History of East Indians in America

The East Indian presence in the United States is a twentieth century phenomenon dating from the mid-years of the first decade of the century. Even at the peak of its early numerical strength-around 1920 it was an unimpressive presence, and thirty years later, so reduced had it become both in numbers and in the strength of its cultural traditions, many contemporary observers were soberly predicting its total disappearance as a visible ethnic element in American life.