Sikhism in the United States

The Stockton gurdwara, the oldest in the U.S., opened on October 24, 1912.[17]

Sikhs have lived in the United States for more than 130 years. The first Sikh immigrants to the United States started to arrive in the second half of the 19th century, when poor economic conditions in British India drove many Indians to emigrate elsewhere. Most Sikh immigrants to the United States came from the province of Punjab and came to the U.S. to work on agricultural farms in California, travelling via Hong Kong to Angel Island.[18]

In the years just after 1900, hundreds of Sikhs had arrived to work in the lumber mills of Bellingham, Washington. In 1907, 400–500 white men, predominantly members of the Asiatic Exclusion League, attacked the Sikhs’ homes in what is now known as the Bellingham riots. This quickly drove the East Indian immigrants out of the town.[19][20][21]

Some Sikhs worked in lumber mills of Oregon or in railroad construction and for some Sikhs it was on a railway line, which allowed other Sikhs who were working as migrant laborers to come into the town on festival days.[22]

A big effect on Sikh migration to the western states occurred during World War I and World War II, where Sikhs were recruited by the British Indian Army to serve for them. Sikhs fought bravely during these wars and began to live in England after their serving period. Among the Sikhs who already lived in America prior to the wars, many Sikhs joined them, mainly during World Wars I and II. Among those who served in the US military include Bhagat Singh Thind in World War I.

The first Sikh gurdwara established in the U.S. was the Gurdwara Sahib Stockton, in Stockton, California, which was established in 1912 by Baba Wasakha Singh Ji Dadehar and Baba Jawala Singh Ji.[23]

Sikhs of America parade float at the 2016 Martin Luther King Day parade in Midtown Houston

Houston Sikh Community at the 2016 Martin Luther King Day parade in Midtown Houston

As a result of the September 11 attacks, some Sikh Americans have become subject to discrimination, often from individuals who mistakenly believe that they are Arab or Muslim.

Balbir Singh Sodhi, a gas station owner, was killed on September 15, 2001, due to being mistaken for a Muslim. In a 2011 report to the United States Senate, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported several assaults and incidents of arson at Sikh temples after September 11. All were labeled as hate crimes that resulted from the perpetrators' misconceptions that their targets were Muslim.[24] In August 2012, a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, was the site of a shooting, leading to six Sikh individuals being killed.[25] On May 7, 2013, an elderly Sikh man was attacked with an iron bar in Fresno, California, in a possible hate crime.[26] On September 21, 2013, Prabhjot Singh, a Sikh professor was attacked in Harlem, New York, by a group of 20-30 men who branded him as "Osama" and Terrorist".[27]

A 2007 survey of Sikh students by the Sikh Coalition found that three out of four male students interviewed "had been teased or harassed on account of their religious identity."[28] In 2014, the Sikh Coalition released a national report on the bullying of Sikh children in American schools. The report found that 55.8% of Sikh students surveyed in Indianapolis reported being bullied, while 54.5% of Sikh students surveyed in Fresno, California, reported being bullied.[29] According to the surveys, Sikh students wearing turbans are twice as likely to be bullied as the average American child.

In the 1960s, due to increased Indian immigration and rising interest in Indian spirituality in the American counterculture, a number of non-Punjabi Americans began to enter 3HO. Prominent in this trend was Yogi Bhajan, leader of the Sikh-related movement 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization), whose Los Angeles temple was the first to introduce non-Punjabi Americans to Sikhism.[9]

A gathering of British veterans who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War; a Sikh is present among them (c. 1917)

A Sikh-American U.S. Army officer (2010)

Sikhs have served in the United States military at least as far back as the early 20th century, when one Bhagat Singh Thind, who though not a citizen joined the United States Army and served in World War I. Thind requested citizenship at the end of the war, being granted and revoked twice, before finally being naturalized in 1936.[30] Far larger numbers of Sikhs served in World War II, and all American wars following.

The ability of observant Sikhs to serve in the American military has, since 1985, been compromised by a discontinuation of exemptions to uniform standards which previously allowed Sikhs to maintain their religiously mandated beards and turbans while in uniform.[31] As of 2010, a Sikh doctor, Kamaljeet S. Kalsi, and dentist, Tejdeep Singh Rattan, are the only Sikh officers to be permitted to serve in uniform with beard and turban.[32] In addition, Simranpreet Lamba was permitted to enlist, with exemption to wear his turban and beard, in 2010 due to his knowledge of Punjabi and Hindi.[33]

In the federal appeals court in Washington, a preliminary injunction allowed two Sikh men to enter the military recruit training wearing a turban as it was considered an article of religion. The military recruits Milaap Singh Chahal and Jaskirat Singh sued the Marine Corps in April due to violation of the first amendment which allows the freedom of religion. The branch that they were a part of declined full religious exemption.[34]

