Arab American National Museum's Little Syria Exhibit to Open Oct. 1st at Ellis Island
Press Release: Arab American National Museum
Dearborn, Mich. (Sept. 27, 2016) – “…Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me…”
-From the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by American poet Emma Lazarus, mounted inside the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal
As the people of the United States of America wrestle with immigration – both the nation’s indisputable immigrant-driven history and the present-day conflicts it generates – the Arab American National Museum (AANM) contributes to the national civil discourse its original exhibition Little Syria, NY: An Immigrant Community’s Life & Legacy. The exhibition will be on display at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration Oct. 1, 2016 – Jan. 9, 2017. An estimated 300,000 visitors are expected to view the exhibition during its run.
Located in lower Manhattan, Little Syria was home to the first Arab American literary society, The Pen League, which included literary greats Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) (The Prophet, one of the most popular books of poetry every written published in 40 languages) and Ameen Rihani (1876-1940) (The Book of Khalid, the first Arab American novel). Little Syria also saw the founding of early Arabic-language newspapers including Al-Hoda, the originator of the Arabic-language typeface for Linotype typesetting machines. New York’s first Arab Christian churches founded congregations there, as residents began new lives as peddlers, merchants, restaurateurs and textile workers, laying the foundation for generations to come.
“Many Arab American communities were established by peddlers and other merchants who journeyed from New York to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Texas and California. Those new communities continued to do business with New York-based merchants, bankers, and publishers,” says AANM Research & Content Manager Dr. Matthew Jaber Stiffler. “And most Arab American churches owe their foundations to the early priests and bishops that began their ministry in New York City in the 1880s and 1890s.”
Among the notable businesses in Little Syria were Bardwil Industries, today the largest linen company in the U.S., Germack Pistachio Co., today the oldest roaster of pistachios in the U.S. and product supplier for cable TV shopping channel QVC, and Sahadi’s Fine Foods, one of the country’s oldest Middle Eastern grocers.
Among the images and artifacts that comprise Little Syria, NY are numerous historical photographs including several by the renowned American photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) from her Changing New York Works Progress Administration (WPA)/Federal Art Project, shot between 1935-38. There is a first edition of Gibran’s beloved book The Prophet signed by the author, and a letter written by Gibran about Syrian famine relief efforts in Boston that has never before been on public display. A vintage peddler’s trunk full of its original wares, samples of fine lace available to New York merchants from Syrian-run textile mills, even a fashionable women’s bed jacket by designer Odette Barsa will be on display. Visitors will also enjoy some of the sounds and scents of Little Syria inside the gallery, and the dozens of new artifacts that have been added for this presentation.
As it remains for many immigrants today regardless of ethnicity/origin, life for the new citizens in Little Syria involved not only the pursuit of the American Dream, but also forced confrontation with some of the country’s harsher elements. “In the first decades of the 20th century, during Little Syria’s heyday, there was a prominent anti-immigrant movement in the United States,” says Stiffler. “In fact, in 1904 the future chairman of the U.S. Public Health Service called Syrian immigrants ‘human parasites.’ But Syrians and other immigrant groups in New York continued to thrive, despite the anti-immigrant movement.”
“Until recently, no one—including the descendants of the Arabs who lived there—knew anything about the Syrian colony in lower Manhattan,” says Linda K. Jacobs, a New York resident and author of the 2015 book Strangers in the West: The Syrian Colony of New York City, 1880-1900. “Partly because the neighborhood on the lower west side was destroyed by the construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in the 1940s, the Syrian colony was a completely neglected part of New York and American immigrant history.”
“The presence of a peaceful and prosperous Syrian colony in New York sends a powerful message to those who would block immigrants from the Middle East. Arabs have been and continue to be a vital thread in the American tapestry,” says Jacobs.
Opened on January 1, 1892, Ellis Island became the nation’s premier federal immigration station. In operation until 1954, approximately 12 million immigrants were processed at the station. It has been estimated that more than 40 percent of the United States’ population today can trace their ancestry through Ellis Island. After 30 years of abandonment, the main building was restored by The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and, working in partnership with the National Park Service, opened as a museum in September, 1990. This year marks the centennial of the National Park Service.
“Many of the inhabitants of the community called Little Syria, in lower Manhattan, immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island,” says John Piltzecker, superintendent of The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island. “This exhibition allows us to present the history of an immigrant community which we haven’t previously featured prominently in the museum and we are confident our visitors will enjoy learning about this immigrant community.”
Little Syria, NY: An Immigrant Community’s Life & Legacy debuted at AANM in 2012 and was presented at 3LD Art & Technology Center (aka 3-Legged Dog) in New York City, a venue located inside the footprint of the former Little Syria enclave, in May 2013. That same year, both the Antiochian Heritage Museum & Library in Bolivar, Penn., and the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis also hosted the exhibition. Most recently the exhibition was on view at the New York City Municipal Archives and a scaled- down version will be on display at the Metropolitan College of New York beginning in late January 2017.
“Americans of Arab heritage have enriched our nation’s economic, political, and cultural landscape for over a century,” says Devon Akmon, director of the Dearborn, Mich.-based Arab American National Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate institution that remains the only museum of its kind in the nation.
“The Little Syria, NY exhibition provides an opportunity to reflect on the legacy of one of the earliest and most significant Arab American communities and its lasting contributions to society. By presenting this exhibit at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, we are connecting the Arab American story to the larger American immigration narrative while celebrating this uniquely American story,” Akmon says.