Tibetan Americans are
Americans of
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
ancestry. As of 2020, more than 26,700 Americans are estimated to have Tibetan ancestry.
The majority of Tibetan Americans reside in
Queens, New York.
History
Ethnic Tibetans began to immigrate to the United States in the late 1950s.
[Bhuchung K. Tsering]
Enter the Tibetan Americans: Tibetan Americans establish a presence in the United States
Tibet Foundation Newsletter, February 2001. Section 134 of the
Immigration Act of 1990
The Immigration Act of 1990 () was signed into law by George H. W. Bush on November 29, 1990. It was first introduced by Ted Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedy in 1989. It was a national reform of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It increase ...
gave a boost to the Tibetan immigration to the US, by providing 1,000 immigrant visas to Tibetans living in India and
Nepal.
Chain migration followed, and by 1998 the Tibetan-American population had grown to around 5,500, according to a census conducted by
Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). The
2000 United States Census
The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 ce ...
counted 5,147 US residents who reported Tibetan ancestry.
[Global Nomads: The Emergence of the Tibetan Diaspora (Part I)]
by Seonaigh MacPherson (University of British Columbia), Anne-Sophie Bentz (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), Dawa Bhuti Ghoso
Immigration timeline
* 1948
Telopa Rinpoche
Tilopa (Prakrit; Sanskrit: Talika or Tilopadā; 988–1069) was an Indian Buddhist monk in the tantric Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
He lived along the Ganges River, with wild ladies as a tantric practitioner and mahasiddha. He practic ...
is hired by
Johns Hopkins University to teach
Tibetan Buddhism.
* 1952
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
's elder brother,
Taktser Rinpoche Taktser Rinpoche (; ) was born in 1922 in "the small village of Taktser, meaning 'roaring tiger,' located in the Amdo region of eastern Tibet." He became a lama of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and was named Thubten Jigme Norbu, the oldes ...
and his friend
Dhondup Gyaltsen immigrate to the United States.
*1955
Geshe Ngawang Wangyal arrives in the U.S. He serves as religious leader and spiritual teacher of a
Kalmyk Mongolian community in
New Jersey and teaches at
Columbia University.
* 1957–71 Tibetan guerrilla fighters are trained by the CIA and launch numerous incursions into Tibet.
* 1958 The first
Tibetan Buddhist monastery in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
Labsum Shedrup Ling, is established in
New Jersey under the spiritual guidance of Geshe Wangyal.
* 1960 The
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
establishes eight centers for
Tibetan studies
Tibetology () refers to the study of things related to Tibet, including its history, religion, language, culture, politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance. The last may mean a collection of ...
in the U.S., which invite 17
Tibetan lamas.
* 1964 Six Tibetans, four from
India and two from the U.S., enroll in a year-long special intensive program at
Cornell University to study
public administration and
economics.
* 1967–69 Six Tibetans immigrate to the U.S. to work as
lumberjack
Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...
s for the
Great Northern Paper Company in
Portage Lake, Maine
Portage Lake is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 359 at the 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Portage Lake is ...
. The following year, 21 others joined them.
* 1971 The CIA cancels its covert operations supporting
Tibetan guerillas following President
Richard Nixon's trip to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and a new era of improved
U.S.–Sino relations.
* 1986 There are 256 Tibetans living in the U.S. according to a population survey conducted by the Office of Tibet, New York.
* 1988
Tibet Fund
The Tibet Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1981 under the auspices of the Dalai Lama. The Tibet Fund is the primary funding organization for the health, education, refugee reha ...
begins administering yearly
Fulbright Program scholarship
grants to bring Tibetans
student
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution.
In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...
s and professionals to the U.S. for
higher education.
* 1989 The
Tibetan United States Resettlement Project
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...
(TUSRP) is established to support the resettlement of 1,000 Tibetans.
Edward Bednar
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...
is appointed director.
* April 1989 ICT president
Tenzin Tethong, the Dalai Lama's Representative
Rinchen Dharlo
Rinchen, meaning "treasure", is a Tibetan name, used by speakers of various Tibetic languages. It is also used as a given name by Mongols, seen as early as the Yuan dynasty. As a Mongolian name, it has various spellings such as Rinchin, Renchin, o ...
and Edward Bednar meet with
pro-Tibet organizations,
resettlement agencies,
congressional staff,
immigration law
Immigration law refers to the national statutes, regulations
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the ...
advisors, etc. to begin 18 months of advocacy for TUSRP.
* 1991 As part of Fulbright scholarships administered by
Tibet Fund
The Tibet Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1981 under the auspices of the Dalai Lama. The Tibet Fund is the primary funding organization for the health, education, refugee reha ...
, Berea College in Berea, Kentucky enrolls the first batch of two students with two succeeding each following year to study in 4 year undergraduate programs. The program still continues with over 20 graduates, who have mostly resettled in America.
* 1992 The first group of the 1,000 Tibetans arrives in the U.S. under the TUSRP and settles in six cluster sites throughout the U.S.
* 1993 In little more than a year since the first group of Tibetans arrived in 1992, 21 cluster sites open in 18 different states across the United States.
* 1993–2002 Through family reunification, more Tibetans arrive to join the original 1,000. By 2002 there are approximately 8,650 Tibetans and 30 Tibetan community associations in the United States.