In 2016, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) began to allow turbans, subject to standards compatible with unimpeded performance of duty.[35] In 2015, Sandeep Dhaliwal became the first Deputy Sheriff in Texas to wear a turban on duty (Harris County Sherriff's Office). He was shot and killed from behind in 2019 while conducting a routine traffic stop on the Copperbrook subdivision in Houston Texas.[36]

In 2019, the Houston Police Department changed their rules to allow beards and turbans, joining 25 other law enforcement agencies.[37]

Many Sikhs started life in America working in lumber mills, mines, and as farm laborers, with many eventually becoming landowners. Many early Sikh immigrants were restaurant owners. In 1956, Dalip Singh Saund became the first Asian Indian-born person to be elected to the United States House of Representatives.

• Dalip Singh Saund served three terms in the United States House of Representatives between 1957 and 1963. He was the first Asian American and the first person of a non-Abrahamic faith to serve in Congress.
• Preet Didbal was elected to the position of mayor of Yuba City, California in 2017. She is the first Sikh woman to serve as a city mayor in United States history.[38]
• Balvir Singh was elected to the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders, New Jersey on November 7, 2017. He became the first Asian-American to win a countywide election in Burlington County and the first Sikh-American to win a countywide election in New Jersey.[39]
• City planner Satyendra Huja was elected mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia in January 2012.[40]
• Amarjit Singh Buttar was elected in December 2001 to the Vernon, Connecticut Board of Education and won re-election in 2011.[41]
• United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley was born a Sikh but later converted to Christianity.[42]
• Ravinder Bhalla was elected mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey in November 2017. He is also the first Sikh mayor to wear a turban.
• Satwinder Kaur became the first Sikh elected to the City Council of Kent, Washington in November 2017.
• Manka Dhingra of Washington became the first Sikh woman elected to a state legislature in November 2017.[43]
• Pargat S. Sandhu was elected as mayor of Galt, California on Dec 3, 2019. He became the first Sikh to be elected for City Council and Mayor for the city of Galt.
• In November 2020, California's Sutter County and Stanislaus County became the first two America to elect turbaned Sikh supervisors (Karm Bains and Mani Grewal, respectively).[44][45]

Approximately half of all American Sikhs live in California.

Sikh Americans by state and territory (2000−2021)[48]

