Indian American
Encyclopedia
Indian Americans are Americans
whose ancestral roots lie in India
. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas
who are commonly referred to as American Indians
.
n is often used instead of East Indian. People of Indian origin sometimes use the term Desi
to refer to the diasporic
subculture
of South Asians, particularly Indians. Indian Americans are categorized as Asian Indian (and more broadly, Asian American
) by the [United States Census Bureau]
, that Indian Americans were granted naturalization rights in the United States. A number of Indian Americans came to the U.S. via Indian communities in other countries
such as the United Kingdom and Canada, in both of which 2% of the population is of Indian origin, Mauritius
, nations of Southeast Asia such as Malaysia and Singapore
, South Africa, Suriname
, Guyana
, Fiji
, Kenya
, Tanzania
, Uganda
, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica
. Indian Americans are mostly Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and Zoroastrian and are among the most highly educated of American demographics.
The New York metropolitan 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
, is home to approximately 557,000 Indian Americans as of the 2010 Census, comprising by far the largest Indian American population of any metropolitan area in the United States. New York City itself contains the highest Indian American population of any city proper, at approximately 195,000. As of June 2011, Indian airline carriers Air India
and Jet Airways
as well as United States airline carrier Continental Airlines
were all offering flights from the New York City Metropolitan Area to and from India. At least twenty Indian American enclaves characterized as a Little India
have emerged in the New York City Metropolitan Area.
Other metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations include Atlanta, Baltimore–Washington
, Boston
, Chicago, Dallas – Ft. Worth
, Detroit
, Houston
, Los Angeles
, Philadelphia
, and San Francisco – San Jose – Oakland
.
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.
In the year 2006, of the total 1,266,264 legal immigrants to the United States, 58,072 were from India. Immigration from India is currently at its highest level in history. Between 2000 and 2006, 421,006 Indian immigrants were admitted to the U.S., up from 352,278 during the 1990–1999 period. 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 whole of USA was only 7.6 percent.
Indians comprise 16.4 percent of the Asian-American community. They are the third largest in the Asian American population. In 2000, of all the foreign born population in U.S., Indians were 1.007 million. From 2000 onwards the growth rate and the per cent rate of Indians amongst all the immigrants has increased by over 100 percent. 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 today, following Chinese American
s and Filipino American
s.
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. A University of California, Berkeley, study reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of valley hi-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs.
Indians, along with other Asians, have one of the highest educational levels of all ethnic groups in the U.S. Almost 67% of all Indians have a bachelor's or high degree (compared to 28% nationally and 44% average for all Asian American groups). Almost 40% of all Indians in the United States have a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. Thomas Friedman
, in his recent book, The World is Flat
, explains this trend in terms of brain drain
, whereby the best and brightest elements in India emigrate to the U.S. in order to seek better financial opportunities.
. According to the 2000 census, about 64% of Indian Americans have attained a Bachelor's degree
or more. (compared to 28% nationally, and 44% average for all Asian American groups). Almost 40% of all Indians have a master's, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. Among Indian Americans, 72.3% participate in the U.S. work force, of which 57.7% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.
Indian Americans own 50% of all economy lodges and 35% of all hotels in the United States, which have a combined market value of almost $40 billion. In 2002, there were over 223,000 Asian Indian-owned firms in the U.S., employing more than 610,000 workers, and generating more than $88 billion in revenue.
in the Tri-state Area
of New York city
, parts of New Jersey
, Connecticut
and New York
state, Easy96 Radio in the Tri-state Area
of New York city
, parts of New Jersey
, Connecticut
and New York
state, Radio Humsafar
, Desi Junction in Chicago, Radio Salaam Namaste in North Texas, FunAsia Radio, and Sangeet Radio in Houston. There are also some radio stations broadcasting in Tamil
and Telugu
within these communities.. Houston based Kannada Kaaranji radio focuses on a multitude of programs for kids and adults.
Several cable and satellite providers offer Indian channels: Sony TV
, Zee TV
, Star Plus
, Colors, Regional
and Others have offered Indian content for subscription, such as the Cricket World Cup
.
Many metropolitan areas with high Indian-American populations now have movie theatres specialized for showing Indian
movies specializing Bollywood
. Silicon Valley, for example has two such multiplexes: one in Fremont
and one in San Jose
.
In July 2005, MTV
premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi
which targets Indian Americans. It has been discontinued by MTV
.
Communities of Hindu
s, Sikhs, Jains
, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians
, Parsis, and Jews
from India have established their religions in the United States
.
The first religious centre 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, Buddhist and Jain Temple
s in all the 50 states. As of 2008, the American Hindu
population was around 2.2 million, and Hindu
s are the majority of Indian Americans. Many sects such as ISKCON, Swaminarayan Sampraday
, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Chinmaya Mission
, and Swadhyay Pariwar are well-established in the U.S. The Hindu Americans have formed the Hindu American Foundation
which is represents American Hindus
and aims to educate people about Hinduism
.
Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism
to the West at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions. 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 of America. More than 18 million
Americans are now practicing some form of Yoga
. Kriya Yoga
was introduced to America by Paramahansa Yogananda
. In addition, A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada initiated a popular ISKCON also known as Hare Krishna
movement while preaching Bhakti yoga
.
Indian Muslim Americans generally congregate with other American Muslims, including those from Pakistan
and Bangladesh
, but there are prominent organizations such as the Indian Muslim Council - USA
.
There are many Indian Christian churches across the US; Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
, Knanaya
, Indian Orthodox Church
, Mar Thoma Church
(reformed orthodox), Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Church of South India
, The Pentecostal Mission
, and the India Pentecostal Church of God; there are also a number of Indian Christians in mainstream American churches. 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 United States and Canada. FIACONA estimates the Indian American Christian
population to be 600,000.
The large Parsi community is represented by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America. Indian Jews
are perhaps the smallest organized religious group among Indian Americans, consisting of approximately 350 members in the United States. They form the Indian Jewish Congregation of USA with headquarters in New York City.
In countries such as the United States, Canada, and until more recently, Britain, there has been a large influx of Indian immigrants, beginning in the late 1960s. As a result of assimilation, mixed Caucasian
and Indian backgrounds are becoming more prevalent. In the 2001 U.S. Census Bureau’s
publication of the 56,497,000 married couples, it shows that Indian males married almost twice as much with White females (7.1%) than Indian females marrying with White males (3.7%).
The United States is also home to associations of Indians united by ethno-linguistic affiliation. The big organizations include Cultural Association of Bengal and their annually sponsored event the North American Bengali Conference
, AKKA
(Association of Kannada Kootas of America), Kannada Sangha and Kannada Koota, Telugu Association of North America (TANA), Orissa Society of the Americas
, Brihan Maharashtra Mandals of North America (BMM), Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America
, Gujarati Samaj, Prabashi Federation of Kerala
, Associations of North America (FOKANA), Punjabi American Heritage Society and Punjabi-American Cultural Association. These associations generally put on cultural programs, plays, and concerts during the major Hindu festivals (Diwali
, Ganesh Chaturthi
, Padva, Pongal
, Sankranti
, Ugadi
, Baisakh, Onam
, Vishu
) and other religious (e.g., Christian) and cultural events such as Christmas
and New Years.
employed by the United States Census Bureau
, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S. government agencies, American
citizens or resident alien
s who marked "Asian-Indian" as their ancestry or wrote in a term that automatically gets classified as an "Asian-Indian" gets classified as part of the Asian race on the 2000 US Census. 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
. For further discussion on the term Asian American
, please see that article.
In previous decades, Indian Americans were also variously classified as White American
, the "Hindu race", and Other. Even today, where individual Indian Americans do not racially self-identify, and instead report Muslim
(or a sect of Islam such as Shi'ite or Sunni), Jewish, and Zoroastrian as their "race" in the "Some other race" section without noting their country of origin, they are automatically tallied as white. 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.
specifically targeted Indian Americans in Jersey City, New Jersey
with violence and harassment. Studies of racial discrimination, as well as stereotyping and scapegoating of Indian Americans have been conducted in recent years. In particular, racial discrimination of Indian Americans in the workplace has been correlated with Indophobia
due to the rise in outsourcing
/offshoring
paranoia, whereby Indian Americans are blamed for US companies offshoring white-collar
labor to India
. 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 yet. Due to various socio-cultural reasons, implicit racial discrimination against Indian Americans largely go unreported by the Indian American community.
