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The earliest known fact of Bengali
imigrants are as slaves for producing tea in America after the seven year war in
1763 which U. S. Historian refer to as French and Indian war. Britain defeated France
in Canada, the Caribbean, Bengal and the thirteen colonies. Sir Edward Ryan's Mission
to North America was to bring slaves from Bengal to produce tea in North America.
The crops did not grow in Pittsburgh, so they went down to Savannah and tried which
also failed. These slaves were brought from Chittagong and Assam. Later these slaves
were shifted to cotton-growing culture in south and West Indies. Some of them were
kept in Pennsylvania and Savannah, even today these setlers kept link with their
families in Bangladesh and Assam.
Durring the 1780's United States start exporting furs to China, the ships journeyed to Calcutta and loaded with jute and cotton goods bound for New York, Boston and Savannah. The Americans found cheap labours in Calcutta picked up shipmates. The British saw it was profitable that the Americans are using cheap labours to sail back home. The British decided to set a standard for using labours from Bengal with The Brittish Shipping Act of 1823 which allowed shipping companies to pay lower wages to the Indian sailors. After the approval of The Shipping Act of 1823 Bangladeshi sailors mainly from Chittagong and Sylhet began working as shipmates. These shipmate's voyages were limited in small routes; from Karachi throu Bombay, Calcutta, Rangoon, down south to Sumatra ports. After several journeys they were allowed to make journeys to England but only the expereinced loyal ones.
Later known facts of Bengali Immigrants that arrived in America were females of British Officers that married or brought as concubines from their journey from Bengal. Such as Mr. A. C. Southerland an Anglo-Indian who's brother was a Magistrate in Sylhet (Dist. of Assam) in 1874. On his journey to America he visited his brother and married an Hindu Bahmin caste in Sylhet and brought her with him in Pennsylvania. Arround 1892 he left for West Indies. Durring this time Bengali shipmates on Brittish ships were docking at New york.
In late 1800's some Bangladeshi crews spent years in some journeys without visiting their families. They were tired and fedup with hard labour work in the sea. Out of these some Bangladeshi seamen were looking to find a better work. They decided to desert their ship as soon they arraived at London or New York port.
All Bangladeshis who arrived after 1880 till 1950 in America were regarded as
early settlers with no skills. These settlers start moving from New York to Toledo,
Detroit and other parts of the midwest, later to California.
After World
War I , jobs were plenty and they found some ways for surviving. Ferrying goods from
door to door was one of the jobs that allmost all Bangladeshi settlers has done.
Living permanent was impossible. Immigration was after them which made them shifting
from one city to another. Untill 1921, when the new Immigration law took on effect;
a U.S. citizen woman marrying a foreigner makes the forigner a legal immigrant. Bangladeshi
immigrants were not welcomed by then conservative white society which made them to
mix with the black population. Tabarak Ali, an early seamen from Sylhet was married
to a black American and was one of the first Bangladeshis to acquire U.S. Citizenship.
The second batch of seamen wave of Bangladeshi settlers arrived in America soon after World War II. Bengal was partitioned and distributed East Bengal to Pakistan and West Bengal to India. The Bangladeshi seamen realized their job in shipping is over since Calcutta being in West Bengal. These seamen start escaping to America.
In mid 1950's the begining of a new wave, mixed of first generation Bangladeshi students, doctors, other professionals and second genaration immigrants pouring into America. The generation that introduced America with Bangladeshi nostalgia. The majority came as students, exchange visitors or grants through Colombo plan, Ford and Rockefeller Foundation, and most recently through OP and DV Programs. Some of the visitors, both skilled and unskilled, have stayed behind legally or illegally in this country for a better life and to gain economical benefits.
Most of the first generation of immigrants in the USA struggled for their education to achieve professional status and some went to education and teaching and some immigrants became entrepreneurs establishing small businesses. Where the first generation seamen struggled for survival.
Bangladeshis achieved the reputation as architects of the world's tallest building, the Sears Tower, contributed to NASA's space program and computer engineering technology and in medical and surgical fields, very few took the help of state aid and if so, for a very short time. Now there is a great segment of Bangladeshi population who are contributing in economy and technology in the United States. Together, the unskilled Bangladeshi population is progressing with mainstream America. It is expected the USA will be "Fourth Bangla" of the world, second Bangla being West Bengal of India and third Great Britain.
At present day there are about 200,000 Bangladeshi living in the United States. This includes illegal and legal immigrants, businessman and travellers and other catagorries. This new generation brought the tie between the Bangladeshi heritage and culture to North America. The tug of war between love for the land of choice and love for the land of birth.
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(
Contributed by Shamim A. Chowdhury, abridgment from " The North American Bengali
Setlers")