A Tamil sailor (and pirate?) in Gold Rush San Francisco
<p>If South Asians are included in California history textbooks, their stories typically begin in 1965, or sometimes with Punjabi immigrants of the 1900s. While older stories exist, it’s rare to find actual names and details. That’s why I was so thrilled to discover a two-part 1893 <em>San Francisco Examiner</em> profile about Samuel Variapa, a Tamil-speaking sailor building a new life in the heart of 19th-century San Francisco.</p>
<p>The 1893 profile describes the elderly Variapa as a centenarian, having dark copper or bronze skin, a slight mustache and beard framing his face, and being totally blind. He lived in a shanty at Franklin and Filbert, near Fort Mason.</p>
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