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Dalip Singh Saund finally framed, with great honor!
WSN Network

The official portrait of The Honorable Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian American to serve in the U.S. Congress will be unveiled on November 7. Please join the House Fine Arts Board, the Committee on House Administration, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans on Wednesday, November 7, 2007, at 5:30 pm in The Rayburn Room.

In 2002 the House Fine Arts Board established a program to enhance the fine arts collection of the House to include historically important members of the House. The program is administered by the Office of History and Preservation under the jurisdiction of the Clerk of the House.

On Wednesday, November 7th, we will unveil the portrait of the Honorable Dalip Singh Saund of California (1957-1963), the first Asian American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Congress.

Dalip Saund's story is a story of courage, hard work, and just rewards. Born on September 20, 1899, in the small farming village of Amritsar, India, he came to the United States in 1920 to attend the University of California at Berkeley. In 1924 he graduated having earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics. He had planned to return to India after graduation, but having discovered the promise of America, he moved to the Imperial Valley of California and pursued a successful career in agriculture.

Success was not easy for an Asian from India in the 1920s. Anti-immigrant sentiment was running rampant across the country, as reflected in the passage of such laws as the Quota Immigration Act of 1921, the Cable Act of 1922, and the National Origins Act of 1924. In 1923 the Supreme Court had issued an opinion that Indians while designated as Caucasians were ineligible for citizenship because they were not "white."

Subject to prejudice and discrimination, prohibited for owning land he farmed, his American wife having been stripped of her citizenship for marrying an "alien" man, Dalip Saund did not waiver in his pursuit of the American dream. He embraced the opportunity to take an active role in the future of his community and his adopted country. He was a founding member and the first president of the India Association of America. The primary task of the Association was to secure citizenship rights for Indians. Building a national organization, establishing an effective lobby here on Capitol Hill, the Association was able to convince Congresswoman Clare Booth Luce of Connecticut and Congressman Emanual Cellar of New York to introduce legislation granting naturalization rights to Asian Indians and Filipinos. The act was signed into law by President Truman in 1946.

Mr. Saund became a citizen in 1949 and less than a year later was elected judge of Justice Court, Westmoreland Judicial District, County of Imperial, but not having been a citizen for one year when elected was denied the seat. He was elected judge of the same court in 1952 and subsequently reelected for two additional terms. In 1956 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 29th congressional district of California, then comprised of Riverside and Imperial Counties. He served for three Congresses (January 3, 1957-January 3, 1963); he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1962.

At the conclusion of his congressional career, he returned to California. Mr. Saund died on April 22, 1973, in Hollywood, California and is interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California.

7 November, 2007
 

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