Don’t Fall for the Smear Campaign Against Kala Bagai Way

Who Was Kala Bagai?

Kala Bagai (1893–1983) was one of the first South Asian and Sikh women to immigrate to California. She moved to the Bay Area in 1915, survived her husband’s tragic suicide after his citizenship was revoked, and went on to raise her children as a single mother.

Left widowed in a new country, she learned new skills, remarried, became a beloved community-builder in Los Angeles, and welcomed generations of immigrants into her home. The Smithsonian described her as “a life-long advocate for immigrants and a mother figure among South Asian communities in California.”

In 2020, Berkeley named Kala Bagai Way—the first U.S. street named for a Sikh American woman.

Historic newspaper clipping showing a young Kala Bagai getting off a ship in 1915 San Francisco

The Smear Campaign

Five years later, a group's trying to erase the street. Their argument? That Kala's first husband, Vaishno Das Bagai, quietly passed information to the British more than 100 years ago. (More on this below.)

But Kala Bagai’s story is her own. Her husband died in 1928. She lived another 55 years, raising a family, building community, and becoming a symbol of resilience.

This is a smear campaign to erase the only Berkeley street named after an Asian American or immmigrant woman.

The Truth

This isn’t new. Historians have long known about Kala’s first husband’s contested history.
This isn’t relevant. Kala's first husband died in the 1920s. Kala’s contributions stretched until the 1980s.
This isn’t fair. Blaming a widow for her former husband’s secret actions is deeply misogynistic.
This isn’t progressive. Critics are smearing Kala Bagai, while they let stand nearby streets honoring racists and slaveowners like Joseph LeConte.
This isn’t hidden. The street renaming was an astoundingly transparent year-long process: public signage and outreach, news stories and op-eds, 913 ideas submitted, Naming Action Committee review, Public Works review, more emails to Berkeley residents, Berkeley Considers survey, City Council FITES vote, and a full City Council vote.
…and the allegations against Kala's first husband may not even be true. By 1989, three fellow Indian activists had attested that Kala's first husband was actually acting on their behalf. They said he was asked to be a mole, a fake informant feeding misinformation to the British, while funneling payments back to the Indians. Ghadar Party politics were complex and divided, and members often made accusations and counter-accusations about each other’s loyalty.

Who Gets Impacted by the Smear Campaign?

Changing the name of a street doesn’t just change a sign. It impacts the lives of everyone who calls the street home.

Renters and Homeowners may need to update driver’s licenses, passports, utility bills, bank records, and official mail
Local Businesses may need to replace signage, reprint menus, redo materials, handle confusion with mail and deliveries
City Workers may need to reassign busy staff to run a brand new year-long naming process, then pay for new street signs and printed maps, update emergency response databases, coordinate with USPS and utilities, and manage public outreach

Build, Don’t Erase

If this is really about honoring Asian American movements, we invite support for the stalled campaign for Yuri Kochiyama Elementary

We don’t have to erase Kala Bagai to celebrate others. History isn’t zero-sum. We can build more recognition, not less.

Why It Matters

Berkeley has about five hundred streets. Only one honors an Asian American, Sikh, or South Asian.

Removing Kala’s name doesn’t correct history—it erases one of the rare immigrant women honored in public space.

Kala Bagai’s life was defined by resilience, welcome, and community. That is what Berkeley chose to honor, and that is what we must protect.

Learn More

What do historians say about Kala Bagai? Why did Berkeley residents fight for Kala Bagai Way? Want to rename something? Support this instead

Stand with immigrant women. Stand with Berkeley. Defend Kala Bagai Way.

Add Your Voice

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Was “Kala Bagai Way” named after Kala's Bagai's husband?

No. Kala Bagai Way was named to to honor Kala Bagai.

The name is about her, not her father, husbands, or sons.

2. Was Kala Sikh?

Yes, Kala Bagai was Sikh.

Kala was born into a Punjabi Sikh family in Amritsar, Punjab, in 1893. She was vegetarian, wore a metal bangle, and found joy in cooking for friends, neighbors, and strangers. Her second husband was a founding board member of the Los Angeles Gurdwara.

3. What happened to Kala's first husband?

When Kala and her husband, Vaishno Das Bagai, immigrated to the U.S. in 1915, they faced severe racial discrimination. In 1921, after the Supreme Court ruled that South Asians were ineligible for citizenship, Vaishno was stripped of his U.S. status, lost his home and livelihood, and the family was socially ostracized.

Overwhelmed by despair, he took his own life. His writings, including a powerful suicide letter, are now studied by historians as a window into the racial injustices of the era.

You can read the whole story in this New Yorker article, or in any of the dozens of books that discuss him.

4. What about Kala's second marriage?

Kala remarried in 1934 to Mahesh Chandra, also a member of the Ghadar Party, and a founding board member of the Los Angeles Gurdwara. Their marriage lasted nearly five decades—twice as long as Kala’s first—until his passing in 1981.

5. Did Kala Bagai live on Kala Bagai Way?

Almost! While Kala never lived on the two blocks, her family lived and worked right next to it:

Kala's future second husband and his siblings lived one block away in the 1910s
Kala's first husband briefly owned a store half a block away in 1916

Given these connections, we have every reason to believe she walked the street that would someday be named for her.

