Arab Americans

By Nabeel Abraham and John Beierle

Arab Americans, Arab Muslims, Chaldeans, Copts, Druze, Lebanese, Palestinians, Shia, Syrians, Yemenis.

Americans of Arab ancestry are a heterogeneous amalgam of national and religious subgroups. Their link is a common Arab cultural and linguistic heritage which has profoundly influenced the Middle East for over fourteen centuries. Historically, Arab referred exclusively to the Arabic-speaking tribes of the Arabian Peninsula and parts of the Fertile Crescent. Today, the term is understood to be a cultural/linguistic and political designation, embracing various national, religious, and regional groups, which share overlapping histories and national political aspirations, though significant differences and regional loyalties remain strong. No single set of racial or physical traits defines all Arabs. Nor can they be identified with a single religion (Islam), as is often mistakenly done, as not all Arabs are Muslims (about 6 to 10 percent are non-Muslims, mostly Christians along with some Jews). In fact, although Islam originated in the Arabian Peninsula, and the Quran (its holy book) was written in Arabic, the vast majority of Muslims are not Arabs, but Indonesians, Pakistanis, Asian Indians, and Persians.

Arab Americans hail from only a handful of the twenty-one countries that comprise the modern Arab world: Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, and Jordan. In terms of recency of arrival, Arab Americans fall into three diverse groups: recent arrivals, long-term immigrants, and native-born descendants of earlier generations of immigrants.

Arab Americans live primarily in cities or adjacent suburbs. Many recent arrivals tend to gravitate to Arab ethnic neighborhoods, where ethnic grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, clubs and religious centers are concentrated. These neighborhoods tend to be working class and lower middle class in character. The largest is found in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan; others are located in New York and Chicago. These "Arab Towns" have largely replaced the "Little Syrias" of earlier immigrant generations. The more assimilated long-term immigrants and native-born Arab Americans tend to eschew the ethnic neighborhoods for the middle class suburbs. The major concentrations of Arab Americans are found in Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Houston. Smaller communities are also found throughout the Northeast and Middle West.

Exact population figures are difficult to ascertain owing to imprecise immigration and census data. Scholars tend to agree on two million as the number of persons of Arab ancestry in the U.S., with another 80,000 in Canada. In comparison, the population of the Arab world is over 150 million. The largest single concentration of Arabs in North America is in Detroit, which is reputed to have about 250,000 Arabs. Native-born Arab Americans and long-established immigrants make up the largest share of the population, which was fairly stable through the mid-1960s. Beginning in the late 1960s, the Arab population in North America witnessed rapid growth largely due to the influx of tens of thousands of new immigrants.

Most assimilated Arab Americans use English as their primary language or only domestic language. Many recent arrivals use Arabic as their primary language, employing English as needed in contacts outside the home and the ethnic community. Arabic speakers converse in the regional dialect of their home village or town. Some Iraqi Chaldeans speak Chaldean (a Semitic language) as their only domestic language, others know only Iraqi Arabic or combine the two languages. Second-generation Arab Americans usually reach adulthood retaining very little of their parents' native tongue.

The first Arabic-speaking immigrants to the United States. were a handful of nineteen-century adventurers and sojourners. It was not until the end of the century that significant numbers of Arab immigrants began making their way to the U.S. Their numbers were minuscule by the standards of the day; averaging several thousand per year, with the highest recorded number reaching 9,000 in 1913-1914. World War I brought immigration to a virtual standstill. In the years immediately following the war, Arab immigration returned to its pre-war level only to be stymied again by the restrictive legislation of the 1920s.

Many of the early immigrants left homes in Greater Syria, an Arab province of the Ottoman Empire until the end of World War I. In the post-war period, the province was partitioned into separate political entities (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Transjordan) under British and French rule. Although the area remains predominately Arab and Muslim culturally, Christian, Islamic and Jewish ethno-religious minorities constitute its cultural mosaic. Many of the early immigrants were drawn from these minorities, especially certain Christian denominations (Maronites, Melkites, and Eastern Orthodox). Others included a small number of Muslims and Druze, as well as smaller numbers of Iraqi Chaldeans and Yemeni Muslims.

