South Asian history in the Bay Area reveals a rich tapestry of activism and community-building that extends beyond the narratives typically highlighted during AAPI Heritage Month.
On a warm April morning in Berkeley, a group gathered on Center Street, their footsteps and chatter blending with the rhythm of crosswalk signals and passing traffic. They were there for the South Asian Radical History Walking Tour, a project that traces over a century of South Asian presence in the Bay Area, much of which remains largely absent from public memory.
“There’s something really powerful knowing that there have been South Asians in the Bay — in some cases before the Gold Rush — that we have been doing some kind of progressive political work for four-plus generations,” said Anirvan Chatterjee, a co-founder of the tour.
May is AAPI Heritage Month, a time to reflect on the histories that shape Asian American communities. However, in the Bay Area, South Asian history is often simplified, reduced to narratives of technology, recent immigration, or economic success.
This limited perspective overlooks a longer, more complex story. Chatterjee emphasized that these histories include organizing against colonialism, building labor movements, and creating spaces for queer communities — efforts that rarely appear in textbooks or popular narratives about South Asians in the region.
Part of the challenge, he explained, is that these histories are not always visible. “There’s not necessarily an old ‘India town’ to look at,” he noted. Unlike communities that formed around dense ethnic enclaves, South Asians in the Bay Area were often geographically dispersed, frequently renters, and part of multiracial suburbs, leaving fewer visible landmarks tied to their history.
<p“What’s really exciting is what happened inside those houses,” Chatterjee added.
One story highlighted on the tour is that of Kala Bagai, who arrived in California in 1915 as one of the few South Asian women in the country at the time. Her family built a life in the Bay Area until a 1923 Supreme Court decision, the Bhagat Singh Thind case, stripped Indian immigrants of their citizenship. This ruling eliminated legal protections tied to property and residency, leaving families like the Bagais effectively stateless.
In the face of adversity, Bagai created community and built bridges for newer immigrants. Today, a part of Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley bears her name.
For Barnali Ghosh, who co-leads the tour, Bagai’s story serves as a reminder of how fragile belonging can be. “Money can’t always protect you; being fully Americanized can’t protect you,” Ghosh said.
The tour also revisits the story of Kartar Singh Sarabha, a teenager who arrived in 1912 intending to study at UC Berkeley. After being detained at Angel Island for a few days upon entry, he chose a life of activism. Sarabha became one of the first members of the Ghadar Party, organized in California to challenge British colonial rule in India.
“We are the citizens of a colonized nation,” Chatterjee reenacted during the tour. “I’d come to the United States thinking it was going to be this land of equality for everybody, but I felt shocked.”
For some participants, like Pallavi Phartiyal, a first-generation immigrant, the historical parallels feel immediate. “I’ve been here for 26 years, and my niece and nephew have never visited me,” she said, describing the barriers her family faces navigating the visa process. “It’s a humiliating process.”
Others noted that learning this history has changed how they understand their place in the Bay Area. “What is my piece in this history?” asked Srinitha Dasari, who recently moved to the region.
Chatterjee explained that the lack of access to South Asian American history growing up motivated him to create the tour. “When I was growing up, I didn’t have any access to South Asian American history — the curriculum I was getting did not reflect the story of my family at all,” he said. He views the tour as a way to fill that gap.
“The day you get off a plane, nobody hands you a South Asian American history book,” Chatterjee remarked.
As AAPI Heritage Month encourages reflection, the tour offers a broader view of South Asian history in the Bay Area — one that extends beyond recent immigration and economic success to include organizing, exclusion, and the ongoing effort to build community.
For those interested in exploring the Bay Area’s AAPI history this month, various events are taking place, including activities at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Friday nights at the Oakland Museum of California, and the AAPI fest in Daly City.
According to KALW, the South Asian Radical History Walking Tour serves as a vital reminder of the rich and often overlooked contributions of South Asians to the fabric of the Bay Area.