State and territory	2021		2010		2000		Change (2010-2021)		Change (2000-2010)
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	±	+%	±	+%
California	211,267	0.57%	154,239	0.45%	100,584	0.33%	57,028	36.97%	53,655	53.34%
New York	54,037	0.28%	47,659	0.26%	33,459	0.19%	6,378	13.38%	14,200	42.44%
Washington	27,304	0.38%	16,987	0.28%	8,906	0.16%	10,317	60.73%	8,081	90.74%
New Jersey	25,546	0.29%	16,765	0.21%	11,464	0.15%	8,781	52.38%	5,301	46.24%
Texas	14,527	0.05%	10,196	0.05%	5,584	0.03%	4,331	42.48%	4,612	82.59%
Virginia	11,610	0.14%	12,127	0.17%	6,763	0.1%	-517	-4.26%	5,364	79.31%
Michigan	11,289	0.12%	8,418	0.09%	5,391	0.06%	2,871	34.11%	3,027	56.15%
Maryland	10,600	0.18%	4,782	0.09%	4,412	0.09%	5,818	121.66%	370	8.39%
Indiana	9,923	0.16%	4,294	0.07%	1,097	0.02%	5,629	131.09%	3,197	291.43%
Illinois	9,188	0.08%	6,342	0.05%	6,400	0.06%	2,846	44.88%	-58	-0.91%
Pennsylvania	7,500	0.06%	5,849	0.05%	3,011	0.03%	1,651	28.23%	2,838	94.25%
Ohio	7,432	0.07%	7,539	0.07%	3,026	0.03%	-107	-1.42%	4,513	149.14%
Massachusetts	7,292	0.11%	3,838	0.06%	1,476	0.02%	3,454	89.99%	2,362	160.03%
Arizona	5,685	0.09%	2,937	0.05%	1,535	0.03%	2,748	93.56%	1,402	91.34%
North Carolina	5,401	0.06%	4,348	0.05%	1,046	0.01%	1,053	24.22%	3,302	315.68%
Wisconsin	4,230	0.08%	2,871	0.05%	1,728	0.03%	1,359	47.34%	1,143	66.15%
Florida	3,773	0.02%	3,153	0.02%	2,455	0.02%	620	19.66%	698	28.43%
Georgia	3,767	0.04%	2,791	0.03%	1,172	0.02%	976	34.97%	1,619	138.14%
Nevada	3,248	0.11%	1,102	0.05%	1,060	0.06%	2,146	194.74%	42	3.96%
Kansas	2,889	0.11%	1,227	0.05%	369	0.01%	1,662	135.45%	858	232.52%
Missouri	2,477	0.04%	859	0.02%	742	0.01%	1,618	188.36%	117	15.77%
Oregon	2,328	0.06%	1,848	0.05%	630	0.02%	480	25.97%	1,218	193.33%
Connecticut	2,158	0.06%	1,882	0.06%	1,385	0.02%	276	14.67%	497	35.88%
Utah	2,051	0.07%	937	0.04%	378	0.02%	1,114	118.89%	559	147.88%
Colorado	1,962	0.04%	642	0.01%	630	0.02%	1,320	205.61%	12	1.9%
Minnesota	1,710	0.03%	491	0.01%	681	0.01%	1,219	248.27%	-190	-27.9%
Mississippi	1,272	0.05%	922	0.03%	408	0.02%	350	37.96%	514	125.98%
South Carolina	1,003	0.02%	387	0.01%	295	0.01%	616	159.17%	92	31.19%
Louisiana	908	0.02%	817	0.02%	703	0.02%	91	11.14%	114	16.22%
Alabama	752	0.02%	669	0.02%	325	0.01%	83	12.41%	344	105.85%
Iowa	713	0.02%	89	0%	185	0.01%	624	701.12%	-96	-51.89%
Arkansas	709	0.03%	135	0.01%	119	0%	574	425.19%	16	13.45%
Oklahoma	688	0.02%	79	0%	222	0.01%	609	770.89%	-143	-64.41%
Tennessee	562	0.01%	848	0.01%	297	0.01%	-286	-33.73%	551	185.52%
New Hampshire	532	0.04%	426	0.03%	126	0.01%	106	24.88%	300	238.1%
Kentucky	470	0.01%	504	0.01%	237	0.01%	-34	-6.75%	267	112.66%
Vermont	429	0.07%	178	0.03%	0	0%	251	141.01%	178	inf%
Delaware	317	0.03%	550	0.07%	251	0.03%	-233	-42.36%	299	119.12%
New Mexico	307	0.02%	338	0.02%	193	0.01%	-31	-9.17%	145	75.13%
District of Columbia	280	0.04%	205	0.04%	199	0.04%	75	36.59%	6	3.02%
Nebraska	237	0.01%	104	0.01%	96	0.01%	133	127.88%	8	8.33%
Idaho	154	0.01%	481	0.03%	0	0%	-327	-67.98%	481	inf%
Rhode Island	110	0.01%	0	0%	44	0%	110	inf%	-44	-100%
Hawaii	101	0.01%	0	0%	58	0.01%	101	inf%	-58	-100%
Alaska	65	0.01%	0	0%	37	0.01%	65	inf%	-37	-100%
North Dakota	34	0%	0	0%	52	0.01%	34	inf%	-52	-100%
Puerto Rico	26	0%	24	0%	0	0%	2	8.33%	24	inf%
Montana	24	0%	19	0%	0	0%	5	26.32%	19	inf%
West Virginia	22	0%	291	0.02%	325	0.02%	-269	-92.44%	-34	-10.46%
Wyoming	22	0%	0	0%	0	0%	22	inf%	0	nan%
South Dakota	17	0%	0	0%	0	0%	17	inf%	0	nan%
Maine	9	0%	0	0%	0	0%	9	inf%	0	nan%
United States	458,957	0.15%	331,189	0.12%	209,556	0.08%	127,768	38.58%	121,633	58.04%

Members of the Sikh community of Somerville, Massachusetts

Areas with prominent Sikh populations include the Richmond Hill neighborhood of the New York borough of Queens,[57] as well as Yuba City, California,[58] southwest Bakersfield, California,[59][60] Stockton, California,[61][62] Carteret, New Jersey,[63] Livingston, California,[64][65] and Millbourne, Pennsylvania.

Richmond Hill is often referred to as "Little Punjab" due to its large Sikh population. In 2020, the stretch of 101st Avenue between 111th and 123rd streets was renamed Punjab Avenue (ਪੰਜਾਬ ਐਵੇਨਿਊ) and the stretch of 97th Avenue between Lefferts Boulevard and 117th Street was renamed Gurdwara Street.[66][67] The stretch of Grant Street in Stockton between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Sixth Street was renamed Sikh Temple Street in 2012 in honor of the centennial of the founding of the Gurdwara Sahib of Stockton, the oldest in the United States.[68]

In addition to these areas, there is a concentration of non-Punjabi converts to Sikhism in Española, New Mexico.[91]