Numerous cases of religious stereotyping of American Hindus
(mainly of Indian origin) have also been documented.
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. 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 Hindu.
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.
On April 5, 2006, the Hindu Mandir of Minnesota was vandalized allegedly on the basis of religious discrimination
. The vandals damaged temple property leading to $200,000 worth of damage.
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." 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.
over Republican George W. Bush
by a 53% to 14% margin, with 30% undecided at the time. The Republican party has tried to target this community, and several prominent conservative activists are of Indian origin.
In 2007, Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal
became the first United States Governor of Indian descent when he was elected Governor of Louisiana and is cited as a leading GOP presidential contender in 2012 or 2016. Nikki Haley
is the governor of South Carolina
. A list of notable Indian American politicians and commentators can be found here.
Miami
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
whose ancestral roots lie in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
who are commonly referred to as American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
.
The term: Indian
In North America the term Indian has an ambiguous meaning. Historically and currently, Indian has been commonly used to indicate Native American. If a more specific term was or is needed, American Indian and East Indian were and are commonly used. American Indian is still the most common term, although Native American can be used to refer to the Indigenous peoples of North America. East Indian is still in common use. Currently South AsiaSouth Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
n is often used instead of East Indian. People of Indian origin sometimes use the term Desi
Desi
Desi or Deshi refers to the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people, cultures, and products of their diaspora. Desi countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...
to refer to the diasporic
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
of South Asians, particularly Indians. Indian Americans are categorized as Asian Indian (and more broadly, Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
) by the [United States Census Bureau]
Arrival in the U.S.
It was after the Luce–Celler Act of 1946Luce–Celler Act of 1946
The Luce-Celler Act of 1946 was proposed by Republican Clare Booth Luce and Democrat Emanuel Celler in 1943 and signed into law by President Harry Truman on July 2, 1946. It re-established immigration from the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines and granted naturalization rights to individuals...
, that Indian Americans were granted naturalization rights in the United States. A number of Indian Americans came to the U.S. via Indian communities in other countries
Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin
A Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
such as the United Kingdom and Canada, in both of which 2% of the population is of Indian origin, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, nations of Southeast Asia such as Malaysia and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, South Africa, Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. Indian Americans are mostly Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and Zoroastrian and are among the most highly educated of American demographics.
Demographics
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the Asian Indian population in the United States grew from almost 1,678,765 in 2000 to 2,843,391 in 2010, a growth rate of 69.37%, the highest for any Asian American community, and among the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States. Indians are a large ethnic group of Asian Americans.The New York metropolitan area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
, consisting of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, and adjacent areas within New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, as well as nearby areas within the states of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
(extending to Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
), Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
(extending to Bridgeport
Bridgeport
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut.Bridgeport may also refer to:-Places:In Canada:* Bridgeport, Nova ScotiaIn the United States:* Bridgeport, Alabama* Bridgeport, California, in Mono County...
), and including Pike County, Pennsylvania
Pike County, Pennsylvania
-National protected areas:* Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area * Middle Delaware National Scenic River * Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River -Demographics:...
, is home to approximately 557,000 Indian Americans as of the 2010 Census, comprising by far the largest Indian American population of any metropolitan area in the United States. New York City itself contains the highest Indian American population of any city proper, at approximately 195,000. As of June 2011, Indian airline carriers Air India
Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...
and Jet Airways
Jet Airways
Jet Airways is a major Indian airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is India's largest airline and the market leader in the domestic sector. It operates over 400 flights daily to 76 destinations worldwide. Its main hub is Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, with secondary hubs at Delhi,...
as well as United States airline carrier Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
were all offering flights from the New York City Metropolitan Area to and from India. At least twenty Indian American enclaves characterized as a Little India
Little India (location)
Little India is an ethnic enclave containing a large population of Indian people within a society where the majority of people are either not South Asians or where the majority in the enclave are indigenous to states in the country of India within a South Asian Society not identifying as Indian...
have emerged in the New York City Metropolitan Area.
Other metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations include Atlanta, Baltimore–Washington
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...
, Boston
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...
, Chicago, Dallas – Ft. Worth
Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...
, Detroit
Metro Detroit
The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is the metropolitan area located in Southeast Michigan centered on the city of Detroit which shares an international border with Windsor, Ontario. The Detroit metropolitan area is the second largest U.S. metropolitan area...
, Houston
Greater Houston
Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas...
, Los Angeles
Greater Los Angeles Area
The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is a term used for the Combined Statistical Area sprawled over five counties in the southern part of California, namely Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Ventura County...
, Philadelphia
Delaware Valley
The Delaware Valley is a term used to refer to the valley where the Delaware River flows, along with the surrounding communities. This includes the metropolitan area centered on the city of Philadelphia. Such educational institutions as Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township...
, and San Francisco – San Jose – Oakland
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
.
U.S. metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations
| Rank | Metropolitan Statistical Area | Total Population (2010) | Indian American Population (2010) | % Indian American | Asian American Population (2010) | % Asian American | Combined Statistical Area |
|---|
| New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA | 18,897,109 | 526,133 | 2.8 | 1,878,261 | 9.9 | New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA | 12,828,837 | 119,901 | 0.9 | 1,884,669 | 14.7 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA CSA |
| Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA | 9,461,105 | 171,901 | 1.8 | 532,801 | 5.6 | Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI CSA |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA | 6,371,773 | 100,386 | 1.6 | 341,503 | 5.4 | Dallas-Fort Worth, TX CSA |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA | 5,965,343 | 90,286 | 1.5 | 295,766 | 5.0 | Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA |
| Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA | 5,946,800 | 91,637 | 1.5 | 389,007 | 6.5 | Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX CSA |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA | 5,582,170 | 127,963 | 2.3 | 517,458 | 9.3 | Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV CSA |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA | 5,564,635 | 41,334 | 0.7 | 125,564 | 2.3 | primary census statistical area |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA | 5,268,860 | 78,980 | 1.5 | 254,707 | 4.8 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL CSA |
| Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA | 4,552,402 | 62,598 | 1.4 | 294,503 | 6.5 | Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH CSA |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA is a Metropolitan Statistical Area within the San Francisco Bay Area, which includes a number of its core cities and counties. It is defined by the US Census Bureau to include core areas economically influenced by San Francisco rather than outlying cities such... |
4,335,391 | 119,854 | 2.8 | 1,005,823 | 23.2 | San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA |
| Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI MSA | 4,296,250 | 55,087 | 1.3 | 141,316 | 3.3 | Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI CSA |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA | 4,224,851 | 23,587 | 0.6 | 259,071 | 6.1 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA CSA |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ MSA | 4,192,887 | 31,203 | 0.7 | 138,717 | 3.3 | primary census statistical area |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA | 3,439,809 | 52,652 | 1.5 | 392,961 | 11.4 | Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA CSA |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA | 3,279,833 | 29,453 | 0.9 | 188,018 | 5.7 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud, MN-WI CSA |
| San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA MSA | 3,095,313 | 24,306 | 0.8 | 336,091 | 10.9 | primary census statistical area |
| St. Louis, MO-IL MSA | 2,812,896 | 16,874 | 0.6 | 60,072 | 2.1 | St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL CSA |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA | 2,783,243 | 23,526 | 0.8 | 80,879 | 2.9 | primary census statistical area |
| Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA | 2,710,489 | 32,193 | 1.2 | 122,911 | 4.5 | Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV CSA |
| Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO MSA | 2,543,482 | 13,649 | 0.5 | 94,005 | 3.7 | Denver-Aurora-Boulder, CO CSA |
| Pittsburgh, PA MSA | 2,356,285 | 14,568 | 0.6 | 41,238 | 1.8 | Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA CSA |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA MSA | 2,226,009 | 15,117 | 0.7 | 126,965 | 5.7 | primary census statistical area |
| Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, CA MSA | 2,149,127 | 35,913 | 1.7 | 255,995 | 11.9 | Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba City, CA-NV CSA |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA | 2,142,508 | 10,567 | 0.5 | 45,330 | 2.1 | primary census statistical area |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA | 2,134,411 | 26,105 | 1.2 | 84,852 | 5.0 | Orlando-Deltona-Daytona Beach, FL CSA |
| Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN MSA | 2,130,151 | 14,696 | 0.7 | 40,422 | 1.9 | Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN CSA |
| Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH MSA | 2,077,240 | 14,215 | 0.7 | 40,522 | 2.0 | Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, OH CSA |
| Kansas City, MO-KS MSA | 2,035,334 | 11,646 | 0.6 | 46,221 | 2.3 | Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS CSA |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ MSA | 2,000,000 | 10,000 | 0.5 | 45,000 | 3.0 | Phoenix, AZ |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA | 1,836,911 | 117,711 | 6.4 | 571,967 | 31.3 | San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA |
| Indianapolis-Carmel, IN MSA | 1,756,241 | 12,669 | 0.7 | 39,576 | 2.3 | Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN CSA |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX MSA | 1,716,289 | 23,650 | 1.4 | 82,433 | 4.8 | Austin-Round Rock-Marble Falls, TX CSA |
| Richmond, VA MSA | 1,258,251 | 12,926 | 1.0 | 39,265 | 3.1 | primary census statistical area |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT MSA | 1,212,381 | 18,764 | 1.5 | 47,339 | 3.9 | Hartford-West Hartford-Willimantic, CT CSA |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA | 1,130,490 | 20,192 | 1.8 | 49,862 | 4.4 | Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC CSA |
| Fresno, CA MSA | 930,450 | 15,469 | 1.7 | 89,357 | 9.6 | Fresno-Madera, CA CSA |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT MSA | 916,829 | 15,439 | 1.7 | 42,284 | 4.6 | New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA |
| Stockton, CA MSA | 685,306 | 12,951 | 1.9 | 98,472 | 14.4 | primary census statistical area |
| Trenton-Ewing, NJ MSA | 366,513 | 15,352 | 4.2 | 32,752 | 8.9 | New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA |
| Yuba City, CA MSA | 166,892 | 10,947 | 6.6 | 18,525 | 11.1 | Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba City, CA-NV CSA |
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 population of Asian Indians
| State | Asian Indian Population (2000 Census) | Asian Indian Population (2010 Census) |
|---|---|---|
| California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
360,392 | 528,176 |
| New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... |
296,056 | 313,620 |
| New Jersey New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware... |
169,180 | 292,256 |
| Texas Texas Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in... |
129,365 | 245,981 |
| Illinois Illinois Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,... |
124,723 | 188,328 |
| Florida Florida Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it... |
70,740 | 128,735 |
| Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... |
48,815 | 103,916 |
| Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... |
57,241 | 103,026 |
| Georgia Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788... |
46,132 | 96,116 |
| Maryland Maryland Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east... |
49,909 | 79,051 |
| Massachusetts Massachusetts The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010... |
43,801 | 77,177 |
| Michigan Michigan Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake".... |
54,656 | 77,132 |
| Ohio Ohio Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus... |
38,752 | 64,187 |
| Washington | 23,992 | 61,124 |
| North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte... |
26,197 | 57,400 |
| Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately... |
23,662 | 46,415 |
| Arizona Arizona Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix... |
14,741 | 36,047 |
| Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state... |
16,887 | 33,031 |
| Indiana Indiana Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is... |
14,865 | 27,598 |
| Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area... |
12,835 | 23,900 |
| Missouri Missouri Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It... |
12,169 | 23,223 |
| Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is... |
12,665 | 22,899 |
| Colorado Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains... |
11,720 | 20,369 |
| Oregon Oregon Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern... |
9,575 | 16,740 |
| South Carolina South Carolina South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence... |
8,856 | 15,941 |
| Kansas Kansas Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south... |
8,153 | 13,848 |
| Alabama Alabama Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland... |
6,900 | 13,036 |
| Kentucky Kentucky The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth... |
6,771 | 12,501 |
| Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state... |
8,502 | 11,906 |
| Nevada Nevada Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its... |
5,535 | 11,671 |
| Delaware Delaware Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania... |
5,280 | 11,424 |
| Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties... |
8,280 | 11,174 |
| Iowa Iowa Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New... |
5,641 | 11,081 |
| New Hampshire New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian... |
3,873 | 8,268 |
| Arkansas Arkansas Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River... |
3,104 | 7,973 |
| Utah Utah Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the... |
3,065 | 6,212 |
| Nebraska Nebraska Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River.... |
3,273 | 5,903 |
| Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi... |
3,827 | 5,494 |
| Washington, D.C | 2,845 | 5,214 |
| Rhode Island Rhode Island The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area... |
2,942 | 4,653 |
| New Mexico New Mexico New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S... |
3,104 | 4,550 |
| Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an... |
3,523 | |
| West Virginia West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east... |
2,856 | 3,304 |
| Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of... |
1,441 | 2,201 |
| Idaho Idaho Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state.... |
1,289 | 2,152 |
| Maine Maine Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost... |
1,021 | 1,959 |
| North Dakota North Dakota North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S.... |
822 | 1,543 |
| Vermont Vermont Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England... |
858 | 1,359 |
| Alaska Alaska Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait... |
723 | 1,218 |
| South Dakota South Dakota South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over... |
611 | 1,152 |
| Montana Montana Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,... |
379 | 618 |
| Wyoming Wyoming Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High... |
354 | 589 |
| Total Asian Indian population in the US | 1,678,765 | 2,843,391 |
Statistics on Indians in the U.S.
Indians comprise 16.4 percent of the Asian-American community. They are the third largest in the Asian American population. In 2000, of all the foreign born population in U.S., Indians were 1.007 million. From 2000 onwards the growth rate and the per cent rate of Indians amongst all the immigrants has increased by over 100 percent. 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 today, following Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
s and Filipino American
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
s.
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. A University of California, Berkeley, study reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of valley hi-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs.
Indians, along with other Asians, have one of the highest educational levels of all ethnic groups in the U.S. Almost 67% of all Indians have a bachelor's or high degree (compared to 28% nationally and 44% average for all Asian American groups). Almost 40% of all Indians in the United States have a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. Thomas Friedman
Thomas Friedman
Thomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author. He writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs including global trade, the Middle East, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times.-Personal...
, in his recent book, The World is Flat
The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is an international bestselling book by Thomas Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors...
, explains this trend in terms of brain drain
Brain drain
Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...
, whereby the best and brightest elements in India emigrate to the U.S. in order to seek better financial opportunities.
Education
According to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, there are close to 35,000 Indian American doctorsPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. According to the 2000 census, about 64% of Indian Americans have attained a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
or more. (compared to 28% nationally, and 44% average for all Asian American groups). Almost 40% of all Indians have a master's, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. Among Indian Americans, 72.3% participate in the U.S. work force, of which 57.7% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.
Economics
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Indian American men had "the highest year-round, full-time median earnings ($51,094)", while Indian American women had a median income of $35,173.Indian Americans own 50% of all economy lodges and 35% of all hotels in the United States, which have a combined market value of almost $40 billion. In 2002, there were over 223,000 Asian Indian-owned firms in the U.S., employing more than 610,000 workers, and generating more than $88 billion in revenue.
| Ethnicity | Household Income |
|---|---|
| Indians | $88,538 |
| Filipinos | $75,146 |
| Chinese | $69,037 |
| Japanese | $64,197 |
| Koreans | $53,025 |
| Total US Population | $44,684 |
Entertainment
Hindi radio stations are available in areas with high Indian populations, for example, RBC RadioRBC Radio
RBC Radio is a 24/7 subsidiary communications authority radio station providing Asian Indian programming that serves New York City and the Tri-State area of neighboring Northern New Jersey region, Connecticut, and parts of New York State.-History:...
in the Tri-state Area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
of New York city
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, parts of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
state, Easy96 Radio in the Tri-state Area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
of New York city
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, parts of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
state, Radio Humsafar
Radio Humsafar
Radio Humsafar is a radio network providing South Asian programming to over 2 million listeners in several major cities around the world. Radio Humsafar's programming is broadcast in the United States, Canada, India, Australia and over the internet worldwide...
