16 km2) "country home and ranch"[4] in Lankershim (now North Hollywood), where he raised prize-winning purebred Holstein cattle as well as Toggenburg milk goats and "big type Poland China hogs".[4][5] McGroarty notes that Hartsook's training as a civil engineer helped him develop his properties. Also in keeping with his past as mule driver, "it [was] not uncommon for Mr. Hartsook to pose some of the world's noted people one day and be driving a big mule team on his ranch the next."[4]
In the early 1920s the Hartsooks also purchased their honeymoon cabin and extended it to a resort comprising 37 acres (0.15 km2) of pristine redwood forests, the Hartsook Inn.[2] In 1926 the resort received its own post office and Hartsook, California became an official postal designation.[6] At that time the resort was a major attraction for Hollywood celebrities and counted Mary Pickford and Bing Crosby among its guests.[2] In August 1927 the Hartsook Inn burned down in a forest fire,[7] but was rebuilt and reopened shortly thereafter. In Spring 1928, Hartsook's photographic business went into receivership and was sold in an auction in January 1929.[8] On 30 September 1930, Fred Hartsook died of a heart attack in Burbank, California, shortly before his 54th birthday.[9][10][11] Bess Hartsook outlived her husband by forty-six years and operated the Hartsook Inn until 1938, when it first went into receivership and then burned down again, this time due to a kitchen fire. Fred and Bess Hartsook had three children: Helen, Frederick, and Delyte. Fred Hartsook also had a daughter, Francis, from a previous marriage.[9]
Beyond the short-lived postal designation, the Hartsook name is memorialized in a street in the San Fernando Valley, running along the former Lankershim property. In close proximity is Hesby Street, named after Bess Hesby Hartsook.[2] In Humboldt County, Hartsook Creek,[6] a tributary of the South Fork Eel River, and a redwood tree called "the Hartsook Giant" remind visitors of the family name.[12] The Hartsook Inn was rebuilt and survived under a succession of owners (and another fire in 1973) until the 1990s, when the last operator sold the property to the Save the Redwoods League after threatening to log the Giant to stave off bankruptcy.[13]