Taraknath Das
UW Libraries.
Born in 1884 in Calcutta, India, Taraknath Das was a pioneering anti-colonial activist deeply immersed in the struggle against the imperialist British power. After organizing students at the University of Tokyo against the British, Das fled and sought political asylum in the US. Shortly after arriving, he enrolled at UC Berkeley and acquired a job as an interpreter at a federal immigration office. While Indian immigration was severely restricted at this time, not by law but through racial exclusion, Das helped many prospective Indian American citizens prepare for naturalization exams. At the same time, Das began his publication, the Free Hindusthan, which warned of continued injustices in India and the need to resist Indian exclusion in North American society. Due to his revolutionary writing, Das was forced to quit his job and ventured across the country to attend Norwich University, a military institution in Vermont. There, he was closely surveilled by British, Canadian, and American intelligence officials who warned the university of Hindu “agitators” and ultimately had Das expelled for his anti-British rhetoric. Finally, Das arrived in New York City where he revived his Free Hindusthan and published alongside prominent Irish American nationalist George Freeman’s Gaelic American. This alliance was particularly alarming for British intelligence officials who saw a rise in solidarity between Irish and Indian activists.
Lajpat Rai
Lajpat Rai, a prominent Indian nationalist, came to the US during WWI, fearing prosecution for his anti-British activism in India. In the US, Rai was particularly alarmed by the prejudice that existed against Indian immigrants and wanted to empower the community. To do so, Rai began educating young Indians on the principles of home-rule–the growing movement to bring awareness to India’s right to self-rule. From late 1914 to mid 1915, he engaged in a comprehensive speaking tour on the plight of the Indians across the nation, attributing his people’s struggles to the British's longstanding history of colonialism and unchecked exploitation. In October 1917 he founded the India Home Rule League in NY alongside a new monthly publication, Young India. His work garnered the support of four US senators including Joseph McCormick of Illinois who pledged his support to Rai for “rendering a valuable service in acquainting the people of America with the grave problems which confronted the people of India.” As Rai was increasingly immersed in US culture, he became intrigued by the black civil rights movement, befriending W.E.B. DuBois and publishing The United States of America: A Hindu’s Impressions and a Study which highlighted the parallels of the black and Indian movements. Alongside DuBois, Rai had famously declared at a New York City event, “the problem of the Hindu and of the negro and cognate problems are not local, but world problems.” He went further, examining the US’ controversial past and present: the institution of slavery, genocide of Native Americans, and imperialism in South America and Phillipines. By 1918, Rai had become disillusioned with American liberalism and decided to return to India.
In a final speech, he criticized the country’s contradicting notions of exceptionalism and racism, declaring to a white audience, “God has not given you a charter, because you are white people, to go and exploit the people of Asia and Africa.”