, Desi Junction in Chicago, Radio Salaam Namaste in North Texas, FunAsia Radio, and Sangeet Radio in Houston. There are also some radio stations broadcasting in Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
within these communities.. Houston based Kannada Kaaranji radio focuses on a multitude of programs for kids and adults.
Several cable and satellite providers offer Indian channels: Sony TV
Sony Entertainment Television (India)
This article is about the SET channel in India. For the Indian version broadcasted worldwide, see Sony Entertainment Television Asia.Sony Entertainment Television, or SET, is a Hindi-language based general entertainment television channel in India. It was launched in October 1996 and is owned by...
, Zee TV
Zee TV
Zee TV is an India-based satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East,...
, Star Plus
STAR Plus
STAR Plus is a Hindi language general entertainment television channel based in India. The channel is part of the STAR TV network's bouquet of channels...
, Colors, Regional
Régional
Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne, or Régional for short, is a subsidiary airline wholly owned by Air France which connects hubs at Paris, Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, and Bordeaux to 49 airports in Europe. The airline operates in Air France livery, retaining its name in small titles and logo on...
and Others have offered Indian content for subscription, such as the Cricket World Cup
Cricket World Cup
The ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council , with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years...
.
Many metropolitan areas with high Indian-American populations now have movie theatres specialized for showing Indian
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
movies specializing Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
. Silicon Valley, for example has two such multiplexes: one in Fremont
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...
and one in San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
.
In July 2005, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi
MTV Desi
MTV Desi was a spin-off network from MTV that targeted Desis in the United States, as the name implies. The network featured various styles of music such as electronic tabla music and English-Gujarati hip-hop, interspersed among Bollywood videos...
which targets Indian Americans. It has been discontinued by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
.
Religions
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s, Sikhs, Jains
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians
Christianity in India
Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3% of India's population. The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings and 14th century Portuguese missionaries created an illusion to convert Indians that Christianity was introduced to...
, Parsis, and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
from India have established their religions in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The first religious centre of an Indian religion to be established in the US was a Sikh Gurudwara in Stockton, California
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
in 1912. Today there are many Sikh Gurudwaras, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s in all the 50 states. As of 2008, the American Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
population was around 2.2 million, and Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s are the majority of Indian Americans. Many sects such as ISKCON, Swaminarayan Sampraday
Swaminarayan Sampraday
Swaminarayan Sampraday , known previously as the Uddhav Sampraday, is a Hindu sect established by Swaminarayan...
, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Chinmaya Mission
Chinmaya Mission
Chinmaya Mission was founded in 1953 by the devotees of Swami Chinmayananda to 'give organizational structure and cohesiveness to the work and activities initiated by Swami Chinmayananda' . It is administered from Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, Mumbai...
, and Swadhyay Pariwar are well-established in the U.S. The Hindu Americans have formed the Hindu American Foundation
Hindu American Foundation
The Hindu American Foundation is an American Hindu human rights group advocating on behalf of the Hindu community in the United States. Dr...
which is represents American Hindus
Hinduism in the United States
Hinduism is a minority religion in the United States, American Hindus accounting for an estimated 0.4% of total US population.The vast majority of American Hindus are Indian Americans, immigrants from India and Nepal and their descendants, besides a much smaller number of converts.While there were...
and aims to educate people about Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
.
Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
to the West at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions. The Vedanta Society
Vedanta Society
The Vedanta Society of Southern California, with its headquarters in Hollywood, was founded in 1930 by Swami Prabhavananda. The society is a branch of the Ramakrishna Order, and maintains subcenters in Pasadena, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Trabuco Canyon...
has been important in subsequent Parliaments. Today, many Hindu temples, most of them built by Indian Americans have emerged in different cities and towns of America. More than 18 million
Million
One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
Americans are now practicing some form of Yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
. Kriya Yoga
Kriya Yoga
Kriya Yoga finds mention in the ancient spiritual texts of Patanjali Yogasutras "Tapah svadhyayeshvara pranidhani kriyayogah" . It was later revived by Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri in the 19th century. Subsequently Paramhansa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi reported the same for his...
was introduced to America by Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a...
. In addition, A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada initiated a popular ISKCON also known as Hare Krishna
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
movement while preaching Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies which denotes the spiritual practice of fostering loving devotion to a personal form of God....
.
Indian Muslim Americans generally congregate with other American Muslims, including those from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, but there are prominent organizations such as the Indian Muslim Council - USA
Indian Muslim Council
Indian Muslim Council-USA is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with 10 chapters across the nation.The mission of Indian Muslim Council-USA is to promote peace, pluralism and social justice through strategic advocacy...
.
There are many Indian Christian churches across the US; Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...
, Knanaya
Knanaya
The Knanaya also known as Q'nanaya, Q'nai, Kanai, or Thekkumbagar, are endogamous Jews who settled in Kerala, India. Their origins are unclear and are hotly disputed by academic scholars...
, Indian Orthodox Church
Indian Orthodox Church
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church centred in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the churches of India's Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas...
, Mar Thoma Church
Mar Thoma Church
The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church also known as the Mar Thoma Church is a Christian denomination based in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. It has an entirely different identity when compared with other Churches in India. Most Christian churches around the world are divided into...
(reformed orthodox), Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Church of South India
Church of South India
The Church of South India is the successor of the Church of England in India. It came into being in 1947 as a union of Anglican and Protestant churches in South India. With a membership of over 3.8 million, it is India's second largest Christian church after the Roman Catholic Church in India...
, The Pentecostal Mission
The Pentecostal Mission
The Pentecostal Mission or New Testament Church formerly known as Ceylon Pentecostal Mission , is a pentecostal denomination which originated in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. The international headquarters is now situated in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India...
, and the India Pentecostal Church of God; there are also a number of Indian Christians in mainstream American churches. 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 United States and Canada. FIACONA estimates the Indian American Christian
Christianity in India
Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3% of India's population. The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings and 14th century Portuguese missionaries created an illusion to convert Indians that Christianity was introduced to...
population to be 600,000.
The large Parsi community is represented by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America. Indian Jews
Indian Jews
The history of the Jews in India reaches back to ancient times.Indian Jews are a religious minority of India. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. The better-established ancient communities have assimilated a large number of local traditions through...
are perhaps the smallest organized religious group among Indian Americans, consisting of approximately 350 members in the United States. They form the Indian Jewish Congregation of USA with headquarters in New York City.
Ethnicity
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. They may assimilate more easily than many other immigrant groups because they have fewer language barriers (English is widely spoken in India among professional classes), more educational credentials (Indian immigrants are disproportionately well-educated), and come from a democratic society. Additionally, Indian culture, like many other Asian cultures, puts emphasis upon achievement and personal responsibility of the individual as a reflection upon the family and community.In countries such as the United States, Canada, and until more recently, Britain, there has been a large influx of Indian immigrants, beginning in the late 1960s. As a result of assimilation, mixed Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
and Indian backgrounds are becoming more prevalent. In the 2001 U.S. Census Bureau’s
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
publication of the 56,497,000 married couples, it shows that Indian males married almost twice as much with White females (7.1%) than Indian females marrying with White males (3.7%).
The United States is also home to associations of Indians united by ethno-linguistic affiliation. The big organizations include Cultural Association of Bengal and their annually sponsored event the North American Bengali Conference
North American Bengali Conference
The North American Bengali Conference is an annual conference held in North America to celebrate Bengali culture. It is usually held around the weekend of, preceding or following July 4. It was one of the first annual conferences for people of South Asian descent in North America...
