The racial classification of Indian Americans has varied over the years and across institutions.Harpalani, Vinay, DesiCrit: Theorizing the Racial Ambiguity of South Asian Americans (August 12, 2013). 69 NYU Annual Survey of American Law 77 (2013); Chicago-Kent College of Law Research Paper No. 2013-30. pp. 123, 124 & 136. Available at SSRN: link Originally, neither the courts nor the United States Census Bureau classified Indian Americans as a race because there were only negligible numbers of Indian immigrants in the United States. Early Indian Americans were often denied their civil rights, leading to close affiliations with African Americans. For most of America's early history, the government only recognized two racial classifications, white or colored. Due to immigration laws of the time, those deemed colored were often stripped of their American citizenship or denied the ability to become citizens. For these reasons, various South Asians in America took the government to court to try to be considered white instead of colored. After advocacy from the Indian American community, the racial category of Asian Indian was finally introduced in the 1980 U.S. census.
Initial perceptions
One of the first recorded Indians in America was a mixed-race girl born to an Indian father and an Irish American mother in 1680 in Maryland. Due to her Indian American father being classified as "Negro", she was classified as a mulatto and later sold into slavery.Francis C. Assisi (2005). "Indian-American Scholar Susan Koshy Probes Interracial Sex". INDOlink. Retrieved January 2, 2009. Court records from the 1700s indicate a number of "East Indians" were held as slaves in Maryland and Delaware. Upon freedom, they are said to have blended into the free African American population - considered mulattoes within the African American community. Three brothers from modern day "India or Pakistan" received their freedom in 1710 and married into a Native American tribe in Virginia. The present-day Nansemond people trace their lineage to this intermarriage.Dr. Helen C. Rountree, "Nansemond History" , Nansemond Tribal Association, accessed September 16, 2009
The earliest Indian immigrants into the United States were called "Hindus" even though the majority of them were Sikhs. Court clerks classified these early immigrants from the Punjab region as being "black", "white", or "brown" based on their skin color for the purpose of marriage licenses. In addition to being racialized by their color, they were also racialized as being "foreigners".
The perception of Indian Americans as foreigners sometimes helped provide for better treatment, especially in states where de jure segregation was in place. As opposed to being seen as black, in some states Indians were seen as outside of the traditional American racial spectrum, and consequently freed from the encumbrances which that system entailed.
By the mid-1950s, those who remained settled in the then vibrant black neighborhoods of Tremé in New Orleans, Black Bottom in Detroit, West Baltimore, and Harlem in New York. Many started families with Creoles, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans. An example is Indian-born Hucheshwar Gurusidha Mudgal, who became a prominent journalist in Harlem's African American community. Punjabi Sikhs in California found a closer camaraderie with Mexicans, resulting in a unique mixed-race community in the Yuba City area - the Punjabi Mexican Americans.Palhotra, Nishi. "The 'dirty Hindus' ." Hardnews. March 2008. Retrieved on April 15, 2012.
Identity
Self-identification Indian independence movement fighter Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay wrote of the Indian racial identity in America as being "black".America,: The land of superlatives, Phoenix Publications, 1946. After spending years studying and living with African American families, Chattopadhyay wrote Indians in America should form ties with African Americans, believing they share a common ancestry and a common struggle for independence.'I am a colored woman': Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya in the United States, 1939-1941. Slate, Nico. Routledge Publishing Following the George Floyd protests of the 2020s, some segments of the American-born South Asian community have renewed calls for camaraderie with African Americans.
However, South Asians often try to distance themselves from African Americans and Hispanics. Even though South Asians "insist on being called 'brown', the plea of Indian immigrants not to be called black is what is most audible". This is due to considerable anti-blackness and anti-Hispanic prejudice in some segments of the South Asian population. This prejudice is often accompanied by a fear of being mistaken for black or Hispanic, described as "an almost paranoid response to even being thought of as black".
Some South Asian Americans have identified themselves as being "Brown Asians" or "Brown South Asians", while others, like Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and of Indian descent, identified as "white" on her voter registration card in 2001."Indian Nikki Haley Says She Is White". Mother Jones. July 29, 2011. Dick Harpootlian, chairman of the South Carolina Democrats, stated "Haley has been appearing on television interviews where she calls herself a minority—when it suits her... When she registers to vote she says she is white. She has developed a pattern of saying whatever is beneficial to her at the moment." While some Asian Americans (including South Asian descendants) may not identify with the "Asian American" label at all, due to the term's association with East Asian Americans. As such, the "Brown Asian" label sees some usage to further differentiate South and Southeast Asian Americans from those of East Asian descent.
