Indian Immigrants
Madyeja Flowers & Adam Rushing
When & Why did they come to the United States?
Indian immigrants began to arrive in the United States as early as 1820, just like Chinese and Japanese immigrants they were unskilled and uneducated farmers. Most of the Indians came to the United States to become slaves and to earn money so that they could send it back to their families(Zong,Batalova).
How did they get to the United States? What laws were in effect during this time?
A large number of Indians were brought to the United States to serve as slaves. The restrictions Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924 banned immigration from Asia and brought low levels of migration from India to a stop (Zong,Batalova).
How many came to the United States? How were they treated?
As of 2013, more than 2 million Indian-born immigrants resided in the United States, accounting for 4.7 percent of the 41.3 foreign-born population (Zong,Batalova). President Kennedy decided that he wold use the immigration policy as a psychological tool against communism, and demonstrate that the American ideals of freedom and democracy ("Immigration Act").
Where did the group settle? What jobs did they find?
By the end of nineteenth century, about 2,000 Indians settled on the West Coast of the United States in search of job opportunities. Majority of them were skilled in agriculture and construction work, others were merchants and traders and some worked in lumber mills and logging camps in Oregon, Washington and California (Pavri,Tinaz)
What contributions did they make to the United States?
Indians contributed to a large increase in the size of the Indian-born population. From the years of 1980 to 2013 the Indian immigration population increased from 206,000 to 2.04 million and doubling every year (Zong,Batalova).
Works Cited:
Pavri, Tinaz. "Asian Indian Americans." N.p., n.d. Web.
Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Batalova. "Indian Immigrants in the United States." N.p., 6 May 2015. Web.
"The 1965 Immigration Act." N.p., n.d. Web.
Knowlton, Brian. "Immigrants from India Thriving in U.S. - Americas - International Herald Tribune." N.p., n.d. Web.