Dalip Singh Saund

Dalip Singh Saund (born September 20, 1899, Chhajjal Wadi, India—died April 22, 1973, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) was the first Asian American, first Indian American, and first Sikh to be elected to the U.S. Congress. Before serving, he helped change a law so that Indians could become U.S. citizens.

Early life and education

Saund was born in Chhajjal Wadi, in the Punjab province of northern India, which at the time was a British colony. He and his family were followers of Sikhism, a religion founded in 15th-century Punjab and characterized by a rejection of idolatry and caste. Saund’s early education took place in a one-room schoolhouse that his father and uncles had saved money to fund. Saund then attended boarding school in nearby Amritsar and continued his studies at the University of the Punjab. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1919. While in college, Saund supported Mahatma Gandhi and the movement for India’s independence.

Life and education at Berkeley

In the interest of setting up his own canning business in India, Saund went to the United States in 1920 to study food preservation at the University of California, Berkeley. He also worked in canning factories throughout the state and founded a Sikh community near the Sikh temple in the city of Stockton. Saund ultimately changed his major to mathematics, earning a master’s degree in 1922 and a Ph.D. in 1924.

Farming, family, and early politics

After graduating, Saund learned from his family that the Indian government had been monitoring “anti-British” statements that he had made while studying, so he decided to stay in California. In 1925 he moved south to Imperial Valley, where several other Indian immigrants had settled, and began farming.

Because of the 1923 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, Saund could not become a U.S. citizen and was thus unable to buy land. He instead leased and farmed land under the name of an American friend. Saund grew a variety of crops, including sugar beets and Punjab flax, which were new to the area. In 1928 he married Marian Kosa, the daughter of a friend, who later became a teacher. They had three children: a son, Dalip, Jr., and two daughters, Julie and Ellie. Saund became interested in politics, and he often spoke in his area on Indian and political topics. In 1942 he helped organize the India Association of America, of which he was president, and went to Washington, D.C., to promote a bill that would make it possible for Indians to become U.S. citizens. The bill was passed in 1946, and Saund became a U.S. citizen in 1949.

County judge

In 1952 Saund ran for the office of county judge. Throughout the campaign he faced discrimination, with many voters telling him that they could not accept a judge from India. Nevertheless, Saund won the election by 13 votes. As a judge, he imposed strict sentences in an attempt to rid the community of gambling, illegal drug use, and other criminal activities.

U.S. House of Representatives

A few years later Saund ran as the Democratic Party’s candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, emphasizing his experience as a judge and as a farmer in his campaign. He again faced discrimination because of his race and religion, but he was able to win the election. Saund took office in 1957 and was almost immediately appointed to the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, a rare feat for a first-term representative. As a member of that committee, he went on a tour in the fall of 1957 to survey a U.S. foreign-aid program in several countries in Asia, including India—to which he had not returned in almost 40 years. He returned to the United States with suggestions for how to improve the country’s standing in Asia. Saund was a popular congressman and was easily reelected in 1958 and 1960.

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Later life

In 1962, while campaigning for a fourth term in Congress, Saund suffered a stroke, from which he never fully recovered. He died from a second stroke 11 years later.