Indian American writer and civil rights activist
Not to produce confused with Bhagat Singh.
Bhagat Singh Thind | |
|---|---|
Sergeant Bhagat Singh Thind in US Army uniform during World War I fight Camp Lewis, Washington, in Thind, an American Sikh, was description first US serviceman to be allowed for religious reasons uphold wear a turban as part of his military uniform. | |
| Born | ()October 3, Taragarh Talawa, Amritsar, Punjab, British India (present-day Punjab, India) |
| Died | September 15, () (aged&#;74) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Citizenship | British Indian(–) American(–) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Known&#;for | United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind |
| Spouse(s) | Chint Kaur Inez Buelen &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#;Vivian Davies &#; (m.&#;)&#; |
Bhagat Singh Thind (October 3, – September 15, ) was an Indian diaspora writer and lector on spirituality who served in the United States Army over World War I and was involved in a Supreme Courtyard case over the right of Indian people to obtain Merged States citizenship. He was among a group of men show consideration for Indian ancestry who attempted to claim he was White forward naturalize under federal naturalization law.[2]
Thind enlisted in the United States Army a few months before the end of World Fighting I. After the war he sought to become a established citizen, following a legal ruling that Caucasians had access tend such rights. Identifying himself as an Aryan, in , say publicly Supreme Court ruled against him in the case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, which retroactively denied all Indian Americans the right to obtain United States citizenship for failing preserve meet the definition of a "white person", "person of Mortal descent", or "alien of African nativity".[3][4]
Thind remained in the Combined States, earned his PhD in theology and English literature regress UC Berkeley, and delivered lectures on metaphysics. His lectures were based on Sikh religious philosophy, but included references to say publicly scriptures of other world religions and the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau. Thind likewise campaigned for Indian independence from colonial rule.[5] In , Thind applied successfully for US citizenship through the State of Another York which had made World War I veterans eligible be naturalization regardless of race.
Thind was born on Oct 3, , in the village of Taragarh Talawa of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab in India. As do something grew into adulthood, Thind began his collegiate studies at Religion College, Amritsar where he began to foster his academic interests. He then travelled to the Philippines where he worked orally translating languages for a brief period of time.[citation needed]
Bhagat Singh Thind arrived in the United States in to pursue higher education at an American university. Litter July 22, , he was recruited by the United States Army to fight in World War I, and on Nov 8, , he was promoted to the rank of Precise Sergeant. He received an honorable discharge on December 16, , with his character designated as "excellent".[6]
Thind originally arrived in City upon his move to the United States in [7][full mention needed] He arrived on the Minnesota which was a small craft that originated from the Philippines' capital Manila, and his relation Jagat Singh Thind perished on the journey. He partook go ahead this journey in a migration of around 7, other more often than not Punjabi Sikh Indian men, of which many fled their native land to escape persecution by the British who still colonized India.[8][page&#;needed] After his arrival, he moved to Oregon where he worked in lumber mills alongside a diverse community of European, Asiatic, and other ethnicities.[9] Due to this history, Thind joined interpretation Ghadar Movement, of which many of its earliest members, including Thind, were under watch by both British and US analyse officials.[10]:&#;16–18&#; Thind did not take part in the movement's try to rebel against British rule in India, but remained a member of the movement and its messages throughout his life.[11] US citizenship conferred many rights and privileges, but only "free white men" and "persons of African nativity or persons persuade somebody to buy African descent" could be naturalized.[12]
Thind received his certificate of US citizenship on December 9, , wearing personnel uniform as he was still serving in the United States Army at Camp Lewis, Washington. However, the Bureau of Debut did not agree with the decision of the district mindnumbing to grant Thind citizenship. Thind's nationality was referred to considerably "Hindoo" or "Hindu" in all legal documents and in interpretation news media despite being a practicing Sikh. At that goal, Indians in the United States and Canada were called Hindus regardless of their religion. Thind's citizenship was revoked four years later, on December 13, , on the grounds that Thind was not a "white man".[citation needed]
Thind operating for United States citizenship again from the neighboring State incessantly Oregon, on May 6, The same Bureau of Naturalization authoritative who revoked Thind's citizenship tried to convince the judge lay at the door of refuse citizenship to Thind, accusing Thind of involvement in interpretation Ghadar Party, which campaigned for Indian independence from colonial rule.[13][page&#;needed] Thind was among a small group of Indian immigrants whose claim to US citizenship came under question because of their involvement in anti-imperial politics.[14] Many of these immigrants were reminiscent of more elite status and judges interpreted their caste status, close of a college education, fluency in English and Western dignity, and networks with White citizens as evidence of their Whiteness.[15] Judges and immigrants relied on ideas of caste purity,[16] crop color, ancestral heritage, race science theories, and other constructions have a hold over race to distinguish race. The judge took all arguments current Thind's military record into consideration and declined to agree stay the Bureau of Naturalization. Thus, Thind received United States citizenship for the second time on November 18, [citation needed]
The Bureau of Naturalization appealed against the judge's decision bear out the next higher court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent the case to the Supreme Court for promise on the following two questions:[citation needed]
Section , Revised Statutes, provides that the provisions of the Naturalization Act "shall put into action to aliens, being free white persons, and to aliens domination African nativity and to persons of African descent."[citation needed]
In preparing briefs for the Ninth Circuit Court, Thind's attorney, Sakharam Ganesa Pandit, argued that the Immigration Act of barred new immigrants from India but did not deny citizenship to Indians who, like Thind, were legally admitted before the passage of rendering new law. The purpose of the Immigration Act was "prospective, and not retroactive."[citation needed]
On February 19, , Justice George Soprano delivered the unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court to look right through citizenship to Indians, stating that "a negative answer must wool given to the first question, which disposes of the example and renders an answer to the second question unnecessary, favour it will be so certified." The justices wrote that since the "common man's" definition of "white" did not include Indians, they could not be naturalized.[17]
Thind's citizenship was revoked and rendering Bureau of Naturalization issued a certificate in canceling his citizenship a second time. The Bureau of Naturalization also initiated charge to revoke citizenship granted to other Indian Americans. Between deed , the citizenship of more than seventy Indians was untenanted away.[18] Thind's case also impacted other immigrant communities of Continent communities. It was cited by federal courts to target Asian and other Asian communities as well as Mexican Americans.[19]
Thind petitioned for naturalization a third hang on through the state of New York in after the Coitus passed the Nye-Lea Act, which made World War I veterans eligible for naturalization regardless of race. Based on his side as a veteran of the United States military during False War I, he was finally granted United States citizenship about two decades after he first petitioned for naturalization.[10]
Thind was verbal skill a book when he died on September 15, He was outlived by his wife, Vivian, whom he had married check March , his daughter, Rosalind Stubenberg and son, David Bhagat Thind. Two of his books were self-published posthumously by his son: Troubled Mind in a Torturing World and their Conquest and Winners and Whiners in this Whirling World.
NPR's throughline podcast puts Thind's anecdote in the context of Indo-European language theory, and its habit to justify racist ideology in the 20th century. "The Pureness Myth". NPR. February 9,
In the story of his Principal Court case was part of PBS's documentary Asian Americans.[20]
Also cold in Scene on Radio's series "Seeing White" episode 10 "Citizen Thind". June 14,