"A New Problem for Uncle Sam."
This
racist cartoon shows how far the stereotype of Indian immigrants in 1910 differed
from the reality. Most immigrants were Sikh, and those Sikhs who wore a turban
usually wore a beard. It was almost unheard of for a turbaned Sikh to smoke.
And according to Dr. S. H. Lawson, ship surgeon of the Monteagle and the Tartar,
they were "one hundred percent cleaner in their habits" than the
European steerage passengers he encountered in his duties. "The Sikhs
impressed me as a clean, manly, honest race." From: San Francisco
Call, 13 August 1910.
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