, AKKA
Akka
Akka is traditionally a female spirit in Sámi and Finnish mythology.In Sámi mythology, the first akka was Maderakka and her daughters were Sarakka, Uksakka and Juksakka. Some Sámi thought they lived under their kota tents....
(Association of Kannada Kootas of America), Kannada Sangha and Kannada Koota, Telugu Association of North America (TANA), Orissa Society of the Americas
Orissa Society of the Americas
The Orissa Society of the Americas, or OSA, is an organization whose stated goals are to promote the culture of the Indian state of Orissa in the United States and Canada, and to facilitate the exchange of information between Orissa and North America. Founded in 1969, OSA is registered as a 501...
, Brihan Maharashtra Mandals of North America (BMM), Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America
Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America
The Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America is an umbrella organization of many local North American Tamil diaspora organizations...
, Gujarati Samaj, Prabashi Federation of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, Associations of North America (FOKANA), Punjabi American Heritage Society and Punjabi-American Cultural Association. These associations generally put on cultural programs, plays, and concerts during the major Hindu festivals (Diwali
Diwali
Diwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...
, Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi , also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Hindu festival of Ganesha also called Vinayagar in Tamil Nadu, the son of Shiva and Parvati, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival...
, Padva, Pongal
Pongal
Thai Ponggal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry and in Sri Lanka. Pongal coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over" or "spill over". The boiling...
, Sankranti
Sankranti
Sankranthi means transmigration of Sun from one Rāshi to the other. Hence there are 12 such Sankrantis in all.* Makara Sankaranti: or Sankranti or Sankranthi marks the transition of...
, Ugadi
Ugadi
Yugadi or Ugadi or "Samvatsradi" , Konkani/Marathi: युगादी yugādi, , formed by sandhi of yuga "age" and ādi "beginning": the beginning of an age) is the New Year's Day for the people of the Deccan region of India. It falls on the different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar...
, Baisakh, Onam
Onam
Onam is a Hindu festival celebrated by the people of Kerala, India. The festival commemorates the Vamana avatar of Vishnu and the subsequent homecoming of the legendary Emperor Mahabali. It falls during the month of Chingam and lasts for ten days...
, Vishu
Vishu
Vishu is a Hindu festival celebrated in the Indian state of Kerala, usually on April 14 of the Gregorian calendar. This occasion signifies the Sun's transit into the Mesha Raasi , according to Indian astrological calculations, and represents the vernal equinox...
) and other religious (e.g., Christian) and cultural events such as Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
and New Years.
Timeline
- 1600s: The East India CompanyEast India CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
brought over Indian indentured servantIndentured servantIndentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
s to the British AmericaBritish AmericaFor American people of British descent, see British American.British America is the anachronistic term used to refer to the territories under the control of the Crown or Parliament in present day North America , Central America, the Caribbean, and Guyana...
n colonies. - 1680: Due to anti-miscegenation lawsAnti-miscegenation lawsAnti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
, a EurasianEurasian (mixed ancestry)The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
daughter born to an Indian father and IrishIrish AmericanIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
mother in MarylandMarylandMaryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
was classified as a "mulattoMulattoMulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
" and sold into slavery. - 1790: Following American independence from the British, Indian immigrants began entering the independent United States as maritime workers.
- 1838: (May 5) - First two ships arrive in the CaribbeanCaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
with IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n indentured workers (landing in British GuianaBritish GuianaBritish Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
). - 1899-1914: First significant wave of Indian immigrants, mostly Sikh farmers and laborers from Punjab regionPunjab regionThe Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
of British India, start arriving in California (Angel Island) on ships via Hong KongHong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. They find employment on farms and in lumber mills in California, Oregon and Washington states. - 1912: The first Sikh temple opens its doors in StocktonStockton, CaliforniaStockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
, California. - 1913: A.K. Mozumdar became the first Indian-born person to earn U.S. citizenship, having convinced the SpokaneSpokane, WashingtonSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
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 a U.S. Supreme Court decision that no person of East Indian origin could become a naturalized American citizen, his citizenship was revoked. - 1917: The Barred Zone Act passes in Congress through two-thirds majority, overriding President Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
's earlier veto. Asians, including Indians, are barred from immigrating to the U.S. - 1918: Due to anti-miscegenation lawsAnti-miscegenation lawsAnti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
, there was significant controversy in ArizonaArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
when an Indian farmer B. K. Singh married the sixteen year-old daughter of one of his white AmericanWhite AmericanWhite Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
tenants. - 1918: Bhagat Singh ThindBhagat Singh ThindBhagat Singh Thind, PhD was an Indian American Sikh writer and lecturer on spirituality who was involved in an important legal battle over the rights of Indians to obtain U.S. citizenship....
becomes the first person of East-Indian descent recruited by US Army on July 22, 1918. He goes on to fight in World War I. A few months later, on November 8, 1918, Bhagat Singh was promoted to the rank of an Acting Sergeant. - 1922: Yellapragada SubbaraoYellapragada SubbaraoYellapragada Subbarao was an Indian biochemist who discovered the function of Adenosine Triphosphate as a energy source in the cell, and made important contributions to the treatment of cancer. Most of his career was spent in the United States...
arrived in Boston on 26 October 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. degree the same year. - 1923: The US Supreme Court rules that people from India (at the time, British India, e.g. South Asians) are aliens ineligible for citizenship in United States v. Bhagat Singh ThindUnited States v. Bhagat Singh ThindUnited States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that Bhagat Singh Thind, who was a Punjabi Sikh, settled in Oregon, could not be a naturalized citizen of the United States, because he was not a "white person" in the sense intended in...
. Bhagat Singh ThindBhagat Singh ThindBhagat Singh Thind, PhD was an Indian American Sikh writer and lecturer on spirituality who was involved in an important legal battle over the rights of Indians to obtain U.S. citizenship....
becomes a citizen a few years later in New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
– he had earlier applied and been rejected in OregonOregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. - 1928: Dhan Gopal MukerjiDhan Gopal MukerjiDhan Gopal Mukerji was the first successful Indian man of letters in the United States and winner of Newbery Medal 1928...
wins the Newbery MedalNewbery MedalThe John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
, and thus becomes the first successful India-born man of letters in the United States. - 1943: Republican Clara Booth Luce and Democrat Emanuel CellerEmanuel CellerEmanuel Celler was an American politician from New York who served in the United States House of Representatives for almost 50 years, from March 1923 to January 1973. He was a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
introduce a bill to open naturalization to Indian immigrants to the US. Prominent Americans Pearl Buck, Louis FischerLouis FischerLouis Fischer was a Jewish-American journalist. Among his works were a contribution to the ex-Communist treatise The God that Failed, The Life of Lenin, which won a 1965 National Book Award, as well as a biography of Mahatma Gandhi entitled The Life of Mahatma Gandhi...
, Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
and Robert MillikanRobert MillikanRobert A. Millikan was an American experimental physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his measurement of the charge on the electron and for his work on the photoelectric effect. He served as president of Caltech from 1921 to 1945...
give their endorsement to the bill. President Franklin Roosevelt 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 to Indian Americans the right to immigrate and naturalize.
- 1956: Dalip Singh SaundDalip Singh SaundDalip Singh Saund was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served the 29th District of California from January 3, 1957–January 3, 1963. He was the first Asian American, Indian American and Sikh member of the United States Congress...
elected to the US House of Representatives from CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He was re-elected to a 2nd and 3rd term, winning over 60% of the votes. He is also the first Asian immigrant to be elected to Congress. - 1962: Zubin MehtaZubin MehtaZubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
appointed music director of the Los Angeles PhilharmonicLos Angeles PhilharmonicThe Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, 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 PhilharmonicNew York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
. - 1964: Amar G. Bose founded Bose Corporation. He is the Chairman, primary stockholder, and also holds the title of Technical Director at Bose Corporation. He was former professor of electrical engineeringElectrical engineeringElectrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. - 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. Dr. Satinder Mullick, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins Univ., of Corning Glass Works is one of the first to receive the immigration in Nov. 1965 — sponsored by Corning Glass Works Corning Inc.Corning Inc.Corning Incorporated is an American manufacturer of glass, ceramics and related materials, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The company was known as Corning Glass Works until 1989, when it changed its name to Corning Incorporated...
under the INS Act of 1965. - 1981: Suhas Patil co-founded Cirrus LogicCirrus LogicCirrus Logic is a fabless semiconductor supplier specializing in analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP integrated circuits . They are presently headquartered in Austin, Texas. Their audio processors and audio converters are found in many professional audio and consumer entertainment products,...
