Bengali Americans

Bengali Americans

Total population
375,143 (~.01% of U.S. population)
Regions with significant populations
New York City, Central Los Angeles
Languages
American English, Bengali
Religion
Predominantly Islam and Hinduism; small minorities of Christianity, Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Bangladeshi Americans, Indian Americans

Bengali Americans (Bengali: মার্কিন বাঙ্গালী) are Americans of Bengali ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage and identity. They trace their ancestry to the historic ethnolinguistic region of Bengal in South Asia (now divided between Bangladesh and India). Bengali Americans are also a subgroup of Bangladeshi Americans and Indian Americans. Bengalis are also classified under Bangladeshi Americans.

Significant immigration of Bengalis to the United States started after 1965.

Bengali Americans may refer to:

• Bangladeshi Americans, Americans of Bangladeshi descent of Bengali Muslims. Bengali Muslims are usually classified as Bangladeshi Americans and American Muslims.
• Bengali Indian Americans, Americans of Indian and Bengali Hindu descent whose ancestral origins are in West Bengal, Bangladesh or erstwhile East Bengal, Jharkhand, Purnia, Odisha, Goalpara region, Assam, the Barak Valley, Tripura, Nepal, Meghalaya, Rakhine state and other parts of India who are known as Probashi Bengalis. Bengali Hindu Americans also come from Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Caribbean and other parts of the world.

Culture

Many Bengali Americans participate in an annual conference, the North American Bengali Conference, in order to celebrate their culture and discuss issues the community faces. They often form regional organizations to network and plan events.

Religions

Bengali Americans are mostly adherents of either Islam or Hinduism. This is manifested in the yearly celebration of Eid ul-Fitr, Durga Puja and other religious celebrations. Several secular holidays are also enjoyed by the whole community, such as the Bengali new year, Pohela Boishakh.

Notable people

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Bangladeshi Americans.

Sears Tower (now Willis Tower), was designed by Fazlur Rahman Khan. It was the tallest building in the world for over two decades.

• Raj Chandra Bose - Indian American Mathematician
• Moni Lal Bhoumik - Indian American physicist and a bestselling author.
• Arianna Afsar – former Miss California; placed in the Top 10 of the 2011 Miss America pageant
• Saif Ahmad – World Series of Poker winner
• Maqsudul Alam – scientist and professor
• Jalal Alamgir (d. 2011) – political scientist and professor
• Mir Masoom Ali – George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Statistics, Ball State University
• Kali S. Banerjee – statistician and professor
• Rais Bhuiyan – shooting survivor and activist
• Amar Bose - founder of Bose Corporation
• Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty - scientist
• Purnendu Chatterjee - industrialist
• Subir Chowdhury – author and management consultant
• Hansen Clarke – United States Congress in 2010, from Michigan's House of Representatives
• Tarak Nath Das - anti-British Bengali Indian revolutionary and internationalist scholar
• Hasan M. Elahi – interdisciplinary media artist
• Rajat Gupta, former CEO of McKinsey and Company
• M. Zahid Hasan, the Eugene Higgins endowed chair professor at Princeton University and scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, known for ground-breaking discoveries in the quantum world
• Fazle Hussain – professor of mechanical engineering, physics, and earth science at the University of Houston
• Abul Hussam – inventor of the Sono arsenic filter
• Norah Jones - singer and actress
• Mindy Kaling- actress
• Jawed Karim – co-founder of YouTube; designed key parts of PayPal
• Mohammad Ataul Karim – electrical engineer
• Sumaya Kazi – founder of Sumazi, was recognised by BusinessWeek as one of America's Best Young Entrepreneurs
• Abdus Suttar Khan – chemist and jet fuels inventor
• Fazlur Rahman Khan – pioneer of modern structural engineering
• Salman Khan – founder of Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational organisation
• Jhumpa Lahiri - author of The Namesake
• Dipa Ma – yoga teacher
• Tasmin Mahfuz - American television journalist and news anchor and Gracie award recipient for women.
• Sezan Mahmud – award-winning novelist
• A.K. Mozumdar - first person of South Asian descent to earn US citizenship, until it was revoked by the Supreme Court in 1924
• Dhan Gopal Mukerji, first South Asian winner of Newbery Medal in 1928
• Raj Mukherji, Majority Whip of the New Jersey General Assembly
• Shomi Patwary – designer and music video director
• Iqbal Quadir – founder of Grameenphone, Bangladesh's largest mobile phone company; heads the Legatum Center at MIT
• Kamal Quadir – entrepreneur; founded two of Bangladesh's key technology companies, CellBazaar and bKash
• Anika Rahman – CEO of Ms. Foundation for Women
• Badal Roy – tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist
• Reihan Salam – conservative American political commentator; blogger at The American Scene; associate editor of The Atlantic Monthly
• Shikhee – singer; auteur of industrial band Android Lust
• Asif Azam Siddiqi – space historian; assistant professor of history at Fordham University
• M. Osman Siddique – former US ambassador
• Palbasha Siddique – singer
• Narasingha Sil – professor of history at Western Oregon University
• Supreme Understanding – author, publisher, activist and outspoken member of the Nation of Gods and Earths
• Monica Yunus – Bangladeshi-Russian-American operatic soprano
• Sohla El-Waylly – American chef, restaurateur, and YouTube personality as part of Bon Appetit’s staff.
• Samarendra Nath Roy - Indian American Mathematician