In general, the early immigrants were mostly illiterate or semi-literate, unskilled, single males, who emigrated without their families. Of the approximately 60,000 who entered the U.S. between 1899 and 1910, some 53% were illiterate, while 68% were single males. A notable exception was a small group of literati (writers, poets, artists, journalists) who settled in places like New York and Boston. Political emigres rather than economically-motivated immigrants, this group spawned an important school of modern Arabic literature. They formed the Pen League (AL-RABITA AL-QALAMIYYA) under the leadership of Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), the celebrated author of THE PROPHET.

The early immigrants tended to settle in the cities and towns of the Northeast and Midwest, in states like New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. By 1940 about a fifth of the estimated 350,000 Arabs lived in just three cities: New York, Boston, and Detroit, mostly in ethnic neighborhoods ("Little Syrias"). Many worked their way across America as peddlers of dry goods and other sundry items, reaching virtually every state of the union. Some homesteaded on the Great Plains, while others settled in southern rural areas. A second wave of Arab immigration to the U.S. appeared after World War II. This wave included many more Muslims than the previous one. It also included refugees who had been displaced by the 1948 Palestine War, as well as professionals and university students who elected to remain permanently in the U.S. These trends accelerated after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War, a watershed for both the Middle East and Arab immigration to the U.S. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed a massive influx of Arab immigrants from Lebanon, Iraq, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Yemen, Egypt and other Arab countries. Many had been displaced by war and political upheaval.

The early Arab immigrants followed a fairly smooth assimilation into mainstream society. Several generations later their descendants have achieved high social mobility. Some are household names: Danny Thomas, Ralph Nader, Christa McAuliffe, Paul Anka, Casey Kasem, Bobby Rahall, F. Murray Abraham. In comparison, the second wave immigrants have had mixed results. Many have prospered economically, especially those in the professions and business. But others, particularly in the period following the June 1967 War, had to contend with demeaning stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination stemming from the oil crisis, Middle East terrorism, and U.S. involvement in the region. These problems are more pronounced in areas where large numbers of recent arrivals reside.

Arab Americans are highly integrated into the U.S. economy. Both immigrant and assimilated Arabs are heavily involved in the retail business trade. In many urban areas, they own and manage grocery stores, supermarkets, candy stores, gasoline stations, and restaurants. Some native-born Arabs own small and medium-sized manufacturing and commercial enterprises; most, however, choose careers in the professions (medicine, law, accounting, engineering, teaching). Many unskilled immigrants, particularly recent arrivals, can be found working in factories, restaurants, but usually remain in such jobs only until they accumulate sufficient means to enter into the retail business world. While Arabs as a group have not faced economic discrimination, individuals have encountered discrimination in hiring and on the job, mostly in the professions.

Arab marriage and kinship practices vary somewhat by religion and recency of arrival, but generally stress lifelong marriages, preference for religious and ethnic group endogamy, marriage of cousins, extended families, patrilineal descent, and bifurcate-collateral (descriptive) kinship terminology. Surnames are patrilineal. Data on inter-marriage with non-Arabs are virtually non-existent. Generally, recency of immigration, degree of ethnic group cohesiveness, and religiosity mitigate against inter-religious marriages, though marriages across Arab regional and national lines are allowed as long as religious group endogamy is maintained. Arab affiliation is usually traced patrilineally, though women are delegated the responsibility of transmitting ethnic and religious awareness to the children. In many mixed marriages, particularly of Arab men to non-Arab women, the wives often play important roles in promoting Arab cultural heritage within the family and the ethnic community.

As with North Americans generally, early socialization takes place in the immediate family. Arab parents are extremely indulgent, though they may resort to physical punishment. Socialization as an Arab takes place in the home, through attendance at "Arabic School" on weekends, and in youth groups at the mosque or church. Weddings, funerals and other community social gatherings offer occasion for further socialization into the ethnic group.

Traditionally, the primary loyalties and affiliations of Middle Eastern peoples have been to local areas, the village or urban quarter, which were usually homogeneous religious and ethnic units. Not surprisingly, Arabs in America tended to establish ethnically homogeneous church - and mosque-centered communities. In addition, they also formed hometown and village clubs and associations. Because immigrants from the same village or town were often scattered in many parts of the U.S. and elsewhere, these associations often acquired a national or even international scope. Hometown and village affiliations remain strong among recent arrivals and the immigrant population generally, and less so among assimilated Arab Americans.