Demography
An estimate of c. 7,000 was made in 2001,
[ and in 2008 the CTA's Office of Tibet in New York informally estimated the Tibetan population in the US at around 9,000.][ In 2020, The Central Tibetan Administration estimated the number of Tibetans living in the United States to be over 26,700.][ The migration of the Tibetans to the United States took on the pattern of 22 "cluster groups", located primarily in the ]Northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
, the Great Lakes region and the Intermountain West. Other communities include Austin, Texas and Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
. Tibetan Americans who are born in Tibet or elsewhere in China are officially recognized as Chinese nationals.
Northeast
Communities of Tibetan Americans in the Northeast exist in Boston and Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...
, Ithaca, New York, and New York City, and in the states of Connecticut, Vermont and New Jersey. In New York and New Jersey, they live primarily in Queens and New Brunswick.
The town of Northfield, Vermont has been home for many years to the seat of the current Trijang Rinpoche, who has been estranged from the Dalai Lama due to the Dorje Shugden controversy, which has become a cultural heritage center for thousands of followers.
Mid-Atlantic
In the Mid-Atlantic region, the largest communities can be found in Northern Virginia, Washington D.C., Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
.
Great Lakes region
Communities of Tibetan Americans in the Great Lakes region exist in Chicago and in the states of Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. There is a Tibetan Mongol Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana near the campus of Indiana University. The late brother of the Dalai Lama was a professor at the university.
Minnesota has the second largest concentration of Tibetan Americans in the United States.
Western United States
Communities of Tibetan Americans in the western U.S. exist in Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Berkeley, California, several locations in Southern California, and in the cities and states of Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
, Boise, Idaho, Montana, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
, Washington, and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Every year, Seattle holds an annual Tibet Festival in August.
Colorado
Although quite small in number overall, Colorado has one of the highest concentrations of Tibetans in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, focused on Boulder
In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive.
In c ...
, Colorado Springs, Douglas County and Crestone. The state has Naropa University
Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university describes itself as B ...
whose values statement states, "We are Buddhist-inspired, ecumenical, and nonsectarian welcoming faculty, staff, and students of all faiths as well as those who don’t ascribe to any religion." There is a Buddhist commune west of Castle Rock and several cities have Tibetan outreach organizations. Colorado Springs alone has three Tibetan stores and a restaurant.
Much of the reason behind this rather peculiar demographic is that Tibetan guerillas were secretly trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at Camp Hale outside of Leadville. Camp Hale was used as a training camp for expatriate Tibetans to be inserted to aid the existing resistance in Tibet after the region was retaken by the Chinese People's Liberation Army, between 1959 and 1965.
From 1958 to 1960, Anthony Poshepny
Anthony Alexander Poshepny (September 18, 1924 – June 27, 2003), known as Tony Poe, was a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer in what became the Special Activities Division (renamed Special Activities Center in 2016). He was known for h ...
trained various special missions teams, including Tibetan Kham
Kham (; )
is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...
bas and Hui Muslims, for operations in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
against the Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
government. Poshepny sometimes claimed that he personally escorted the 14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
out of Tibet, but sources in the Tibetan exile deny this.
The site was chosen because of the similarities of the Rocky Mountains in the area with the Himalayan Plateau. The CIA parachuted four groups of Camp Hale trainees inside Tibet between 1959 and 1960 to contact the remaining resistance groups, but the missions resulted in the death or capture of many team members.
Notable people
* Chögyam Trungpa, Buddhist meditation master
* Ngawang Wangyal, Buddhist priest and scholar
* Tarthang Tulku
Tarthang Tulku () (born 1934) is a Tibetan teacher ( lama) who introduced the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism into the United States, where he works to preserve the art and culture of Tibet. He oversees various projects including Dharma P ...
, introduced the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism into the United States
* Thupten Jigme Norbu
Thubten Jigme Norbu () (August 16, 1922 – September 5, 2008), recognised as the Taktser Rinpoche, was a Tibetan lama, writer, civil rights activist and professor of Tibetan studies and was the eldest brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gy ...
, Tibetan lama
Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hi ...
, writer, civil rights activist and professor of Tibetan studies
* Trijang Rinpoche, Gelug Lama
Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hi ...
and a direct disciple of Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo
* Kesang Marstrand
Kesang Marstrand (born October 31, 1981) is an American Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She is best known for the single "Tibet Will Be Free" that she wrote after 2008 Tibetan unrest, March 2008 unrest in Tibet, in support o ...
, folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist
* Lobsang Nyandak
Lobsang Nyandak, sometimes written Lobsang Nyendak () also called Lobsang Nyandak Zayul () is a Tibetan diplomat and politician. born in 1965 in Kalimpong, India where he performed his studies in Herbertpur and at Panjab University in Chandigarh. ...
, former representative of the 14th Dalai Lama to the Americas and president of the Tibet Fund
The Tibet Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1981 under the auspices of the Dalai Lama. The Tibet Fund is the primary funding organization for the health, education, refugee reha ...
* Aftab Pureval, Mayor of Cincinnati
See also
* Tibetan Canadians
{{Infobox ethnic group
, group = Tibetan Canadians
, image =
, pop = 9,350{{cite web, url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=Toronto&DGUIDlist=202 ...
* Students for a Free Tibet
Students For a Free Tibet (SFT) is a global grassroots network of students and activists working in solidarity with the Tibetan people for human rights and freedom. The group uses education, advocacy, and nonviolent direct action with the goal of ...
* American Himalayan Foundation
* Tibet Fund
The Tibet Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1981 under the auspices of the Dalai Lama. The Tibet Fund is the primary funding organization for the health, education, refugee reha ...
References
External links
Tibetan Association of Northern California
Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey
Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota
* ttps://www.dctibetan.org/ Capital Area Tibetan Association
{{Demographics of the United States
Asian-American society