‘A History Overlooked’, says South-Asian American Archive Director

South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) highlights the history and narrative of South Asian Americans

Samip Mallick, the executive director of South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

(Photo: india.com)

The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) works to collect archives narrating the stories of South Asian Americans; a community of over five million people.

So far, the organisation has logged 3,956 archival items that narrate the trajectory of South Asian American history; a history that Mallick claims has "otherwise been overlooked by museums, archives and other repositories".

SAADA attempts to work with the community to highlight South Asian American stories. It is important to "recognise why our own histories are critically important", Mallick says.

“A community without its records is a community under siege, defending itself, its identity, and its version of history without a firm foundation on which to stand”

Jeannette Bastian

In the 1900s, when South Asians arrived on the shores of The United States and Canada, they faced xenophobia, not only with reference to public sentiment, but also legislative policy and judicial decisions.

In 1907, for instance, working-class Punjabi immigrants settled in the town of Bellingham were run out of their city, due to race-related riots.

Parallels, therefore, may be drawn between the anti-immigration sentiment then, with what is happening in the United States today, explained Mallick.

South Asians for Black Lives Matter: A History Inter-twined 

"There is a long lineage of solidarity, of activism, of engagement, by South Asian Americans for the struggle against Anti-Black Racism, and for Black Liberation", states Samip Mallick.

South Asians were allowed to immigrate to the country under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 thanks to their close connections with the Black community.

Speaking of the history of the United States, Mallick explains that more South Asians were allowed to immigrate to the country under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 thanks to their close connections with the Black community.

"It was only in the midst of the civil rights movement led by Black Americans in 1965 that those from South Asia like my family and many of the South Asian American community members that we see today were allowed to come to the United States," he said, highlighting the stories his archive has uncovered.

“Our very existence in this country is a by-product of the connections between South Asians, and Black and other minority communities in the United States”

Samip Mallick, Executive Director of South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)