Kartar Dhillon

Kartar Kaur Dhillon (ਕਰਤਾਰ ਕੌਰ ਢਿੱਲੋਂ) was a Punjabi Sikh American political activist and writer from California. Dhillon grew up in the Ghadar Party, working to end British colonialism in India. As an activist, she supported unions, the Black Panther Party, farm workers, political prisoners, and the Korean reunification movement.

Early life
Her father, Bakshish Singh Dhillon was one of the first Punjabi Sikh pioneers to arrive in the United States in 1897, with her mother, Rattan Kaur joining him in 1910. Kartar Dhillon was the fourth child out of the total eight in the family. At the time she was born, their family was the only South Asian family in Simi Valley. From 1916 to 1922, she and her family lived in Astoria, Oregon, where she and her siblings attended school and her father worked at a lumber mill.

During World War II
As a part of the war effort, Dhillon worked as a machinist and truck driver from the Marine Corps. Her youngest brother, Hari, also volunteered for the Marine Corps and was killed in action in Okinawa in 1945 at the age of 18.

Later works and retirement
She picked crops, worked as a waitress, and was the secretary for the San Francisco, Teamsters and Asbestos Worker's unions. She retired in 1983.

Her writing included "The Parrot's Beak," an autobiographical essay about her early life published in Making Waves: An Anthology of Writings By and About Asian American Women. In 1994, at age 80, Dhillon founded the Chaat Collective, a South Asian American art and performance collective.

Death
She died on June 15, 2008, in Berkeley, California. She is survived by two children, nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Media

 * The film Turbans, about a Sikh family in Astoria, Oregon in 1918, is based on Dhillon's memoirs and is directed by Dhillon's granddaughter, Erika Surat Andersen.

Writings

 * "The Parrot's Beak" (1989)
 * "Astoria Revisited And Autobiographical Notes" (1995)

Interviews

 * 'Witness to the Ghadar Era" (2001)
 * "Interview With the Iron Lady" (2001)