The Making of Arab Americans: From Syrian Nationalism to U.S. Citizenship

399 Pages·2014·4.539 MB·English

by  Hani J. Bawardi

The Making of Arab Americans
Banquet honoring delegations of Arab states to the United Nations, November 1946.
Courtesy of the Immigration History Research Project, University of Minnesota.
From Syrian
The Making of Nationalism
Arab Americans to U.S.
Citizenship
Hani J. Bawardi
University of Texas Press
Austin
Copyright © 2014 by the University of Texas Press
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First edition, 2014
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Th e paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Pulication Data
Bawardi, Hani J.
Th e making of Arab Americans : from Syrian nationalism to U.S.
citizenship / Hani J. Bawardi. — First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-292-75748-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Arab Americans—Politics and government—20th century.
2. Arab Americans—Societies, etc.—History—20th century. 3. Arab
Americans—History—20th century. 4. Arab Americans—Ethnic
identity. 5. Arab nationalism—History—20th century. 6. Syria—
Emigration and immigration. I. Title.
E184.A65B38 2014
305.892′7073—dc23 2013039741
For Rushd (Roy) Farah, the son of
Ameen Saleh Ya(cid:2)qoub Farah. Rushd was born
December 16, 1922, and died June 21, 2013.
You say what, then, can the Syrian do if you rob him of
his hope of a reformed future in the lands of his birth and
childhood?
. . . Th e Syrian only has self-reliance and utilizing his talents,
intelligence, and excellence to rely on.
. . . Every word a pupil learns in the American schools is a
word learned by all Syrians. . . . Free your children from the
slavery of stagnant traditions and old customs, and they will
remain free even in chains and jails.
Gibran Khalil Gibran, 
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Arabic Names and Terms xiii
Introduction 
Chapter 1 39
Arab Populations under Ottoman Rule: A Background
Chapter 2 54
The Syrian Nationalism of the Mahjar Press
Chapter 3 81
Soldiers for Syria before World War I:
The Free Syria Society
Chapter 4 104
The “Syria Idea” and the New Syria Party
Chapter 5 159
The Mandate Years and the Diaspora:
The Arab National League and a Historical Context
for Arab American Narrative
Chapter 6 190
The Arab National League and
the Emergence of Arab American Identity
Chapter 7 239
The Institute of Arab American Affairs: Arab
Americans and the New World Order
Conclusion 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index 
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
Acknowledgments
Meaningful research on the Arabic-speaking pioneers in the United States
can take place only if their stories are faithfully captured. It is my privilege
and honor to be entrusted by Roy (Rushd) Farah with the manuscripts of his
father, Ameen Farah (1888– 1975). I am deeply indebted to Roy and his wife,
Pauline, of Grand Blanc, Michigan, for opening their home and their hearts
to my family. Th ey will always have a place in our hearts. Ameen’s papers
enriched my life beyond measure and provided the tools for advancing the
nascent studies on the early Arab immigrants in the United States.
I am deeply grateful to Joy Totah Hilden for giving me unfettered access
to the papers of her father, Dr. Khalil Totah, in her home in Berkeley, Cal-
ifornia. Khalil Totah’s work as the director of the Institute of Arab Ameri-
can Aff airs from 1945 to 1950 deserves dedicated research beyond the chap-
ter on the institute in this book. I am very grateful to my dear friends and
neighbors in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Amal Dalack and her husband, Gregory
Dalack, a great-grandson of Orthodox Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi. Father
Kherbawi spent a lifetime in the service of his countrymen. I vow to con-
tinue translating to completion “Syrian Immigration to the United States,”
which he published in 1913.
It has been a privilege to get to know Dr. Fuad Isa Shatara, the founder of
the Arab National League, better, thanks to his granddaughter Barbara Tate
Cerato; her mother, Gina Shatara; and her aunt, Hope Murphy Shatara. Th e
family provided Dr. Shatara’s pictures and an audio disk from the 1930s.
Gina Shatara shared her fond memories of this truly remarkable man. Th e
research in this book on Dr. Shatara only begins to explore the staggering
importance of this statesman, author, surgeon, and man of peace and vi-
sion. Arab Americans suff ered a profound loss when Fuad Isa Shatara died
on January 8, 1942, at the early age of forty-eight. His vision of coexistence
and peace in Palestine lives on through his writings, letters, and commen-
tary in archival repositories from Jerusalem to New York to Flint, Michigan.
Although I had little success in locating the descendants of H.abīb
Ibrahīm Kātibah, his writings and importance must also be remembered