History of Indian Americans in Metro Detroit

A 2013 report by the Global Detroit and Data Driven Detroit stated that of the immigrant ethnic groups to Metro Detroit, the largest segment is the Indian population.[1] As of 2012, the Indian populations of Farmington Hills and Troy are among the twenty largest Indian communities in the United States.[2] As of the 2000 U.S. Census there were 39,527 people with origins from post-partition India (Indians and Indian Americans) in Metro Detroit,[3] making them the largest Asian ethnic group in the Wayne County-Macomb County-Oakland County tri-county area. People of those origins are found throughout Metro Detroit, with the majority being in Oakland County.[4]

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Ethnicity in Metro Detroit

History

In 1924 the "original six" people were the first Indians to settle in Detroit. They included Sarwan Singh Grewal, a Jat Sikh from Sahouli, Ludhiana District, Punjab, and Arjin Singh. They had moved to Detroit from California after experiencing a low wage of twenty cents an hour while working in that state. They drove in a car eastward, staying in Chicago for one month before settling in Detroit.[5]

According to the 1990 U.S. Census, the Wayne-Oakland-Macomb-Livingston area had 16,096 Asian Indians. By the 1990s Indian businesses and institutions began appearing in Metro Detroit, especially in Farmington Hills, Garden City, and Sterling Heights.[6]

By 2004, there was an estimate of 93,681 Asian Indians in the entire State of Michigan, almost four times the number in 1990, 23,845. As of that year, many Asian Indians moved to Canton Township, Farmington Hills, Troy, and West Bloomfield Township.[7]

As of 2006, of the over 100,000 ethnic Asian Indians in Michigan, the majority are in Metro Detroit.[8]

Geography

Canton Township, Farmington Hills, and Troy all have major Asian Indian populations.[8] The 2008 CNN/Money "Best Places to Live" stated that the city of Novi had a significant Asian Indian population.[9] According to the 2000 U.S. Census there were 4,697 Asian Indians in Troy,[10] 3,413 Asian Indians in Canton Township,[11] 3,384 Asian Indians in Farmington Hills, and 1,278 ethnic Asian Indians in Novi.[10] A 2014 Crain's Detroit Business article stated that Bloomfield Township also has a community of ethnic Asian Indians.[12] As of 2006 there is also a population of Indians in West Bloomfield Township.[7]

Within the City of Detroit, as of 2000, there were 2,991 Asian Indians.[11] As of 2002, three areas had concentrations of Indian Americans. A portion of Detroit next to eastern Hamtramck includes Indian Americans along with Bangladeshi Americans and Pakistani Americans. Also the area north of Downtown Detroit; including the region around the Henry Ford Hospital, the Detroit Medical Center, and Wayne State University; has transient Asian national origin residents who are university students or hospital workers; most of these Asians are Chinese and Indians. Few of them have permanent residency after schooling ends. In addition there is an area in the westside of Detroit adjacent to Dearborn and Redford Township that has a mostly Indian Asian population.[13]

Demographics

Many Indian immigrants who arrive to Metro Detroit already have high competency in the English language. This is especially the case with people who work in the technology and health care sectors. As of 2014 over 70% of Metro Detroit ethnic Indians who were born outside of the United States have at minimum a bachelor's degree.[12]

Economy and commerce

Many Indians work in the information technology sector and medical sectors, and by 2014 an increasing demand in the sectors increased immigration of Indians to Metro Detroit. The automobile suppliers that manage information technology contracts with automobile companies hire Indian IT workers. As of 2014, almost half of ethnic Indians in Metro Detroit who were born outside of the United States have annual incomes of over $75,000.[12]

Businesses supporting the Indian community include grocery stores, web portal www.miindia.com, AM radio stations, wedding companies, and dress shops.[8]

Religion

In the late 1970s, many Indian leaders in the community formed a committee to build the first Hindu Temple in Michigan. After years of planning and raising funds, in 1983, the Hare Krishna temple was inaugurated in Detroit. The creation of a religious building is an indicator of these Indian immigrants putting down roots in Michigan especially in the metro Detroit area. The population of South Asians in 1990 was fairly small with around 23,000 Asian-Indians, 1,500 Pakistani, 342 Bangladeshi, and 179 Sri Lankan people out of the total 100,000 Asian population. The presence of Asian Indians was prevalent enough for the census to include them as their own category. As of 2013 Hindu temples and religious centers had been recently established in Detroit, Ada, Canton, Hamtramck, Livonia, Novi, Pontiac, Sterling Heights, and Troy. In 2012 a Hindu temple built for $11 million opened in Troy. The Sri Venkateswara Temple and Cultural Center (SVTCC), a temple mainly catering to Telugu speakers, opened in Novi in 2013. It is the first Michigan Hindu temple to be named after a southern Indian deity.[14]

There are many Hindu Temples in Metro Detroit such as: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Detroit.

