While I agree that historical events like the #BellinghamRiots should not be contorted to fit contemporary political narratives, we should also be wary of another error: the anachronistic imposition of labels that don't reflect the social and cultural climate at the time. 1/n
https://twitter.com/AudreyTruschke/status/1625619732320624643
It is true that the majority of the victims in the riots were Punjabi Sikhs, and it is also true that they were identified as "hindoo" by the average American at the time. How do we reconcile this? Audrey's answer seems to be that despite the broad application of "hindoo" 2/n
the workers in Bellingham were victims of anti-Sikh or anti-Muslim religious prejudice.
This doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
"Hindoo" was not just an ethnic identifier; it was a contested cultural category that featured prominently in the American imagination for centuries 3/n
This doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
"Hindoo" was not just an ethnic identifier; it was a contested cultural category that featured prominently in the American imagination for centuries 3/n
As followers of #HindooHistory know, the figure of the "Hindoo" was the subject of representation in American media and church literature from the late 18th century. Missionaries like Claudius Buchanan depicted the "hindoo" as a savage who engaged in bloody pagan rites 4/n
There's a reason why the image of the "Juggernaut" featured so prominently in the American image of the "hindoo" religion, even making an appearance in correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison 5/n
https://twitter.com/HindooHistory/status/1540006026862137344?s=20&t=PdkaIKukCj8dqClUK4mE9w
In the antebellum period, the representation of the "hindoo" as savage, pagan, and caste-ridden proved particularly useful for American identity formation, a topic @MichaelJAltman covers extensively in his books 6/n
https://twitter.com/HindooHistory/status/1603794337426333697
In the 19th century, even school textbooks portrayed the "heathen hindoo" as the foil to the American Protestant. While the former was a pagan polytheist and hierarchical, the latter was democratic, Christian, and egalitarian 7/n
https://twitter.com/HindooHistory/status/1369682966545190919
It is impossible to understand the events of the early 20th century without first understanding this historical context. As immigration from India increased, the average American already had a mental model for what the "hindoo" was like, and this animated their prejudice 8/n
While there's little doubt that economic factors played a role, public anger towards the "hindoo hordes" was inflamed by decades of vitriolic media about the "hindoo" and his religion, culture, and personal habits 9/n
https://twitter.com/HindooHistory/status/1377649420318085127
The same reports that circulated widely in newspapers and missionary journals for decades to encourage American church-goers to contribute to conversion efforts suddenly became ammo for domestic opposition to Indian labor 10/n
If you found this thread interesting, subscribe to my substack! It's free and includes more detailed posts on topics like this one. This post on the "long shadow of Claudius Buchanan's Juggernaut" is a good place to start: hindoohistory.substack.com/p/the-long-sha…
I've also posted a number of newspaper clips about this event, which you can find by entering "@hindoohistory #BellinghamRiots" in the search bar
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
