Saund, Dalip Singh, 1899-1973

<p>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 January 3, 1957 to January 3, 1963. He was the first Asian American, the first Indian American and the first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to the United States Congress.</p>

<p>Born in Chhajulwadi, Amritsar district, Punjab Province, British India (now Chhajjalwaddi, Punjab, India), to an Indian Punjabi Sikh family, he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Punjab in 1919.</p>

<p>He immigrated to the United States (via Ellis Island) originally to study agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the university, he obtained a master's degree (1922) and a PhD (1924), both in mathematics. His studies were sponsored by Stockton Gurdwara in Stockton, California as he lived in the gurdwara-owned Guru Nanak Khalsa Hostel. Stockton Gurdwara was "the first permanent Sikh American settlement and gurdwara in the United States." He thereafter remained in the United States, becoming a successful farmer. He married Marian Kosa in 1928. They had three children.</p>

<p>In November 1956, D. S. Saund, who everyone simply called “Judge,” became the first person of Asian descent elected to serve as a United States Representative. He was a tireless champion of his southern California district and the farmers who called it home. But his unique backstory—born in India, naturalized U.S. citizen, successful businessman, county judge—also catapulted him to the international stage. During his career in the House of Representatives, at the height of the Cold War, Saund became something of a transcendent politician who had the singular ability to engage audiences abroad. Although he frequently confronted discrimination during his life in the United States, Saund maintained his belief in the promises of American democracy.</p>

<p>Dalip Singh Saund was born on September 20, 1899, and raised in Chhajjalwaddi in the far-northern province of Punjab, India, which at the time was a British colony. Saund’s father worked as a construction contractor for the government and died when Saund was only a boy. His parents had lived through the period of British colonialism and neither had attended school, but education was a cornerstone of Saund’s life. His father and uncles saved enough money to open a one-room schoolhouse about a half mile from where Saund lived. At the age of eight, his parents sent him to boarding school 16 miles away in the city of Amritsar near the border with modern day Pakistan.</p>

<p>While in college at the University of Punjab, Saund supported the movement for an independent India led by Mohandas Gandhi. Along with his informal lessons in nonviolence and civil disobedience, Saund majored in mathematics, graduated with a BS degree in 1919, and moved to America to further his education. While he waited for his passport, Saund worked to expand his childhood school, planted trees along the roads throughout his village, and helped establish two community banks.</p>

SAUND, Dalip Singh (Judge), a Representative from California; born in Amritsar, India, September 20, 1899; educated in boarding schools; University of Punjab, A.B., 1919; came to the United States in 1920 to attend the University of California and graduated in 1922 receiving M.A. and Ph.D. degrees; lettuce farmer in the Imperial Valley of California, 1930-1953; also distributor of chemical fertilizer in Westmoreland, Calif., since 1953; became a citizen of the United States in 1949 and less than a year later was elected judge of Justice Court, Westmoreland Judicial District, county of Imperial, but was denied seat, not having been a citizen one year when elected; elected judge of the same court in 1952 and served until his resignation January 1, 1957; delegate to Democratic National Conventions, 1952, 1956, and 1960; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-fifth and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1957-January 3, 1963); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1962 to the Eighty-eighth Congress; died April 22, 1973, in Hollywood, Calif.; remains were cremated.