Culture and recreation

The India Day, a celebration of Indian culture sponsored by the India League of America - Michigan, is held annually.[2]

The Festival of India is held at Philip A. Hart Plaza in Downtown Detroit. Jaydevi and Bharat Sanghvi founded the festival. It was held regularly in the 1970s, but according to Sarah Klein of the Metro Times, it "lost its luster" and then was no longer held.[8] Indians moved their cultural festivals to suburban areas as Detroit declined. In 2005, 20 years after the festival closed, the nonprofit United South Asian Promotions (USAP), founded by Gurvinder Singh, Jack Sandhu and Raj Sanghvi, the son of the original founders of the Festival of India, restarted the festival.[8]

As of 2006 SR Movies, an eight screen movie theater in the Novi Town Center development in Novi, previously played standard American films in English and also Indian films,[15] including those in Hindi, Telugu, and other Indian languages. Sonali and Rakesh Gangwani, a wife and husband couple from New Delhi resident in Redford Township,[7] managed the theater, which according to Sonali was the first theater showing Bollywood films seven days per week in the state of Michigan.[16] At least one Indian film, as of 2006, was screened every day.[15] The couple took over the management of the theater in December 2005.[8] Prior to the change in management, the Goodrich theater chain owned the complex, and the Gangwanis rented one or two screens on weekends. The management change was effective on the first of the month.[15] The name "SR" came from their given names.[7] The theater closed in 2010 as part of the redevelopment of Novi Town Center.[17] The theater was not a part of the redevelopment plans, so it did not pay any rent during its final three years of operations.[18]

Anand Kumar started the website Miindia, an Indian community portal, in 1999. In 2017 the website has a daily count of 6,000 unique users and over one million monthly hits. [8]

Notable residents

See also

References
  • Helweg, Arthur W. Asian Indians in Michigan (Discovering the Peoples of Michigan). Michigan State University Press, March 1, 2012. ISBN 1609170482, 9781609170486.

Notes
  1. Warikoo, Niraj. "Biggest metro Detroit immigrant group is from India, report shows." (Archive Archived 2014-03-09 at the Wayback Machine) Detroit Free Press. July 20, 2013. Retrieved on March 9, 2014.
  2. "Celebration of Asian Indian culture comes to Novi." The Oakland Press. August 17, 2012. Retrieved on March 9, 2014.
  3. Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza. "Asians in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit." Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University. January 2002 Working Paper Series, No. 7. p. 12. Retrieved on November 6, 2013.
  4. Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza. "Asians in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit Archived 2013-11-09 at WebCite." Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University. January 2002 Working Paper Series, No. 7. p. 11. Retrieved on November 6, 2013.
  5. Helweg, page unstated (Google Books PT74).
  6. Helweg, Page unstated (Google Books PT79). "The 1990 census counted 16,096 Asian Indians in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Livingston Counties"
  7. Chan, Erin. "BOLLYWOOD NIGHTS: With its daily slate of Indian films, a Novi theater is becoming a hub of south Asian culture." () Detroit Free Press. June 8, 2006. Retrieved on March 9, 2014.
  8. Klein, Sarah. "A little India" (Archive). Metro Times. August 23, 2006. Retrieved on March 9, 2014.
  9. "48. Novi, MI." (Archive) Best Places to Live 2008. Retrieved on March 9, 2014.
  10. Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza. "Asians in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit Archived 2013-11-09 at WebCite." Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University. January 2002 Working Paper Series, No. 7. p. 31. Retrieved on November 6, 2013. See "Appendix III-2: Asian Population in Oakland County Communities in 2000" - Rows: "Farmington Hills", "Novi", and "Troy" Column: "Asian Indian"
  11. Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza. "Asians in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit Archived 2013-11-09 at WebCite." Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University. January 2002 Working Paper Series, No. 7. p. 31. Retrieved on November 6, 2013. See "Appendix III-3: Asian Population in Wayne County Communities in 2000" - Rows: "Canton township" and "Detroit" Column: "Asian Indian"
  12. "India leads all nations in sending people to Detroit" (Archive). Crain's Detroit Business. June 1, 2014. Updated June 6, 2014. Retrieved on September 29, 2014.
  13. Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza. "Asians in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit Archived 2013-11-09 at WebCite." Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University. January 2002 Working Paper Series, No. 7. p. 8. Retrieved on November 6, 2013.
  14. Warikoo, Niraj. "New Hindu temple in Novi reflects region's growing Asian-Indian population" (). Detroit Free Press. May 31, 2013. Retrieved on March 9, 2014. Available at EBSCOHost, Accession#89086086, from News India Times;6/14/2013, Vol. 44 Issue 24, p15
  15. Hastings, Michael. "Hooray for Bollywood" (Archive) Metro Times. February 22, 2006. Retrieved on March 10, 2014.
  16. Muzumdar, Tania. "Michigan Masala" (Archive). Metro D Media. Thursday July 23, 2009. Retrieved on March 10, 2014.
  17. Walsh, Dustin. "Wal-Mart to open in Novi Town Center." Crain's Detroit Business. October 4, 2010. Retrieved on March 10, 2014. "The businesses — Diamond Jim Brady's Bistro, Pita Café, and Town Center 8 movie theater — closed last week as part of deal to renovate the Town Center to accommodate the Wal-Mart, said Steve Russo, president of Indianapolis-based Russo Communications, representing the Town Center. "
  18. Walsh, Dustin. "Wal-Mart to open in Novi Town Center." Crain's Detroit Business. October 4, 2010. Retrieved on March 10, 2014. "Town Center 8, which is not part of the relocating tenants, paid no rent during the past three years it has been an Indian-themed movie theater, because it was not part of the expansion plan. "
  19. Steinberg, Stephanie. "Alum Gupta nominated for surgeon general post." The Michigan Daily. Wednesday January 14, 2009. p. 1A. Retrieved from Google News (1 of 16) on October 28, 2013. "[...]School in 1993. He also grew up in nearby Novi, Mich., and attended Novi High School."

Further reading
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