Although Indian-Americans make up one of the more rapidly growing ethnic groups in the United States, little is generally known of their history in this country. The community is often seen as emerging after the liberalized immigration law of 1965 removed restrictions and quotas formerly applied to most countries of the Eastern Hemisphere. Indian-American origins, however, go back to the turn of the century, when the first immigrants from India began arriving in small numbers at ports along the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada. Mostly farmers from the Punjab region of then British India, they joined the largely Asian workforce ...