For more than 100 years, followers of Sikhism have made contributions to Stockton and the surrounding communities.
Now, the San Joaquin County Historical Museum will showcase the achievement of local Sikhs in a special exhibition.
“The exhibit, ‘The Sikhs in America: Faith, Resilience, and Power,’ is a critical retrospective recognizing the significance of the Sikh community in San Joaquin County,” Phillip Merlo, executive director of the county’s Historical Society & Museum, said in a statement. “The Sikh community’s contributions to this region in agriculture, industry, and politics have helped shape our cultural landscape.”
The celebration of Sikh life is among the new displays at the museum, which is situated in Micke Grove Regional Park in Lodi. It will kick off with an opening event at 10 a.m. Aug. 22 featuring speeches, live music, Punjabi food and demonstrations of martial arts — all tied to Sikh culture and tradition.
Today, the region is home to thousands of Sikhs. But their arrival of Sikhs began more than a century ago. As early immigrants, originally from the Punjab region of South Asia, Sikhs were among San Joaquin County’s pioneers.
In fact, Stockton is believed to have been the site of the first Sikh temple, called a gurdwara, in the U.S. It got its start around 1912. To this day, thousands march in the annual “Nagar Kirtan,” the Gurdwara Sahib Temple Parade, in what is considered one of the largest Sikh celebrations in the country.
Early San Joaquin County immigrants worked in agriculture or mining, building the railroads and in other professions, the county Board of Supervisors noted in passing a resolution in 2024 honoring the Sikh community. At the time, it said there are about 500,000 Sikhs in the U.S., with about 40% of them residing in California.
The new exhibition, some of which was featured at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival and the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, will feature historic photos, artifacts and stories, the museum says.
“San Joaquin County’s role as a haven for immigrants is central to the fabric of our daily life, and this exhibition rightfully provides context to one of the region’s most consequential diasporic communities,” Merlo said.
Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal, the executive director of the Sikh American History Project, is the primary author of the exhibit. Bainiwal, who has a doctorate in religious studies focusing on Sikh history, said the project is the culmination of a 15-year journey of intense interest in Sikhs’ record in America.
“Although this history has deep roots in San Joaquin County, I never had the opportunity to learn about it in school,” he said. “That inspired me to research it myself and ultimately pursue a doctorate dedicated to Sikh American history.”
He said the exhibit will introduce the broader San Joaquin community to the stories, resilience, and contributions of local Sikhs.
“My hope is that this is just the beginning and that it inspires even more opportunities to preserve and share this history for generations to come,” he said.