Punjabi Sikhs
Parade in honor of Mrs. Lakshmi Pandit starting from the Stockton railroad depot on May 11, 1945; courtesy the Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley
Sikhism is one of the world's largest religions. It is thought to have evolved from Hinduism over the past 500 years. An estimated 250,000 Sikhs call California home. Most are immigrants from the rural Punjab region of India, where the economy is largely agricultural. Many of these recent Punjabi immigrants were attracted to a life of agriculture in the inland valleys of California. In particular, cities such as Bakersfield and Yuba City have become home to a substantial population of Indian American Sikhs.
From India to California
Most of the current generation of California Punjabi Sikhs arrived fairly recently.
Only a few thousand Punjabi Sikhs had entered the United States prior to the restrictive immigration law of 1924. The gates reopened to Asian Indians after 1946, but quotas remained in place and very few immigrants came to the United States. Beginning in 1965, the liberalization of immigration laws and California's increased role in the global economy drew many more Sikhs to the golden state.