Dalip Singh Saund | American Turban

House Rep. Bera seeks CA Hall of Fame for Dalip Singh Saund

June 28, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In May, US House Representative Mark Takano of California honored Dalip Singh Saund in the House Chamber as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Dalip Singh held the same seat from 1957 to 1963 as the first Asian American, Indian American and Sikh American House Representative in the United States. Yesterday, during a speech in the House Chamber, Representative Ami Bera, an Indian American, called on California Governor Jerry Brown to induct Dalip Singh into the California Hall of […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: Ami Bera, California Hall of Fame, Dalip Singh Saund, Jerry Brown, Mark Takano, United States House of Representatives

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Honoring Dalip Singh Saund

May 22, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On May 16, US House Representative Mark Takano (D-CA) commemorated Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by honoring one of his predecessors, Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian American (and only Sikh) to serve in US Congress (1957-1963): Congressman Saund was the first Asian American Member of Congress, the very first Member of a non-Abrahamic faith, and the first Member born in Asia. He was also our first Sikh American to enter Congress. He also represented my hometown of Riverside, California, […]

Categories: Events, Politics • Tags: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Dalip Singh Saund, Mark Takano, United States House of Representatives, US Congress

President Obama cites Dalip Singh Saund, first Sikh and Asian-born Congressman, as ‘trailblazer’

May 10, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

At the recent Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies gala in Washington, DC on Tuesday, President Obama acknowledged ceiling-shattering Americans of Asian descent who were elected to federal office. Among these, the President specifically recognized Dalip Singh Saund, who was the first Asian-born and only Sikh to serve in Congress: “They were trailblazers like Dalip Singh Saund – a young man from India who, in 1920, came to study agriculture, stayed to become a farmer, and took on the […]

Categories: News Bits, Politics • Tags: APAICS, Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, Barack Obama, Dalip Singh Saund, United States Congress

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More Sikhs seeking public office in 2012

March 23, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sikhs in this country are still seeking greater involvement in public politics. It is a different journey than that of our Sikh neighbors to the north in Canada, who have been able to leverage their greater proportion of the population and size of their Sikh communities to garner seats at provincial and federal levels. However, whereas in Canada, Sikh candidates can quite often contest on a platform espousing Sikh-specific issues (and political parties of all stripes court that vote), this […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: 2012 elections, Canada, Dalip Singh Saund, Jack Uppal, United States Congress, United States House of Representatives, US Congress, US House Representative

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Sikhs 2012!

March 21, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The first Sikh to serve as a Member of Congress in the United States, and indeed the first Asian American, was Dalip Singh Saund (pictured right) in 1957. He served as a Congressman representing the Democratic Party in California’s 29th Congressional District until 1963. At the municipal level, it has already been documented on this blog that there have been three Sikhs who have recently held mayoral or head of city council positions across the United States. However, with the […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: 2012 elections, Dalip Singh Saund, Harmeet Dhillon, Ricky Gill, Sarabjit Kaur Cheema, United States House of Representatives, US House Representative