SECOND, REVISED EDITION AVAILABLE NOW!
Strangers in the West
By Linda K. Jacobs
The never-before-told story of the first Arab immigrants to settle in New York City.
They were peddlers and merchants, midwives and doctors, priests and journalists, belly dancers and impresarios, and between 1880 and 1900 these immigrants built a thriving colony that soon became the cultural and economic center of the Syrian/Lebanese diaspora in America. This is their story.
Praise for Strangers in the West
About the Book
iciciic“There is no question but that the Syrian tree planted in American soil will grow and flourish and blossom out into as good fruit as that of any other nationality.”
–Kawkab America, April 29, 1892
Strangers in the West is the never-before-told story of the first Arabic-speaking community in the United States, established in New York City, beginning in 1880. They came primarily from what was then known as “Greater Syria,” and settled in tenements on the lower west side of Manhattan, founding an Arabic-speaking enclave just south of the future site of the World Trade Center. Arriving in the New World with little more than their resourcefulness and business acumen, these immigrants quickly built a thriving “colony” that was the cultural and economic center of the Syrian diaspora in America.
Strangers In the West is the first and only comprehensive study of America’s most important Syrian colony. Through exhaustive archival and demographic research, Dr. Jacobs has captured the identities of virtually every member of this nineteenth century community. In doing so, she has created an invaluable resource for historians, scholars, and others interested in the history of Arabs in America.
Dr. Jacobs paints a vivid portrait of life in this early immigrant community, and the people who founded it. They were peddlers and merchants, midwives and doctors, priests and journalists, performers and impresarios. They capitalized on the orientalist craze sweeping the United States by opening Turkish smoking parlors, presenting belly dancers on vaudeville stages, and performing across the country in native costume. They learned English, built businesses, and became an important thread in the rich tapestry of the immigrant culture of nineteenth century New York. This is their story.
Images from the Colony
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