Dalip Singh Saund on Black Voting Rights

DESCRIPTION
Dalip Singh Saund (September 20, 1899 – April 22, 1973) was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served the 29th District of California from 1957 to 1963. He was the first Sikh American, Asian American and Indian American elected as a voting member of the United States Congress.

A defense of Black voting rights from Dalip Singh Saund in the 1957 Congressional record.

"In his speech, he talks about his own struggle for citizenship as a Hindu (i.e. South Asian), and then uses that as a bridging point to talk about Southern racism:

'Ten years ago I was not only a foreigner, but I was an alien, ineligible to citizenship in the United States of America…I, with the help of great Americans, acquired the right of citizenship. I received my citizenship papers, and today I have the honor to sit in the most powerful body of men on the face of this earth…But, Mr. Chairman, I wish to plead with my good friends from the South. You do not go far enough. The gentleman from Illinois, Mr. NOAH MASON, said he was born in a foreign country, and because of the rights enjoyed by everybody in the United States he is a Member of Congress today. I ask him the question, 'If he had been born in State of Mississippi and born with a black skin, would he be a member of the United States Congress today?' No amount of sophistry or legal argument can deny the fact that in 13 counties in 1 State in the United States of America in 1957, not one Negro is a registered voter. Let us remove these difficulties, friends.'

Saund speaks of his citizenship struggles, but doesn't describe what that actually meant in terms of his lived experience. Not only had he been barred from citizenship for his race, but also barred from owning land for his farming business, and his White wife had to literally give up her US citizenship to marry him.

So when he's referencing his own struggle, and using that to bridge to an argument for Black voting rights, it wasn't just a rhetorical point. He knew perfectly well how hard he'd had to fight for the right to vote, and how much worse Black folks in places like Mississippi had it."—Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour

ADDITIONAL METADATA
Date: June 14, 1957
Subject(s): Dalip Singh Saund
Type: Text
Source: Congressional Record
Location:

PROVENANCE
Collection: Dalip Singh Saund Collection
Item History: 2020-08-28 (created); 2020-08-28 (modified)

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