Gurdwara Sahib Stockton is a gurdwara located in the city of Stockton, California. It is notable for being the first Sikh house of worship in the United States.[1]
The Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society founded the gurdwara in 1912.
History
Jawala Singh, a successful potato farmer in the San Joaquin Valley, leased a 500-acre ranch with business partner Wasakha Singh in Holtville, next to Stockton. Immigrating Punjabi Sikh farmers would perform prayers in a room on the farm with the Guru Granth Sahib.[1] Jawala and Wasakha would eventually found the gurdwara on South Grant Street in a house, but their ranch would become an important religious, social, and political center associated with the gurdwara.[2][3]
Jawala went on to form the Ghadar Party, a revolutionary movement that called for diaspora Indians to end the British occupation of India.[3] The Stockton Gurdwara would serve as an important benefactor of the Ghadar Party, sponsoring the first Punjabi language newspaper in the United States, The Ghadar, among other support.[4]
Notable people
Dalip Singh Saund, Democrat CA-29, the first Sikh American, the first Asian American, the first Indian American and the first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to Congress. His studies at University of California, Berkeley, were sponsored by the Stockton Gurdwara.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Stockton Gurdwara – Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive". pioneeringpunjabis.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
- ^ Van Hear, Nicholas (2005), "Refugee Diasporas or Refugees in Diaspora", Encyclopedia of Diasporas, Springer US, pp. 580–589, doi:10.1007/978-0-387-29904-4_60, ISBN 9780306483219
- ^ a b Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E., eds. (2014-03-01). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199699308.001.0001. ISBN 9780199699308.
- ^ "History". Retrieved 2018-06-26.
- ^ CA State Legislature. "Relative to the 100-year anniversary of the Sikh American".