Secret Desi History

Random snippets of South Asian American history, from the creators of the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour

A Rajasthani servant in 1910s Berkeley

I discovered a strange World War 1 draft card. Soon, the mystery of Natio Lee led me back to an Indian orphanage.
How did South Asian Americans respond to 9/11?

I discovered these original emails from September 2001 Looking at old letters and documents can help us understand how people were affected by larger historical events. I’m a community-based historian, so when I heard that Yahoo Groups was getting deleted, I started worrying about the destruction of archives. After some scrambling, I was able to…
Berkeley’s first Desi fortune teller was weirder than you think

Boor Singh immigrated to California in 1907, married a Black or mixed-race woman, became a fortune teller, and lived a life full of drama and tragedy. I’ve spent months trying to piece together his story, and the more I look, the stranger it gets.
The first South Asian to die at San Quentin Prison?

Babu Bheem Roy’s terrible crime in 1910s California — and the survivor who took him on Babu Bheem Roy was born in Gorakhpur, India in 1869, passed through England, and immigrated to the United States at age 20, in 1889. Over the next quarter century, he would marry an Irish woman, become a single father, work as a…
Hindus, Muslims, Persians, and Arabs in Gold Rush San Francisco

An 1851 San Francisco paper described a city of immigrants… I found a lovely line in an 1851 San Francisco newspaper that celebrates the diversity of Gold Rush San Francisco—a boom town whose residents included “Hindoos” (South Asians), “Mussulmans” (Muslims), and people “from the fairy lands of Persia and Arabia”: “In our streets, the fair…
Bagai’s India Arts and Curios, right off Kala Bagai Way

In 1916, a new establishment opened its doors at 2139 Center Street in downtown Berkeley, California. Named Bagai’s India Arts and Curios, it was founded by Vaishno Das Bagai, an early South Asian immigrant to the United States. This store stood half a block away from what is today known as Kala Bagai Way, named…
A Tamil sailor (and pirate?) in Gold Rush San Francisco

The story of Samuel Variapa, the “Hindoo centenarian of North Beach” If South Asians are included in California history textbooks, their stories typically begin in 1965, or sometimes with Punjabi immigrants of the 1900s. While older stories exist, it’s rare to find actual names and details. That’s why I was so thrilled to discover a two-part…
A Sikh American Christmas story from 1911

A Sikh American Christmas story from 1911 In 1911, the San Francisco Call published a Christmas short story about a Sikh immigrant taking in a group of cold and tired railroad workers trudging through the Sierra Nevada mountains. This was a time of significant anti-Indian sentiment, just a few years after the Bellingham Riots, when hundreds…
The 1940 Singh Census, and the attack on Indian immigrants

A new history dataset shows the impact of immigration restrictions I’ve been analyzing U.S. Census data to understand the history of Sikh and other South Asian Americans, and I’m excited to release a public dataset of almost a thousand people with the last name “Singh” living in the United States in 1940. (The source data…
The Oriental Students Association of 1907 — a new Asian American origin story?

Students from India, China, Japan, and Siam came together in 1907 Berkeley, California The history of Asian American organizing is often told through the lens of 1960s movements, like the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA), founded by UC Berkeley students in 1968. I recently discovered UC Berkeley’s Oriental Students’ Association, formed in 1907, over sixty…
A lonely South Asian in 1850 San Francisco

Was he the first South Asian in Northern California? South Asians started slowly trickling into Northern California during the Gold Rush. We recently found evidence of a South Asian man who lived and died in 1850 San Francisco. In my research, this is the earliest evidence I’ve seen of South Asians in Northern California. In…
3 East Indians seeking work in 1900s San Francisco

We’ve been finding records of early Indian immigrants to San Francisco advertising for jobs. Here are some of the ads we found. 1899: Hotel or pantry work “A young East Indian would like a position as porter in hotel or pantry work. Address box 2275, Call office.” 1905: Languages and cookery “An honest East Indian, 26 years…
Abdul Goffer Mondul’s battle for citizenship in 1909 Texas

He moved to Texas, fought for citizenship, and married a woman from Louisiana Abdul Goffer Mondul moved to the United States from India as a teenager in 1881, and built a life for himself in Texas. He worked as a peddler, married a White French-Irish woman named Mabel, and ended up in a difficult court…
Love, murder, and the great Hindoo manhunt of 1913

The story of Said Khan, the “thuggee” murderer I’ve been grappling with the story of Said Ali Khan, trying to make meaning of it. In 1913, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Said Ali Khan strangled and murdered Rosa Domingo, an 18 year old Portuguese woman he was involved with. He weighted down her body…
Vintage Indian-American ads: A 1910s lecture tour by an “Indian Prince”

“Prince” Sarath Kumar Ghosh cross-crossed the U.S. 100 years ago In the 19th and early 20th century, it was common for lecturers to criss-cross the United States, speaking to local audiences. These lectures were a way to get a glimpse of the world, to inform, and inspire—some compare them to TED talks. Our friends at the…
6 lustful Indian American personals from the 1960s

I found these ads in the personals section of the Berkeley Barb, a well-known 1960s underground/counterculture newspaper. “ATTENTION GIRLS two Cal Grads 23 from India seek young girls for fun n sex.” “Like to invite girls to try food from India” “Engineer from India 33 seeks girls for fun, love, parties. No fakers or guys.” “American college prof.…
Fighting Indian stereotypes in 1934 Hollywood

Lal Chand Mehra improved a movie with actors in brownface Bombay Mail was a 1934 Hollywood murder mystery set on a train in India. Most of the characters were White, with a few Indian characters played by actors in brownface, but advisor Lal Chand Mehra did his best to keep the film as authentic as…
Indian Muslims in 1910 Oakland

3 Indian Muslims, a Russian Jewish landlord, and an unfinished story I was looking at local census records, when I ran across something intriguing. The 1910 census records show three Indian men living at 667 Fifth Street, Oakland, California (near present-day Jack London Square): They were born in India, and immigrated to the US in…
8 Indian chutney ads from 19th century San Francisco

“Bombay chutney 50¢ · 10 varieties, hot and sweet” San Francisco after the gold rush was a hub of trade. And with that trade came goods from around the world, including from India. Here are 8 ads for Indian chutney from post-Gold Rush San Francisco Bay Area. 1868: “Bengal Chutney” 1884: “Indian chutney” as table delicacy 1885: “Genuine…
How to tie a turban in 1892 San Francisco

“a series of rapid, graceful motions that defy analysis” An 1892 San Francisco paper featured this lovely description of how a Desi man (presumably Sikh) ties a turban: The sight of a man putting on his hat is not usually impressive, but to see an East Indian don his turban before it is rolled is…
Clearing out Hindoos in 1907 Berkeley

White residents asked police to drive out South Asian neighbors South Asian workers started moving into Berkeley, California in the early 1900s. Their White neighbors immediately started trying to push them out, demanding that “coolies and Hindoos be cleared out of West Berkeley” with the help of police. When the police refused to kick them…
A South Asian doctor in 1910s Oklahoma

He skipped going to Harvard to marry a White woman named Gladys 1. Surendra moves from Calcutta to New York Surendra Nath Chatterjee was born into a Hindu Brahmin Bengali family in Calcutta, India on August 15, 1892. He was enrolled at Scottish Church College in Calcutta as of 1905, when he was about 13 years old.…