The official classification of South Asian as part of the "Asian American" racial category represents an agreement of convenience for South Asians on where they fit on the black-white racial spectrum in the United States, as American society is largely dominated by only a "white" and "black" racial and skin color classification system. Depending on the social and legal context, some Indian Americans may identify as either "white" or "black". South Asian Americans and other types of Asian Americans mutually feel that there exists "profound racial difference" between themselves and the other Asian ethnic group. Furthermore, "Working-class or state school-educated second generation Indian Americans do not see a natural alliance or unity with other Asian American groups." Many South Asian Americans have noted that their perceived differences in cultural, religious, and racial/physical appearance with other Asian American ethnic groups has often lead them to being excluded in Asian American studies, narratives and media representations.
Identification by others Early Indian travelers to America, including philosopher and author Swami Vivekananda, were identified as black by both African Americans and White Americans. The racial prejudice associated with this identification created strong anti-racist sentiments in authors such as Vivekananda, which in turn influenced the philosophies of W. E. B. Du Bois.
In 1989, the East–West Center published a research paper about Indian Americans that said that Americans find identifying South Asians by race and color to be difficult. The paper said that a 1978 survey of Americans asked the question, "Would you classify most people from India as being white, black, or something else?" The paper said that 38% of respondents classified most people from India as "other", 23% classified them as "brown", 15% classified them as "black", 13% did not know how to classify them, and 11% classified them as "white".Xenos, P., Barringer, H., & Levin, M. J. (1989). Asian Indians in the United States: A 1980 census Profile. Papers of the East-West Population Institute, (111). Pages 1, 9-12, 15 & 18. Wayback Machine link.
In 2000, a series of interviews of second-generation Asian American college student leaders found that most of the interviewees who did not include Indian Americans as Asian Americans did not express a clear reason that was more than perceived difference in physical appearance and culture.
Indian Americans have often been misidentified as being of Arabs or Middle Eastern origin, particularly after the September 11 attacks. Assaults against turban-wearing Sikhs have become common since 9/11, due to Sikh turbans resembling the turban that Osama Bin Laden often wore in pictures. After her win in 2013, Miss America winner Nina Davuluri was taunted online and called an "Arab" and a "terrorist" due to this misconception among the American public.. 'Miss America Nina Davuluri brushes off racist remarks'. September 16, 2013.
In 2015, Sureshbhai Patel was described by a suspicious caller as a "skinny black guy" before he was beaten and severely injured by Alabama police officers.
The 2017 book, Indians In America, stated that Indians and other South Asians are a part of Asian Americans, yet apart from Asian Americans. While they are admitted among Asian Americans, they are not acknowledged among Asian Americans. According to this book, other Asian Americans characterize Indians and other South Asians to be "ambiguously nonwhite."Chakravorty, S., Kapur, D. & Singh, N. (2017). The Other One Percent: Indians in America. Page 179. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Books link.
Some have attributed the general exclusion of South Asian Americans from the Asian American label due to the term being synonymous with people of East Asian origin. In 2019, it was noted that there were several presidential candidates of Asian American or Pacific Islander origin, including Andrew Yang and Kamala Harris, who are of Taiwanese and Indian descent respectively. Frequently described by the media and campaigning himself as 'the' Asian American candidate, Yang stated that his "Asian-ness [is] kind of obvious in a way that might not be true of Kamala or even Tulsi... That's not a choice. It's just a fairly evident reality."
U.S. courts Throughout much of the early 20th century, it was necessary for immigrants to be considered white in order to receive U.S. citizenship. U.S. courts classified Indians as both white and non-white through a number of cases.
In 1909, Bhicaji Balsara became the first Indian to gain U.S. citizenship. As a Parsi, he was ruled to be "the purest of Aryan type" and "as distinct from Hindus as are the English who dwell in India". Thirty years later, the same Circuit Court to accept Balsara ruled that Rustom Dadabhoy Wadia, another Parsi from Bombay, was colored and therefore not eligible to receive U.S. citizenship.
Thind case and attempted revocations of citizenship In 1923, the Supreme Court decided in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that while Indians were classified as Caucasians by anthropologists, people of Indian descent were not white by common American definition, and thus not eligible to citizenship.United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, Certificate From The Circuit Court Of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit., No. 202. Argued 11, January 12, 1923.—Decided February 19, 1923, United States Reports, v. 261, The Supreme Court, October Term, 1922, 204–215. The court conceded that, while Thind was a high caste Hindu born in the northern Punjab region and classified by certain scientific authorities as of the Aryan race, he was not "white" since the word Aryan "has to do with linguistic and not necessarily with physical characteristics" and since "the average man knows perfectly well that there are unmistakable and profound differences" between Indians and White Americans. The court also clarified that the decision did not reflect or imply anything related to racial superiority or inferiority, but merely an observable difference.