Judge Dalip Singh Saund

Judge 𝗗𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗱

(September 20, 1899- April 22, 1973)

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁: 𝗦𝗶𝗸𝗵, 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝗦 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀

𝗙𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝘂𝗴𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝗦𝗔

He was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served the 29th District of California from January 3, 1957 to January 3, 1963. 

In November 1956, D. S. Saund, who everyone simply called “Judge,” became the first person of Asian descent elected to serve as a United States Representative. He was a tireless champion of his southern California district and the farmers who called it home. But his unique backstory—born in India, naturalized U.S. citizen, successful businessman, county judge—also catapulted him to the international stage. During his career in the House of Representatives, at the height of the Cold War, Saund became something of a transcendent politician who had the singular ability to engage audiences abroad. Although he frequently confronted discrimination during his life in the United States, Saund maintained his belief in the promises of American democracy.

in 1956 Saund, whose career would span the vocations of mathematician, farmer, author, activist and judge, became the first Indian-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the first – and so far only – Sikh member of Congress.

In the 1940s, Saund helped launch a successful effort to convince the U.S. Congress to pass the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, which granted naturalization rights to Indian immigrants (then sometimes referred to as “Hindus”). After becoming a citizen himself, Saund was elected to a local judgeship in 1952 and then to the U.S. House in 1956. Saund served almost three full terms in Congress before suffering a debilitating stroke in 1962. He died in 1973.

His son Dalip Saund Jr served as Lieutenant in US Army during Korean War (1947-1950)

“They were trailblazers like Dalip Singh Saund, a young man from India who came to study agriculture in 1920, stayed to become a farmer, and took on the cause of citizenship for all people of South Asian descent."

“And once Dalip earned his own citizenship, he stepped up to serve the country he loved-and became the first Asian-American elected to the Congress,”

     - Barack Obama, President of United States of America in 2012 at  Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies gala in Washington, DC.