Population changes
Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S. — more than 22 million individuals can trace their ancestry back to 20+ countries across the Asian continent (Budiman and Ruiz 2021).
While a great deal of that growth is owed to the momentum of the Civil Rights Movement and immigration post-1960s, when the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed, Asian communities have a long (and often overlooked) history within the United States.
Though nearly half of all Asians in the country live on the West Coast, the second biggest proportion lives in the American South (Budiman and Ruiz 2021).
North Carolina’s Office of State Budget and Management estimates that five of eight people added to the population by 2030 will be a person of color. In a state where children of color made up almost half of the population under 18 by 2019, it’s undeniable that the South, like the rest of the country, is changing (NCOSBM 2021).
South Asian immigration
South Asian immigration to the United States can be traced back to the 1700s, but the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) links a more significant presence to the late 1800s. Some examples of early established South Asian communities include Muslim Bengali peddlers in New Orleans and Punjabi farmers Yuba City in California (An introduction to South Asian American history, n.d.).
In 1917, amid growing nationalism and xenophobia, Congress passed an immigration act that created a “barred zone,” restricting migrants from Asia. The act remained in place until the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 removed such regulations (Equal Justice Initiative, n.d.).
In 1923, the U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind ruled that South Asians were ineligible from naturalization, taking away citizenship that was given to South Asian immigrants who previously received the status (An introduction to South Asian American history, n.d.). For years after, the law remained in place, excluding South Asians from gaining citizenship and naturalization rights. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights Movement that subsequent legislation was enacted to alter discriminatory immigration quotas and laws.
In 1960, SAADA notes that there were just 12,000 Indian immigrants in the U.S., which equates to around 0.5% of the foreign-born population at the time (Legacies of the 1965 Immigration Act, 2015). The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, sex or nationality, opened the door to a wave of immigration. Still, the law prioritized those seeking visas to join their families or were among professional preference categories, meaning individuals with academic and highly-skilled backgrounds made up much of the population immigrating at the time (Ballotpedia, n.d.).
Diaspora today
Today, more than 300,000 Asian Americans call North Carolina home (Yee et al. 2016). Still, that descriptor is incredibly diverse, with more than 20 ethnicities and countries of origin represented in the state, according to a report by the N.C. Justice Center, Institute for Southern Studies, SEAC and Asian Americans Advancing Justice,
Even the identifier “South Asian” is complex.
Underrepresented groups and communities of color are often painted with broad brushstrokes, and cultures that have unique languages, histories and traditions get condensed for simplicity’s sake. South Asia encompasses at least eight countries, hundreds of languages and billions of residents.
Its diaspora is equally nuanced. Almost 5.4 million South Asians live in the United States, representing a number of religions, ethnicities and languages, according to advocacy organization South Asian Americans Leading Together (2019).
In North Carolina, Indians are the largest ethnic group among the state’s Asian-American population, making up more than 25% of the demographic (Yee et al. 2016).
It is important to note that the interviewees who participated in this project come mainly from upper-middle class, academic backgrounds and associate largely with Hindu Indian identity, so their perspectives — while varied in and of themselves — are still representative of a particular slice of the South Asian diaspora. In the coming months, I hope to speak to more people and continue expanding the depth and diversity of my interviews.