Arab American Heritage Month

Overview

April is  Arab American Heritage Month! During this time, we celebrate Arab Americans throughout the past and present, and recognize their invaluable contributions to our country. It also serves as a time to combat Anti-Arab bigotry and to challenge stereotypes and prejudices.

Arab American Heritage Month began as a 2017 initiative that only involved a few states and cities, but recognition has been  steadily spreading since then, and in April 2021, President Biden became the first U.S. president to issue a proclamation acknowledging Arab American Heritage Month.

While the celebration of Arab American Heritage Month is fairly new, the history which it commemorates dates back as far as  1527, when Estebanico Azemmouri, a native of present-day Morocco, and Antonio Bishallany, a native of present-day Lebanon, arrived to what would many years later become the United States, becoming the first members of the Arab American community that is estimated today to number approximately  3.7 million people.

Since those very early days, there have been  several waves of Arab immigration into the United States. In the 1800s, the first group consisted mainly of Arab Christians fleeing religious persecution and economic insecurity in the Ottoman Empire, from the region that today makes up Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. This period came to an end in the 1920s, largely due to  immigration policies that placed strict quotas on the number of people who could come into the United States from many Asian and Arab countries located within a region called the  “Asiatic Barred Zone.” 

Later, as political instability in the region increased throughout the mid-20th century,  another wave of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa began arriving in search of both humanitarian protection, as well as economic and educational opportunities and family reunification. The third period began with new immigration laws that repealed the restrictive quotas in  1965 and allowed hundreds of thousands of new immigrants to come into the United States. A fourth wave that began in the 1990s continues today, even after the  rise of Anti-Arab sentiment that occurred in the United States following the September 11 attacks in 2001, as well as immigration policy changes in 2017 that made it more challenging for Arab immigrants to enter the United States. 

Today’s Arab American community is made up of individuals with roots in  22 countries located in the Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. In addition to the many nationalities represented, Arab Americans are also diverse in in faith—despite a common misconception,  not all Arabs are Muslim—as well as race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability. Within their diverse community, Arab Americans are united by their primary language, Arabic, as well as by their shared history and culture.

New York City has a rich Arab American history in its own right: when the first major wave of Arab immigrants began fleeing the Ottoman Empire (what is now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine) in the late 1800s, many of them arrived in New York. In fact, from the 1870s until the 1940s, the  center of Arab life in the United States could be found in  “Little Syria,” a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan concentrated on Washington Street and Rector Street. By the year 1900, nearly 2,000 Syrians were living there, working in nearby textile factories and as merchants. It was also in Little Syria that some of the best-known Arab writers of the time, including  Kahlil Gibran, formed the  Pen Bond (also known as the Pen League) and sparked a literary movement in Arab literature. Unfortunately, the neighborhood of Little Syria had all but disappeared by the mid-20th century. Plans for construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in the 1940s forced many residents to leave the area, often relocating to Brooklyn. Those that remained were not able to stay for long: the construction of the World Trade Center in the 1960s pushed the rest of the community out of their homes.

Even still, today, the New York City Metropolitan area has the second-highest population of Arab Americans in the United States.  Statewide, the Arab population in New York is one of the fasting growing in the country, with the number of New Yorkers who claim Arab ancestry estimated to have more than doubled since the 1980 Census.

Throughout April, and all year long, we hope you will join us in appreciating the rich and diverse history of this large and growing community. This month is an excellent time to learn and teach more about Arab American history, and we encourage you to do so by checking out the resources below, which include exhibitions, lesson plans, recommended reading, and more, for use both in and out of the classroom.

Events and Exhibitions

• The Arab American National Museum is located in Dearborn, Michigan, but you can access their virtual tours from home! There are resources related to their core core galleries along with supplemental materials for educators. Galleries include Contributions from Contributions from the Arab World,  Coming to America, Living in America, and Making an Impact. an Impact.
• 1001 Inventions partnered with Google Classroom to provide digital access to interactive stories about lesser-known pioneer men and women, primarily from the Arab world, to help spark young people’s interest in science while promoting diversity and inclusion in their online exhibitions.
• Visit St. George's Syrian Catholic Church, one of the few remaining buildings that made up “Little Syria.” It was originally built in 1812, and by 1850 was used as a boarding house for Syrian immigrants arriving in New York City at the time. For more about what remains of Little Syria, check out “What’s Left of New York’s Little Syria: A Short but Rich Tour.”
• For more, Arab America shares upcoming events throughout the year that are happening near you.
• The Museum of the City of New York is hosting several virtual workshops in celebration of Arab American Heritage Month for students in grades 3–5 on April 2, 3, and 4, 2024 from 9:30AM–10:30 AM.  
• Check out the 2024 New York Arab Festival!

