Taking Root, Bearing Fruit: The Arab-American Experience. ADC Issues. Special Issue.

146 Pages·2012·3.94 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 361 274
SO 023 306
AUTHOR
Zogby, James, Ed.
TITLE
Taking Root, Bearing Fruit: The Arab-American
Experience. ADC Issues. Special Issue.
INSTITUTION
American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee,
Washington, DC.
REPORT NO
ISSN-8755-903X
PUB DATE
84
NOTE
146p.; For volume II, see SO 023 307.
ANAILABLE FROM
ADC Publications, 4201 Connecticut
Ave., N.W.,
Washington, DC 20008 ($5, prepaid).
PUB TYPE
Collected Works
Serials (022)
JOURNAL CIT
ADC Issues; 1992
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
*Arabs; Community Study; Ethnic Groups;
*Immigrants;
*Life Style; *North Americans; *United
States
History
IDENTIFIERS
*Cultural Values
ABSTRACT
This document reports on
an examination of
lifestyles, cultures, and heritage of Arab
communities within the
United States. After a historical overview
of the arrival and
settling of Arab-Americans in
wave after wave of immigration, the
work provides close-up views of different
communities across the
country. Each of those views introduces
a few of the people who live
in the community. The document includes
an examination of
Arab-American community building, surveying
the different regions in
which Arab-Americans have built
up business, family ties, education,
and social life. In addition, the document
offers a look backward at
the terms of life and the struggle for
recognition and identity of
the pioneer and forebears of the present
generation. Among the many
essays that comprise the work are "Detroit: Our Ellis Island"
(Jane
Peterson); "Arab Muslims in America:
Adaptation and Reform" (Yvonne
Haddad); and Talbott Williams' "'Pioneers':
The Syrian in America."
(Author/SG)
***********************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS
are the best that can be made
from the original document.
***********************************************************************
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American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee
4201 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20008
[phone]
Jim Abourezk
ADC National Chairman
Albert Mokhiber
ADC President
Taking Root
Bearing Fruit
Special Issue
Editor: James Zogby
Assistant Editors: Pat Aufderheide, Anne S. Mooney
Writers: Alan Dehmer, Jessica Gill, Randa Sifri, Anthony Toth, Mary Ann Fay
ADC Issues is published by the ADC Research Institute and informs ADC members on issues
of special significance. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is a non-sectarian,
non-partisan service organization committed to defending the rights and promoting the heritage
of Arab-Americans. The largest grassroots organization of Arab-Americans. ADC was founded in
1980 by former U.S. Senator James Abourezk in response to stereotyping, defamation and discrimina-
tion directed against Americans of Arab descent.
ADC serves its nationwide membership thmugh direct advocacy in cases of defamation, through
legal action in cases of discrimination, and through counseling in matters of immigration. The ADC
Dedication
Research Institute publishes information on issues of concern to Arab-Americans and provides educa-
tional materials on Arab history and culture as well as the ethnic experience of Arabs in the United
For our parents and
States. It also sponsors summer internships in Washington for Arab-American college students. ADC's
Middle East Women's and Children's Fund addresses the humanitarian needs of victims of violence
grandparents who came
in the Middle East.
to this new world
©1984 ADC Research Institute
bringing nothing but their
ISSN 801041)3K
(reprint 1992)
love for our heritage and
a hope for the future.
And for our children, to
whom we bequeath that
4
love and that hope.
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Table of Contents
Arab-Americans: A Tradition Takes Root
7
The Role of Tradition by John Zogby; The Burgeoning Family;
Old RootsNew Soil by Mary Ann Fay.
The Way We Are: Our Communities
25
Allentown: Fertile Valley by Mary Ann Fay; Birmingham: The
Politics of Survival by Anthony Toth; Boston: Dream of a Good
Land by Evelyn Shakir; Brooklyn: On Freedom's Shore by Alan
Dehmer; Detroit: Our Ellis Island; Houston: In the Heart of
Texas by Jane Peterson; Jacksonville: As Salaam Aleikum Y'all by
Anthony Toth; Portland: The Pride of Reawakening by Mary Ann
Fay and Paul Rask; San Francisco: Arab Culture in the Bay Area
by Randa Sifri; Yemeni Arabs as Farmworkers by Jack Matalka;
Utica: Mt. Lebanon to the Mohawk Valley; Worcester: Lively
Ethnic Mix by Anthony Toth; Arab Muslims in America:
Adaptation and Reform by Yvonne Haddad.
The Way We Are: A Regional Survey
106
New England; Metropolitan New York; Upstate New York;
Pennsylvania; Ohio; Midwestern Cities; Southeast; Texas;
California; Western States.
The Way We Were
119
"Pioneers"; The Syrian in America by Talcott Williams; A Chal-
lenge to the Younger Generation Syrians by H.I. Katibah; Who's
Who in Utica, a 1917 newspaper opinion; Marriages and Fun-
erals by Mary Macron; Red Wool for a Dress; The Coffee House
Raid by Eugene Paul Nassar; I Believe in You by Mild Gibran.
ff40-401"-'
Biblioteca Ambrosiana. Milan
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hN this issue of ADC Reports, we present a project we
have been working on and dreaming of for a long
timea survey of the lifestyles, the cultures, the
eritage and living pulse of Arab-American communities
across the country. After a historical overview of the arrival and
settling of Arab-Americans in wave after wave of immigration,
we provide close-up views of different communities across the
United States. With each one, we introduce you to a few of the
people in that community. Following this, we take a bird's-eye
view of Arab-American community-building, surveying the
different regions in which Arab-Americans have built up
businesses, family ties and social life. Finally, we offer a look
backward, at the terms of life and the struggle for recognition and
identity of the pioneer and forebears of this generation.
We think it is a brave start, and a mark of the coming of
age
of the Arab-American community, to have this issue of the
newsletter. It shows us the strength as well as the diversity of our
people. It shows us how we are both Arab and American, and it
points a direction for the future that doesn't forget the past.
For people making a brave start, though, we approach
you
with some trepidation. This we know, is only a beginning,
an
introduction to an ongoing project of self-description and self-
identification, including an annual almanac and continuing updates
on our communities through ADC Reports. And like all first efforts,
this onewe are surewill have its share of omissions,
errors
and misstatements. We beg your help in finding those
errors and
helping us to correct them, in finding those omissions and filling
in the gaps in our knowledge. Each mistake, each lacuna is a mark
of how important it is to continue this work, to find out what
we
don't know in order to know ourselves better, and to build for
our
joint future.
And so we anticipate your interest, and at the
same time we
beg your indulgence. We hope you judge ADC and ADC Reports,
this issue, not only by its errors but by what new light these
initial efforts shed on our community. We realize we have only
scratched the surface. There is a greater story to tell, and
we
promise to tell it.
James Zogby, Editor
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