American Sympathy for India’s Untouchables
Snapshots from Indian-American history
this month, that year
July 31, 1946
– In a
letter responding to B.R.
Ambedkar, W.E.B. Du Bois
enclosed a statement
made by the National
Negro Congress to the
United Nations Council.
Du Bois also wrote that
he had “every sympathy
with the Untouchables of
India.”
Du Bois (1868-1963) was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, author, and editor. Ambedkar (1891- 1956) held multiple careers as an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination against Untouchables (Dalits), and supported the rights of women and labor. He was independent India’s first law minister and the principal architect of the Constitution of India.
Alice Itty is a volunteer for the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA). She currently works for the Alliance for Downtown New York. This column’s material is from SAADA. https://www.saada.org/.
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