Many of these books are readily available through the citywide Digital Library on Sora, which provides free access to hundreds of digital e-books and audiobooks for our students. You can also check out the Arab American Heritage Collection on Sora for eve more great recommendations.

Video and Audio Resources

• PBS has a large collection of documentaries that they recommend for Arab American Heritage Month.
• From 1001 inventions, learn more about the influence that the Arabic language has had on other languages around the world.
• Learn more about the lost neighborhood of Little Syria, where immigrants once lived in Lower Manhattan; check out video episodes from Now This and Al Jazeera, as well as the Bowery Boys Podcast episodes which tell this important local story.
• The award-winning See Something, Say Something Podcast covers the social, cultural, and political experiences of American Muslims
• Arts and music play a huge role in Arab culture; learn more about How Arabs Have Influenced American Music with a video from Now This, or watch a lecture from the Kennedy Center Education Digital Learning titled Understanding Arabic Music with Simon Shaheen & Qantara.

Resources for Educators

• Check out the National Arab American Heritage Month Educators Guide from Arab America, which provides additional helpful context and resources for teachers.
• The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan has a wide range of educator resources, including a collection of lesson plans for all grade levels, and access to their digital collections.
  • The museum has also put together a helpful resource about the history of the Arab American community, including information about immigration, culture, and more.
• To learn more about Arab scientists, inventors, and innovators throughout history, check out the 1001 Inventions Education Pack.
• The Teach Mideast Arab American Heritage Month Resource Guide has materials that teach students about the past and present of the Arab American community, including sections on early immigration, music, culture, literature, and media, present-day advocacy, and more. For even more, check out the “Resources Guides” section of their website.
• The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has a lesson plan all about the life and work of Kahlil Gibran, a famous poet and writer who lived in the New York City neighborhood of Little Syria. 
• In addition to Arab American Heritage Month, April is also National Poetry Month! Learn more about classic and contemporary Arab American poets like Gibran, and read some of their work, with resources from the Academy of American Poets.
• For teachers looking for more information about how to support their Arab students, particularly during the month of Ramadan, which often overlaps with Arab American Heritage Month, check out the NYC DOE’s Instructional Guide about Eid al-Fitr, available to teachers on WeTeach NYC.  
  • Additional resources that may be helpful include an interview with an Arab American educator on the subject, as well as another resource guide for teachers from PBS called “Promoting Understanding: Islam” that provides further information.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an educator guide to use in their gallery, the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia, in order to help students learn more about the history of Arab art and especially to dive deep on what is on display from their collections.
• Check out the National Endowment for the Humanities Virtual Bookshelf for Arab American Heritage Month.
• Learning for Justice has collected resources for Arab American Heritage Month which celebrate Arab identity, counter negative stereotypes, teach about Arab history and cultures, and ensure an inclusive environment that supports Arab American students this month and throughout the year.

Hidden Voices

Hidden Voices began as a collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York that was initiated to help New York City students learn about the countless individuals who are often “hidden” from traditional historical records. Each of the people highlighted in the series has made a positive impact on their communities while serving as outstanding examples of leadership, advocacy, and community service. There are several curriculum options that are especially relevant during Arab American Heritage Month, including:

• Hidden Voices: Untold Stories of New York City History, which includes a profile of Kahlil Gibran, a notable Arab American writer who lived in the Little Syria neighborhood of New York City while writing many of his most famous works.
• Hidden Voices: Stories of the Global African Diaspora Vol. 1, which features the stories of Bilal ibn Rabah—best known as Islam’s first muezzin, the person who performs the call to prayer for Muslims—and Ahmad Baba, an Islamic scholar and teacher.

In addition to these lessons, we regularly feature profiles on history-making individuals who could be considered “hidden voices.” During Arab American Heritage Month, check out our profiles on:

• Dr. Joanne Chory, a Lebanese American plant geneticist whose early work revolutionized botany and who is now dedicated to the global fight against climate change.

You can find more of our profiles throughout the year on our Hidden Voices webpage.