Bengali Harlem and the lost histories of South Asian America
by Vivek Bald
Popularity 2
Nineteenth-century Muslim peddlers arrived at Ellis Island, bags heavy with silks from their villages in Bengal. Demand for “Oriental goods” took these migrants on a curious path, from New Jersey’s boardwalks to the segregated South. Bald’s history reveals cross-racial affinities below the surface of early twentieth-century America.
Race relationsCultural assimilationSouth Asian AmericansMuslimsEmigration and immigrationWorking classHistoryAsian americansMuslims, united statesWorking class, united statesHarlem (new york, n.y.), historyUnited states, race relations