, one of the first fabless semiconductor companies. - 1982: Vinod Khosla co-founded Sun MicrosystemsSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
- 1983: Asian Indian Women in America attended the 1st White House Briefing for Asian American Women (AAIWA formed in 1980 is the 1st Indian women's organization in North America)
- 1987: President Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
appoints Dr. Joy CherianJoy CherianDr. Joy Cherian is the first Asian American and first Indian American Commissioner at the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 in what was seen as a milestone. At the time he was the highest ranking Indian American in the US...
, the 1st IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Commissioner of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). - 1988 : Sanjay Mehrotra co-founded SanDiskSanDiskSanDisk Corporation is an American multinational corporation that designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using the flash memory, controller and firmware technologies. It was founded in 1988 by Dr. Eli Harari and Sanjay Mehrotra, non-volatile memory...
- 1989 : Rohit Jagessar founded RBC Radio, the first Asian Indian radio station in the US.
- 1994: Rajat GuptaRajat GuptaRajat Kumar Gupta was the managing director of management consultancy McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 2003 and a business leader in India and the United States...
elected managing director of McKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
, 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 SoundgardenSoundgardenSoundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
- 1994 : Raj ReddyRaj ReddyDabbala Rajagopal "Raj" Reddy , a Turing Award winner, is one of the early pioneers in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and has served on the faculty of Stanford and Carnegie Mellon University for over 40 years. He was the founding Director of the Robotics Institute at CMU...
received the ACM Turing Award (with Edward FeigenbaumEdward FeigenbaumEdward Albert Feigenbaum is a computer scientist working in the field of artificial intelligence. He is often called the "father of expert systems."...
) "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 NetworksJuniper NetworksJuniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...
- 1996: Rajat GuptaRajat GuptaRajat Kumar Gupta was the managing director of management consultancy McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 2003 and a business leader in India and the United States...
and Anil KumarAnil KumarAnil Kumar is a male discus thrower from India. His personal best throw is 64.37 metres, achieved in July 2007 in Szombathely....
of McKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
co-found the Indian School of BusinessIndian School of BusinessThe Indian School of Business is a business school in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. It offers a Post Graduate Programme in Management , a Fellow Program in Management, and a Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior...
. - 1997: Kalpana ChawlaKalpana ChawlaKalpana Chawla was an Indian-American astronaut with NASA. She was one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.-Early life:...
,a part of the 6 member crew of STS-87 mission,becomes the first Indian American astronaut - 1999: NASA names the third of its four "Great Observatories" Chandra X-ray ObservatoryChandra X-ray ObservatoryThe Chandra X-ray Observatory is a satellite launched on STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. It was named in honor of Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who is known for determining the maximum mass for white dwarfs. "Chandra" also means "moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit.Chandra...
after Subrahmanyan ChandrasekharSubrahmanyan ChandrasekharSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, FRS ) was an Indian origin American astrophysicist who, with William A. Fowler, won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics for key discoveries that led to the currently accepted theory on the later evolutionary stages of massive stars...
the Indian born American astrophysicist and a Nobel laureate. - 1999: Filmmaker M. Night ShyamalanM. Night ShyamalanManoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan,known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American screenwriter, film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies in and around...
enters film history with his film "The Sixth SenseThe Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
" becoming one of the all-time highest-grossing films, worldwide. - 1999: Rono DuttaRono DuttaRono Dutta is the former President of United Airlines from 1999 to 2002.From July 2004 until 2006 he served as Chairman of Air Sahara.In 2007, Mr. Dutta joined US based AAR Corporation as a strategic adviser for the Indian market.-External links:**...
becomes the President of United AirlinesUnited AirlinesUnited Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
. - 2001: Professor Dipak C. JainDipak C. JainDipak C. Jain is the current dean of INSEAD and the former dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.He is also Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies & Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, where he has been a member of the...
(born in TezpurTezpurTezpur is a city and the administrative headquarters and municipal board of Sonitpur district in the state of Assam in northeastern India. Tezpur is an ancient city on the banks of the river Brahmaputra and is the largest of the north bank towns with a population exceeding 100,000...
- AssamAssamAssam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) appointed as dean of the Kellogg School of ManagementKellogg School of ManagementThe Kellogg School of Management is the business school of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, downtown Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. Kellogg offers full-time, part-time, and executive programs, as well as partnering programs with schools in China, India, Hong Kong, Israel,...
, Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. He is the Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor in Entrepreneurial Studies and a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of ManagementKellogg School of ManagementThe Kellogg School of Management is the business school of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, downtown Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. Kellogg offers full-time, part-time, and executive programs, as well as partnering programs with schools in China, India, Hong Kong, Israel,...
, 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 ScienceNational Medal of ScienceThe National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
by President George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. - 2005: Abhijit Y. Talwalkar, President and Chief Executive Officer of LSI CorporationLSI CorporationLSI Corporation is an electronics company based in Milpitas, California that designs semiconductors and software that accelerate storage and networking in datacenters and mobile networks.-History:...
- 2006: Indra NooyiIndra NooyiIndra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is an Indian-born American business executive. She is the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, the second largest food & beverage business in the world ....
(born in ChennaiChennaiChennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) appointed as CEO of PepsiCoPepsiCoPepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
. She is a Successor Fellow of the Yale CorporationYale CorporationThe 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.The Corporation comprises 19 members:...
— sometimes, and more formally, known as The President and Fellows of Yale College, is the governing body of Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in New Haven, ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. She also serves as a member of the boards of the International Rescue CommitteeInternational Rescue CommitteeThe International Rescue Committee is a leading nonsectarian, nongovernmental international relief and development organization based in the United States, with operations in over 40 countries...
, Catalyst and the Lincoln Center for the Performing ArtsLincoln Center for the Performing ArtsLincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
, Trustees of Eisenhower Fellowships, and currently serves as Chairman of the U.S.–India Business Council. - 2007: Bobby JindalBobby JindalPiyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
is elected governor of LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and is the first person of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n descent to be elected governor of an American state; he is inaugurated on January 14, 2008. - 2007: Francisco D'SouzaFrancisco D'SouzaFrancisco D'Souza is the president and CEO of Cognizant and was part of the team that founded the Nasdaq-100 company in 1994. In 2007, at the age of 38, he took over from Lakshmi Narayanan, who was promoted to Vice Chairman...
appointed as the PresidentPresidentA president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and Chief Executive OfficerChief executive officerA chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
and a member of the Board of Directors of Cognizant Technology SolutionsCognizant Technology SolutionsCognizant Technology Solutions Corp. is an American global provider of custom information technology, consulting and business process outsourcing services. Its headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States and is a member of NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500 and Fortune 500...
. He is one of the youngest Chief Executive Officers in the software services sector at the age 38 in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was part of the team founded, in 1994, the Nasdaq-100NASDAQ-100The NASDAQ-100 is a stock market index of 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ. It is a modified capitalization-weighted index. The companies' weights in the index are based on their market capitalizations, with certain rules capping the influence of the largest components...
Cognizant Technology Solutions. - 2007: Vikram PanditVikram PanditVikram S. Pandit is an Indian-born American business executive. He is the current CEO of Citigroup.-Early life:Vikram Pandit was born in Nagpur, India to an affluent Marathi family . His father, S B Pandit was an executive director at Sarabhai Chemicals in Baroda. He completed his schooling at the...
(born in MaharashtraMaharashtraMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) appointed as CEO of CitigroupCitigroupCitigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...