6. Why do Asian American history books tell Kala's story?

Asian American historians often emphasize Kala's courage and resilience, particularly in the face of local and federal racism.

As Arko Dasgupta summarizes:

“While the overwhelming majority of early South Asian immigrants were men, it is crucial to not ignore the experiences of women… Kala Bagai overcame personal grief and racial discrimination to create for herself a life of dignity and joy. Moreover, in providing service to others in her community and beyond, she also demonstrated how one could lead a full life.”

You can read more about her story in about a dozen books.

7. Where can I read more about Kala?

You can read more in about a dozen books.

8. What was the naming process?

The process of choosing a name went through tremendous publicity and public input.

Anybody reading Berkeley news, walking on the street, or reading city emails would have known about this, and could submit their own ideas.

Oct 2019: City’s first meeting about reorganizing and renaming the east side of Shattuck Avenue
Jan 6, 2020: Proposals submitted to the city’s Naming Action Committee, which recommends it with unanimous support
Jan-Sep 2020: Organizers coordinate testimonies, emails, op-eds, and letter-writing campaign
Feb 7, 2020: Public Works Commission reviews names, and unanimously supports Kala Bagai Way among top picks after public comment
Feb 15, 2020: City launches online poll allowing public input on the finalist names, including Kala Bagai. Hundreds vote in support.
Jul 15, 2020: City Council FITES subcommittee recommends adopting the name, as supporters offer testimony on Zoom (a new option post-pandemic).
Sep 15, 2020: City Council votes unanimously to name “Kala Bagai Way”
Feb 9, 2021: City Council approves funding for the new street sign
Feb 11, 2021: Street officially unveiled in city’s public dedication ceremony, with live Berkeley TV coverage, and a national online watch event.

The process also included emails to Berkeley residents, signs on the street, city staff visits to schools, repeated news coverage, op-eds, social media conversations, an in-person public event, coverage on local TV, and more.

9. Why was Kala Bagai Way chosen?

The city of Berkeley asked for ideas and received 913 suggestions.

A good number of them were inanimate objects like "Avocado Way" or "Old Station Road."

Kala Bagai stood out because she was among the earliest South Asian immigrant women in California, had ties to Berkeley, experienced local housing discrimination, and had a story of resilience and welcome reflecting the city’s values. It received support from hundreds of residents. (Read more about the story.)

Honoring Kala doesn’t stop us from honoring others, too. For example, we hope to see more things named for the families of George Shima and Sidney Dearing, two other survivors of local racist housing exclusion.

10. Is this the only street in the U.S. named for a Sikh American woman?

Yes, Kala Bagai Way is the first and only street in the U.S. unambiguously honoring a Sikh American woman.

We identified 35 other street names in the United States honoring specific South Asian American people, including Indo-Caribbeans and people of the diaspora. One of them is named after a Sikh man (Marwah Square in Los Angeles), and two after non-Sikh Punjabis (Kalpana Chawla Court in El Paso and Kalpana Chawla Way in Queens).

Importantly, Kala wasn't suggested as a representative or stand-in for all Sikh women. She was her own person, with her own unique connection to Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

11. Is this the only street in Berkeley named after an Asian American?

Yes, this is the first, and hopefully not the last.

Berkeley has hundreds of streets—most named after white men. In a 20% Asian American city, Kala Bagai Way is the only street honoring an Asian American.

Keeping it affirms that immigrant women’s lives are part of our shared public history and encourages adding more names, not erasing the few we have.

12. Were there any other South Asian women in Berkeley during that period?

We know the names of 210 South Asians who who lived in Berkeley between 1849-1920. The actual number may have been closer to 300.

Among that list, we found only Kala Bagai's two sisters-in-law, Kanta Chandra and Prabha Chandra, two teenage sisters from Delhi who lived just a block away from Kala Bagai Way.

13. What other names did Kala Bagai Way supporters also support?

Some of the other names of Asian American women suggested by Kala Bagai Way campaigners included Yuri Kochiyama and Sitha Vemireddy / Chanti Prattipati. All three women had a connection to Berkeley, were no longer living, and had very different kinds of lives.

However, organizers were committed to support any reasonable BIPOC name, including, for example, William Byron Rumford, or a name rooted in the local Ohlone community. Because there were hundreds of supporters, it's quite likely that there were many other names they supported as well.

14. How does this connect with anti-Asian housing discrimination?

Kala Bagai and her family once tried to move into a Berkeley neighborhood but were prevented from doing so because of their race.

Her memory of that painful moment, captured in a 1983 oral history recording, reflects a broader history of anti-Asian housing discrimination in the Bay Area. This includes restrictive covenants, redlining, intimidation, and racist protests faced by Chinese, Japanese, and South Asian families.

Remembering Kala Bagai is a way to remind ourselves of all the people who tried to be Berkeley neighbors, but weren't always able to.

15. Why do we have to provide intimate biographical details to prove Kala's humanity? Would anyone ask these questions about Francis Shattuck, Joseph Addison, William Dwight, or other men with Berkeley streets named after them?

If you’re frustrated by this misogyny, please add your name here.