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'Racial classification of Indian ★ ★ immigrants by the U.S. judiciary'[1][2]
'Year'	'Case'	'Judgement'	'Rationale'
1909	In re Balsara	probably not White	congressional intent
1910	U.S. v. Dolla	White	visual inspection of skin
1910	U.S. v. Balsara	White	scientific evidence, congressional intent
1913	In re Akhay Kumar Mozumdar	White	legal precedent
1917	In re Sadar Bhagwab Singh	not White	common knowledge, congressional intent
1919	In re Mohan Singh	White	scientific evidence, legal precedent
1920	In re Thind	White	legal precedence
1923	U.S. v. Thind	not White	common knowledge, congressional intent
1923	U.S. v. Akhaykumar Mozumdar	not White	legal precedent
1925	U.S. v. Ali	not White ★ ★ ★	common knowledge
1928	U.S. v. Gokhale	not White	legal precedent
1939	Wadia v. U.S	not White	common knowledge
1942	Kharaiti Ram Samras v. U.S	not White	legal precedent
★ ★ Court opinions and decisions on the racial classification of Indians, the last of which was in 1942, were made before formal Indian independence in 1947. While often not clear, it was generally assumed at the time that by Indians the courts meant all those originally from the Indian subcontinent, the union of British India and Princely States.
★ ★ ★ 1925 decision ruled specifically against Punjabis while other rulings were generally regarding all Indians, which is understood to have meant all those originally from the region of South Asia.

The 'racial classification of Indian Americans' has changed from white to Asian. The US government originally did not classify Indian Americans as a race because there were only negligible numbers of them. In 1923, their race was deemed to not be white and be Asian instead which has continued to the present.

Contents

Supreme Court

U.S. Census

Original peoples of India are Asian

black identity

brown identity

Aryan South Asian Americans

References

See also

Supreme Court

The crucial 1923 Supreme Court case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind created the official stance to classify Indians as non-white, which at the time retroactively stripped Indians of citizenship and land rights. The decision placated the Asiatic Exclusion League demands, spurned by growing outrage at the Turban Tide / Hindoo Invasion (sic) alongside the pre-existing outrage at the Yellow Peril. As they became classified as non-whites, Indian Americans were banned by anti-miscegenation laws from marrying white Americans in the states of Arizona, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia.^[3] Although more recent legislation influenced by the civil-rights movement has removed much of the statutory discrimination against Asians, no case has overturned this 1923 classification. Professor Madhulika Khandelwal, while serving on the National Board of Asian-American Studies, accredits Indian American activism as the catalyst for the 1980s U.S. Census re-classification of Indians.^[4]

U.S. Census

Main articles: Race and ethnicity in the United States Census

Original peoples of India are Asian

The U.S. Census Bureau has changed over the years its own classification of Indians. In 1930 and 1940, Indian Americans were a separate category, ''Hindu'', and in 1950 and 1960, they were classified as ''Other Race'', and in 1970, they were classified as ''White''. Since 1980, people who originate from the original peoples of India and more generally the Indian Subcontinent which are the Dravidians and Adivasis have been classified as part of the Asian race^[5]. A write-in response of "''Indian''" in the "''Some other race''" line of the US Census does not get the respondent classified as a race, since it is unspecified whether the respondent is an Asian Indian or an American Indian. Accordingly, the US Census uses the term "''Asian Indian''" to make the group in question clear. People who wrote-in Dravidian, Bharati, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Dravidian, Hindu^[6] (see history of the Indian caste system) or East Indian in the "''Some other race''" section are automatically categorized as Asian Indians.^[7]

black identity

Some South Asian Americans reported their race as black on the US Census and some African Americans such as Runoko Rashidi^[8] view South Asians' race to be black too, but most South Asian Americans do not identify as black. Most South Asian Americans repudiate the black identity. It is mostly South Asian Americans with low socio-economic status who identify as blacks.

brown identity

Some South Asian Americans identify their race as brown. Sociologist A. Rajagopal thinks South Asian Americans identify as brown to distance themselves from blacks rather than to identify with Hispanic Americans who may also identify as brown. Indian Americans and Hispanic Americans who identify their race as brown may not identify each other as the same race.

Aryan South Asian Americans

The US Census officially classifies Parsis, Romanis and Aryans as white. Even though Parsis have lived in the Indian Subcontinent for 1000 years, the US Census classifies them as racially white since they originate in the original peoples of Iran, Persians in this case, which is part of the Middle East.Surveilance Epidemology and End Results. Race and Nationality Descriptions from the 2000 US Census and Bureau of Vital Statistics. 2007. May 21, 2007. [4] Even though Romanis migrated from the Indian Subcontinent a long time ago, the US Census classifies their race as white since they are Aryans with origins in the Iranian Plateau which is part of the Middle East. The US Census classifies responses of "Aryan" as white whereas responses of Indo-Aryan are counted as Asian.University of Michigan. Census 1990: Ancestry Codes. August 27, 2007. [5]
A number of South Asian Americans may identify with their perceived Aryan ancestry by identifying their race as Aryan which is officially categorized as part of the white race by the US Census. In 1913, when there were legal preferences accorded to whites in the United States for immigration, Indian Americans produced literature where they claimed they had "''pure Aryan blood''".Lal, Vinay. Manas. University of California Los Angeles: Society of Letters and Science. The Indian Diaspora. "A Political History of Asian Indians in the United States." 1999. August 27, 2007.[6] This plea was rejected and immigration from India was reduced in accord to a non-white status. In 1993 the Arab American Institute proposed that the 2000 US Census make a new Middle Easterner racial category and the AAI wanted Pakistani Americans to be included in it.^[9] According to the 2000 US Census, 25% of 2nd generation South Asian Americans marked the white category.(pp. 76)Morning, Ann. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. "The Racial Self-Identification of South Asians in the United States." 2001. July 21, 2007. [8] Under the South Asian American umbrella, Pakistani and Sri Lankan Americans marked white in the 2000 US Census to a greater degree than Indian Americans.(pp. 72)

References

1. White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race, , Ian Haney, Lopez, New York University Press, ,
2. Are Desis White? Francis C. Assisi
3. http://www.lovingday.org/map.htm
4. Chandy, Sunu P. What is a Valid South Asian Struggle? Report on Annual SASA Conference. 1996. October 26 2006. way.net
5. Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung, Historical Census Statistics On Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For Large Cities And Other Urban Places In The United States Working Paper no. 76 (2005); see footnote 6 in paper
6. University of Virginia. Geospatial and Statistical Data Center. "1990 PUMS Ancestry Codes." 2003. August 30, 2007.[1]
7. Innovative Computing:Custom Census and Corporate Data Analysis. "Race." August 27, 2007. [2]
8. Rashidi, Runoko. The Global African Community. "Caste and Race in India." 1998. September 2, 2007. [3]
9. Menon, Sridevi. Duke University. "Where is West Asia in Asian America?Asia and the Politics of Space in Asian America." 2004. April 26, 2007. [7]

See also

★ Asian American Immigration History

★ Indian American

★ A.K. Mozumdar

★ Race legislation in the United States