There is no over-arching political structure that groups all Arab Americans. The Christian denominations are separately organized in hierarchical organizations that are essentially extensions of churches based in the Middle East. Lacking the hierarchical structure of the Christian churches, local congregations of Muslims are loosely federated with one another according to sect Sunni, Shia) and to competing Islamic federations in the Middle East.

In the late 1960s Arab Americans began establishing national organizations that transcended religious and hometown/village affiliations. The Association of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG), founded by a group of academics and professionals, was the first such organization. Eventually larger organizations appeared in the 1970s and 1980s (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; National Association of Arab-Americans; American Arab Institute). The impetus behind the emergence of these organizations was the perceived need to present an Arab-American voice on United States foreign policy, combat demeaning stereotypes and discrimination, and encourage Arab Americans to become actively involved in the electoral process. Although these groups are highly visible, they represent only a small fraction of the Arab-American population.

Arab Americans generally resolve disputes through the legal system. The population is law-abiding, and, contrary to popular images, Arab Americans have not been involved in terrorist activities. To the contrary, Arab Americans have been the targets of sporadic as well as intentional violence, including several bombings and arson fires that killed two people and injured nearly a dozen others in the 1980s.

Islam is the youngest of the monotheistic religions. Established in the seventh century A.D., Islam's central tenet is the oneness of God. Humankind is called on to obey God's law and prepare for the Day of Judgement. Muslims view the Prophet Muhammad as the last in a long succession of prophets going back to Abraham. Muslims accept Jesus as a prophet who possessed miracle-working powers. The QURAN places emphasis on his virgin birth. Muslims do not, however, recognize the divinity of Christ, or accept that he was crucified, claiming instead that God intervened at the last moment. Shia Muslims differ from Sunni (orthodox) Islam over the rightful succession of the Caliphate (leader) of the early Muslim community, and over the role and powers of the ULAMA (religious scholars or clergy). The majority of Arab American Muslims are Sunni; Arab-American Shia Muslims are mostly from Lebanon and to a lesser extent from North Yemen and Iraq.

Arab Christians are divided between Eastern rite Churches (Syrian Antiochian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Coptic) and Latin rite Uniate Churches (Maronite, Melkite, and Chaldean). Originally, all Middle Eastern denominations belonged to churches that followed Eastern rites. The Uniate Churches eventually split from the Eastern churches and affiliated with the Latin Church in Rome. Although they formally recognize the authority of the Roman Pope and adopt Latin rites, the Uniate Churches maintain their own patriarchs and internal autonomy. The Middle Eastern churches, Eastern as well as Uniate, allow priests to marry, though not bishops, and maintain their separate liturgies, often in an ancient language (Coptic, Aramaic, Syriac, etc.).

Islam lacks a hierarchical church structure. The ULAMA (clergy) are essentially teachers or scholars, lacking real authority, though Shia Islam as practiced in non-Arab Iran invests the ULAMA with special occult powers and authority in social matters. The Middle Eastern churches are structured in rigid hierarchies, and priests often command substantial respect and authority in local affairs.

Strictly speaking Islam recognizes only three religious holidays: RAMADAN, EID AL-FITR, and EID AL-ADHA. Other holidays, like the Prophet's birthday, are celebrated by some communities and not others. RAMADAN, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is the time of fasting that precedes EID AL-FITR. The fast requires the complete abstinence from food, drink, tobacco, and sex from sunrise to sunset during the entire month. EID AL-FITR "End of the Fast") marks the end of RAMADAN. EID AL-ADHA ("Feast of the Sacrifice") commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael in obedience to God. The holiday falls at the end of the HAJJ or pilgrimage to Mecca, falls on a slightly different day each year owing to the differences between the Islamic lunar calendar and the Western solar calendar. The Eastern rite Churches differ from the Latin Churches on the timing of Easter and Christmas celebrations. Easter is celebrated the Sunday after Passover, while Christmas is celebrated on the Epiphany, which falls on January 6.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication and eHRAF document number.

