South Asian Americans have been a presence in the United States for more than 130 years. Early immigrants from South Asia worked on farms and factories, helped build railroads, fought for India’s freedom from British rule, and struggled for equal rights in the United States. Today, more than 5.4 million individuals in the U.S. trace their heritage to South Asia, the fastest growing immigrant group in the country. South Asian American stories are an integral part of the American story, yet little information is available to the public about these stories.

In “The Missing Stories,” SAADA’s Executive Director Samip Mallick will cover how communities come to be excluded from the archival record and how we can address these absences. Samip will provide an introduction to South Asian American history (1800s to present) and will also discuss how community-based archives can become sites for liberatory memory work by introducing the audience to SAADA’s archival collections, programs, and participatory storytelling projects.