. He was previously the PresidentPresidentA president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and Chief Operating OfficerChief operating officerA Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
of the Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group at Morgan StanleyMorgan StanleyMorgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
. He also serves on the boards of Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Columbia Business SchoolColumbia Business SchoolColumbia Business School is the business school of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1916 to provide business training and professional preparation for undergraduate and graduate Columbia University students...
, the Indian School of BusinessIndian School of BusinessThe Indian School of Business is a business school in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. It offers a Post Graduate Programme in Management , a Fellow Program in Management, and a Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior...
and The Trinity SchoolTrinity School (New York City)Trinity School is a private, preparatory, co-educational day school for grades K-12 located in New York City, USA, and a member of both the New York Interschool and the Ivy Preparatory School League...
. He is a former board member of NASDAQNASDAQThe NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
(2000–2003), the New York City Investment Fund. - 2007: Shantanu NarayenShantanu NarayenShantanu Narayen is the current CEO of Adobe Systems. Prior to this post, he held the role as the President and Chief Operating Officer since 2005.-Early life:...
appointed as CEO of Adobe SystemsAdobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
. - 2008: Treasury Secretary Henry PaulsonHenry PaulsonHenry Merritt "Hank" Paulson, Jr. is an American banker who served as the 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury. He previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs.-Early life and family:...
appoints Neel KashkariNeel KashkariNeel T. Kashkari was the Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability in the United States Department of the Treasury. While in this role, he led the Office of Financial Stability, the office set up to buy troubled financial assets from U.S. financial firms under the $700...
as the Interim U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability. - 2008: Raj ChettyRaj ChettyRaj Chetty is an Indian American economist. He is currently a professor of economics at Harvard University and was a former professor at the University of California, Berkeley...
appointed as professor of economics at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. As of today, he is the youngest person 'at the age of 29' to ever receive tenure of professorship in the Department of Economics at Harvard. He is one of the top 8 young economists in the world. - 2008: Sanjay JhaSanjay JhaSanjay K. Jha is chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Mobility and previously served as co-chief executive officer of Motorola. from 2008.-Early life:...
appointed as Co-CEO of Motorola, Inc.. - 2008: Establishment of the South Asian American Digital ArchiveSouth Asian American Digital ArchiveThe was established in 2008 to document, digitally preserve and make accessible the history of the South Asian American community.SAADA is the only digital repository for materials related to the South Asian community in the United States. SAADA’s digital-only approach to archives presents a...
(SAADA) to document the history of the South Asian American community. - 2009: President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
appoints Preetinder S. Bharara (born in FirozpurFirozpurFirozpur is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India, founded by Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq , a Muslim ruler of the Tughlaq Dynasty who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1351 to 1388.The Manj Rajputs say the town was named after their chief, a Rajput of...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
; graduate of Harvard CollegeHarvard CollegeHarvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
' Class of 1990 and Columbia Law SchoolColumbia Law SchoolColumbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
' Class of 1993) as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. - Farah PandithFarah PandithFarah Pandith is the first ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States Department of State...
appointed as Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States Department of State. - 2009: President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
appoints Eboo PatelEboo PatelEboo Patel is a member of President Barack Obama's inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships. He is an American Muslim of Gujarati Indian heritage and founder and president of the ,...
and Anju BhargavaAnju BhargavaAnju Bhargava is a member of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood partnership. She is also Principal Director at Global Synergy Associates working at the intersection of Enterprise Risk Management, Business Transformation and Organization Management through a...
on President's Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Parnerships. - 2009: President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
appoints Vinai ThummalapallyVinai ThummalapallyVinai K. Thummalapally is the U.S. Ambassador to Belize. He is the first Indian American ambassador in U.S. history.-Early life:Thummalapally is the son of T. Dharma Reddy, a retired scientist who worked for Andhra Pradesh Forensic Sciences Laboratory, and T...
as the U.S. Ambassador to Belize - 2009: President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
nominates Rajiv ShahRajiv ShahRajiv “Raj” Shah is the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development . He was confirmed by the Senate on December 24, 2009, replacing acting chief Alonzo Fulgham, making him the highest-ranking Indian American in any presidential administration...
, M.D. as the new head of United States Agency for International DevelopmentUnited States Agency for International DevelopmentThe United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
. - 2009: President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
nominates Islam A. SiddiquiIslam A. SiddiquiAmbassador Islam A. Siddiqui is Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative . Prior to this, he was Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America, a biotechnology industry consortium....
as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. - 2010: President of Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust appoints Nitin NohriaNitin NohriaNitin Nohria is the 10th and the current dean of Harvard Business School. He is also the George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration, co-chair of the HBS Leadership Initiative and sits on the executive committee of the University's interfaculty initiative on advanced leadership.Over the...
as the 10th dean of Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
. - 2010: President of University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Robert Zimmer appoints Sunil Kumar as the dean of University of Chicago Booth School of Business. - 2010: Deven SharmaDeven SharmaDeven Sharma was an executive, and the president of Standard & Poor's, a Division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, providing independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, and investment research. Mr. Sharma joined Standard & Poor's in 2006 as executive vice president, Investment Service and...
appointed President of Standard & Poor'sStandard & Poor'sStandard & Poor's is a United States-based financial services company. It is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds. It is well known for its stock-market indices, the US-based S&P 500, the Australian S&P/ASX 200, the Canadian...
. - 2010: Ajaypal Banga appointed President and CEO of MasterCardMasterCardMastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...
. - 2010: Year marks the most number of candidates of Indian origin, running for political offices in the United States, including candidates such as Kamala HarrisKamala HarrisKamala Devi Harris is an American attorney. She is the 32nd and current Attorney General of California following the 2010 California state elections. Harris has worked as an author and a politician and has served as District Attorney of San Francisco since 2004...
and Ami Bera. - 2010: State Senator Nikki HaleyNikki HaleyNimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is the 116th and current Governor of South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, Haley represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010....
is elected governor of South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, and becomes the first Indian American woman, and second Indian American in general to become Governor of an American state. - 2011: Jamshed BharuchaJamshed BharuchaJamshed Bharucha is President of Cooper Union. Prior to this, he was Provost and Senior Vice President of Tufts University and Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Music and in the Medical School's Department of Neuroscience...
(born in Mumbai) named President of Cooper UnionCooper UnionThe Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
. He was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
and Provost at Tufts UniversityTufts UniversityTufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
. - 2011: Satish K. TripathiSatish K. TripathiSatish K. Tripathi is the president of the University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York system. He was selected by the SUNY Board of Trustees with backing from SUNY Chancellor Nancy L...
appointed as President of University at Buffalo, The State University of New YorkUniversity at Buffalo, The State University of New YorkUniversity at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
.
Classification
According to the current parameters defining the official U.S. racial categoriesRace (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
employed by the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S. government agencies, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
citizens or resident alien
Resident Alien
Resident Alien is the debut album from the British glam rock band Spacehog. Released by Elektra Records on 24 October 1995, the album was certified as gold on 29 July 1996 and included the hit single "In the Meantime", which reached the top of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the United States,...
s who marked "Asian-Indian" as their ancestry or wrote in a term that automatically gets classified as an "Asian-Indian" gets classified as part of the Asian race on the 2000 US Census. 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
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, and the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. For further discussion on the term Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
, please see that article.
In previous decades, Indian Americans were also variously classified as White American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
, the "Hindu race", and Other. Even today, where individual Indian Americans do not racially self-identify, and instead report Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
(or a sect of Islam such as Shi'ite or Sunni), Jewish, and Zoroastrian as their "race" in the "Some other race" section without noting their country of origin, they are automatically tallied as white. This may result in the counting of persons such as Indian Muslims, Indian Jews
Indian Jews
The history of the Jews in India reaches back to ancient times.Indian Jews are a religious minority of India. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. The better-established ancient communities have assimilated a large number of local traditions through...
, and Indian Zoroastrians as white, if they solely report their religious heritage without their national origin.