The Arab American file consists of thirty-one documents, all in English. The range of ethnographic coverage for the file runs from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries, with major topic coverage in nearly all the works relating to immigration, maintainence of ethnic identity, acculturation and assimilation, socio-cultural change, settlement patterns, and the adherence of Arab Americans to the Islamic religion. Although there are no specific studies in the file providing a broad comprehensive ethnographic coverage for all Arab Americans in the United States, the works by Haddad (1983, 1994, nos. 6 & 18), Suleiman (1994, no. 17), and Abraham (1994, no. 20) do provide some information on limited aspects of ethnography. In general, most of the works in this file focus on the Syrian-Lebanese populations in the United States with specific reference to their concentrations in such large urban areas as Worcester, Massachusetts (Saliba, 1992, no. 3), Boston, Massachusetts (Shakir, 1987, no. 16 and Hagopion, 1969, no. 25), Springfield, Massachusetts (Aruri, 1969, no. 26), Chicago, Illinois (Haddad, 1969, no. 24), Birmingham, Alabama (Conklin, 1987, no. 14), and Dearborn, Michigan (Wasfi, 1971, no. 23). Three of the studies in this file deal with the Palestinian population in Chicago, Illinois, with particular reference to women's roles and status. These are Cainkar (1994, 1991, 1996, nos. 19, 28, and 31). Two documents describe Yemeni settlements in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan (Abraham, 1983, no. 8 and Aswad, 1991, no. 27). The remaining works consist of unspecified Arab American groups in various urban regions of the United States such as Toledo, Ohio (Elkholy, 1966, no. 1), Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan (Abraham, 1983, nos. 7 and 10; Sengstock, 1996, no. 29; Aswad, 1974, 1996, nos. 22 and 30), Waterville, Maine (Hooglund, 1987, no. 15), and Buffalo, New York (Shorrab, 1986, no. 21).

The culture summary is based on the article "Arab Americans" by Nabeel Abraham, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 1, 1991. Timothy O'Leary and David Levinson, eds. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall & Co. The file synopsis and indexing notes were written by John Beierle in September 1998.

• 'AYB -- shame, disgrace -- categories 152, 577

• American Lebanese-Syrian Associated Club (ALSAC) -- category 747 (sometimes with 743)

• American Moslem Society -- categories 575, 794

• Arab American Community Center for Social Services (ACCESS) -- categories 748, 575

• Arab American University Graduates (AAUG) -- category 664

• assimilation, cultural -- category 563

• business directories -- category 366

• Federation of Islamic Associations -- categories 665 and 575

• generations and generational differences -- category 561

• Haddad Foundation -- a non-profit organization designed to administer scholar

• HASANI -- benefactions pleasing to God -- category 779

• Islamic Center Foundation Society -- categories 575, 794

• Mhaiti Society -- a private charitable organization -- categories 747, 794, 575

• Muslim Student Association -- categories 877, 575, 795, 794

• Muslim World League -- categories 794, 795, 575

• National Association of Arab Americans -- a political action group -- category 668

• peddlers -- category 443

• Progress Arab Hashimite Society -- categories 575, 794

• religious clubs -- category 575 (sometimes with 794)

• SHI'AH -- a Muslim religious sect -- category 795

• SHEIKH -- religious leader -- category 792

• Southeast Dearborn Community Council -- categories 575, 794

• Sunday school -- category 794

• SUNNI -- a Muslim religious sect -- category 795

• suppliers of merchandise to peddlers -- category 442

Abraham, Sameer Y. and Nabeel Abraham, eds. Arabs in the New World. Detroit: Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University, 1983

Abu-Laban, Baha. An olive branch on the family tree: the Arabs in Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1980

Abu-Laban, Baha and Michael W. Suleiman, eds. Arab Americans: Continuity and Change. Belmont, MA: Association of Arab-American University Graduates, Inc., 1989

Hooglund, Eric J. Crossing the waters: Arabic-speaking immigrants to the United States before 1940. Washington D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press 1987

Naff, Alixa. Becoming American: the early Arab immigrant experience. Carbondale, ILL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985

Orfalea, Gregory. Before the flames. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.