120 years of South Asian history on the streets of Berkeley and San Francisco, CA
Saturday, July 12 in San Francisco
Sunday, July 13 in San Francisco
Sunday, August 17 in Berkeley
Our walking tours
What connects South Asian freedom struggles, Bay Area activism, and today’s fights for justice?
The South Asian Radical History Walking Tour is a guided walk through more than a century of South Asian American history—set on the streets of Berkeley and San Francisco, California.
👉🏽 RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW 👈🏽
(tours often sell out early)
Community historians Barnali Ghosh and Anirvan Chatterjee bring South Asian American movements and histories to life on an engaging 3-hour walking tour.
It’s a deeply researched, sometimes emotional, and always inspiring glimpse at four generations of Desi freedom fighters, feminists, students, queer activists, and more.
The tour was voted Best of the East Bay, featured on NPR, and awarded the national APIA Preservation Award. We’ve run 304 Berkeley tours for 4,513 people since 2012, and 7 San Francisco tours for 169 people since 2023.
What tour participants say
- one of the most amazing experiences ever
- a fantastic, interactive, inspiring, and provocative tour
- I cried, felt my heart break, felt scared, and uplifted…this was an incredible experience
- love the details of your detective work and how you brought it to life in the spaces it happened
- I wish we had the opportunity to learn this when in school
- your research, words, heart, and labor of love is such a gift
- I have felt like an outsider during many moments while living here, but this is the first time Berkeley has most felt like my home
- I found it really moving…there are roots within our community that connect to our current activism
- this is an experience I’m going to carry with me for a long time
- I loved it, and will continue bringing people
- thank you for showing me that I have a history in the country…in these times, it’s hard to remember that we belong
Keep in touch
- Instagram and Facebook
New tour dates, research finds, and amplified stories - Our mailing list
We send 2 to 6 emails a year
Read our work
- Secret Desi History blog
Some of our best history finds, from Tamil pirates to post-9/11 hate crimes - The Secret History of South Asian and African American Solidarity
These are the stories Black and Desi communities were never taught - How we won the campaign for Kala Bagai Way
The inside story of one of the first South Asian American street names in the U.S. - Anti-Asian Housing Discrimination in Berkeley, CA
An online exhibit about a difficult history - Public research notes
Check out sources and stories we use in our own research
What we do
- Live events:
We run an award-winning monthly walking tour, and curate art and community events - Original research:
We conduct and share original research, and collaborate with others doing related work - Advocacy and fundraising:
We co-led the campaign for Kala Bagai Way in Berkeley, participate in local and national advocacy, and donate tour profits to movement orgs - Talks and interviews:
We regularly do talks and interviews about South Asian histories, and share referrals with other activists and experts