Bobby Jindal, whose parents came from India shortly before he was born, has just been elected to Congress, as a Republican. The first Asian-American Congressman was also Indian — a Sikh, born in India, named Dalip Singh Saund, a Democrat who was elected from California’s Imperial Valley (that’s the Southeast corner of the state) in 1956.
Saund came to the U.S. in 1920, but only became a citizen in 1949, since before 1946 he was legally forbidden to be a citizen because of his Asian birth. (The 1946 immigration reforms, I am told, only eased restrictions on Indian and Filipino immigrants, not East Asians.) His white American wife (a daughter of Czech immigrants) had to surrender her citizenship when she married him (in the 1920s). Nonetheless, by the mid-1950s, he was able to win elected office, and served for three terms; he had to retire because of a crippling stroke.
For a more thorough story, see here.
Comments are closed.