Discrimination
Explicit discrimination is not widespread, but has been known to happen in certain instances. In the 1980s, a gang known as the DotbustersDotbusters
The Dotbusters was a hate group in Jersey City, New Jersey, that attacked and threatened South Asians in the fall of 1987. The name originated from the fact that traditional Hindu women and girls wear a bindi on their forehead .In July 1987, they had a letter published in the Jersey Journal stating...
specifically targeted Indian Americans in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
with violence and harassment. Studies of racial discrimination, as well as stereotyping and scapegoating of Indian Americans have been conducted in recent years. In particular, racial discrimination of Indian Americans in the workplace has been correlated with Indophobia
Indophobia
Indophobia refers to hostility towards Indians and Indian culture. Indophobia is formally defined in the context of anti-Indian prejudice in East Africa and Australia as follows: "Indophobia is a tendency to react negatively towards people of Indian...
due to the rise in outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
/offshoring
Offshoring
Offshoring describes the relocation by a company of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Even state governments employ offshoring...
paranoia, whereby Indian Americans are blamed for US companies offshoring white-collar
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
labor to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. 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 yet. Due to various socio-cultural reasons, implicit racial discrimination against Indian Americans largely go unreported by the Indian American community.
Numerous cases of religious stereotyping of American Hindus
Hinduism in the United States
Hinduism is a minority religion in the United States, American Hindus accounting for an estimated 0.4% of total US population.The vast majority of American Hindus are Indian Americans, immigrants from India and Nepal and their descendants, besides a much smaller number of converts.While there were...
(mainly of Indian origin) have also been documented.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, there have been scattered incidents of Indian Americans becoming mistaken targets for hate crimes. In one example, a Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
, Balbir Singh Sodhi
Balbir Singh Sodhi
Balbir Singh Sodhi , a gas station owner in Mesa, Arizona, was murdered in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the first of several cases across the United States that were reported to the police as acts of retaliation for the terrorist attacks...
, was murdered at a Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
gas station by a white supremacist. This happened after September 11, and the murderer claimed that his turban
Turban
In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...
made him think that the victim was a Middle Eastern American. In another example, a pizza deliverer was mugged and beaten in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
for "being Muslim" though the victim pleaded with the assailants that he was in fact Hindu.
In 2004, New York Senator Hillary Clinton joked at a fundraising event with South Asians for Nancy Farmer
Nancy Farmer
Nancy Farmer may refer to:* Nancy Farmer , former State Treasurer of Missouri* Nancy Farmer , three-time winner of the Newbery Honor and winner of National Book Award...
that Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
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.
On April 5, 2006, the Hindu Mandir of Minnesota was vandalized allegedly on the basis of religious discrimination
Religious discrimination
Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe.A concept like that of 'religious discrimination' is necessary to take into account ambiguities of the term religious persecution. The infamous cases in which people have been...
. The vandals damaged temple property leading to $200,000 worth of damage.
On August 11, 2006, Senator George Allen allegedly referred to an opponent's political staffer of Indian ancestry as "macaca
Macaca (slur)
Macaca is a word used by George Allen in 2006 that began a controversy because it sounds similar to the French word "macaque". It was reported by journalists to be a racial slur against African immigrants in some European cultures; and by Zairian painter Tshibumba Kanda Matulu to be a pejorative...
" and commenting, "Welcome to America." 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
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
in the 21st century.
Immigration
Indians are among the largest ethnic groups legally immigrating to the United States. The immigration of Indian Americans has taken place in several waves since the first Indian American 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.Politics
Several groups have tried to create a unified or dominant voice for the Indian American community in political affairs, including US India PAC. Additionally, there are also industry-wide Indian American groupings including the Asian American Hotel Owners Association and the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin. A majority of Indian Americans tend to identify as moderates and have voted for Democrats in recent elections. Polls before the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election showed Indian Americans favoring Democratic candidate John KerryJohn Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
over Republican George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
by a 53% to 14% margin, with 30% undecided at the time. The Republican party has tried to target this community, and several prominent conservative activists are of Indian origin.
In 2007, Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
became the first United States Governor of Indian descent when he was elected Governor of Louisiana and is cited as a leading GOP presidential contender in 2012 or 2016. Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley
Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is the 116th and current Governor of South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, Haley represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010....
is the governor of South Carolina
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
. A list of notable Indian American politicians and commentators can be found here.
See also
- List of Indian Americans
- Hinduism in the United StatesHinduism in the United StatesHinduism is a minority religion in the United States, American Hindus accounting for an estimated 0.4% of total US population.The vast majority of American Hindus are Indian Americans, immigrants from India and Nepal and their descendants, besides a much smaller number of converts.While there were...
- Jainism in the United StatesJainism in the United StatesAdherents 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 United States has since become a center of the Jain Diaspora.-History:...
- Sikhism in the United StatesSikhism in the United StatesSikhism was the first religion from India to settle in America during 19th century. Since then, Sikhs have become a part of American history, with Bhagat Singh Thind being the first Sikh to be recruited in the American military, and Dalip Singh Saund being the first Asian American member of the...
- American-Born Confused DesiAmerican-Born Confused DesiAmerican-Born Confused Desi is a term used to refer to South Asian Americans born in the United States, in contrast to those who were born overseas and later settled in the USA.-Neologism:...
- Demography of the United States
- DesiDesiDesi or Deshi refers to the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people, cultures, and products of their diaspora. Desi countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...
- Hyphenated AmericanHyphenated AmericanIn the United States, the term hyphenated American is an epithet commonly used from 1890 to 1920 to disparage Americans who were of foreign birth or origin, and who displayed an allegiance to a foreign country. It was most commonly used to disparage German Americans or Irish Americans who called...
- Indian students abroadIndian students abroadStudents of Indian origin are traveling in higher numbers than ever before to pursue higher education abroad. In year 2006, of the 123,000 studying outside India, 76,000 have chosen USA as a country of their choice followed by UK. Canada and Australia are also another major countries in the world...
- British IndianBritish IndianThe term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...
- Indian diasporaNon-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginA Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
- United States foreign born per capita incomeUnited States foreign born per capita incomeThis is a complete list of per capita income for foreign-born U.S. citizens living in the United States organized by country of origin. For a list organized by ancestry see U.S. per capita income by ancestry.* 169 nations are listed in US dollars....
- Demographics of IndiaDemographics of IndiaThe demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
- Americans in IndiaAmericans in India-History:During World War II, more than 400,000 American soldiers were sent to India.After the end of British colonial rule in India in 1947, the "colonial third culture" surrounding employment, which featured expatriates in superior roles, natives in subordinate roles, and little informal...
- Indo-Caribbean AmericanIndo-Caribbean AmericanIndo-Caribbean American people are Americans who trace their ancestry ultimately to India, though whose recent ancestors lived in the Caribbean, where they began migrating in 1838. There are large groups of Indo-Trinidadians, Indo-Guyanese, and Indo-Jamaicans in the United States, especially in New...
Articles
- Stereotypes in Schooling: Negative Pressures in the American Educational System on Hindu Identity Formation by Yvette RosserYvette RosserYvette Rosser is an American author and scholar.Yvette Rosser was born on January 31, 1952. Her Master's thesis in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas examined the treatment of India in the social studies curriculum and how India and Hinduism are described in academic...
News
- Asian-Americans' diverse voices share similar stories
- The Indian-American population boom - September 1, 2006, Rediff.com
- CNN.com: "India's influence soars: The 'un-China' could be world's next economic superpower", June 18, 2006 (summary of TIME Magazine cover story)
- The Indian Express, December 17, 2004: "Indians are No 1 among Asians in US, census shows"
- ModelMinority.com, March 10, 2004: "Indian-Americans Fear Outsourcing Impact: Worries about technical-job losses, discrimination" (reprint of March 3, 2004 Financial Times article by Amy Yee)
- Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California, 1899-1965 (University of California at Berkeley's South/Southeast Asia Library's online exhibit, last updated October 3, 2001)
- Newsweek, March 6, 2006: "My Two Lives" by Jhumpa Lahiri ('The Pulitzer-winning writer felt intense pressure to be at once 'loyal to the old world and fluent in the new.')
Photography project
Miami