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Arab AMerican Pathbreaker

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Raghida Dergham

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This is the eighty-fourth in Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series features personalities from various fields, including entertainment, business, sports, science, the arts, academia, journalism, and politics. Our eighty-fourth pathbreaker is Raghida Dergham, a Lebanese American journalist, Founder and Executive Chairman of Beirut Institute, and Columnist for leading Arabic and English-language newspapers. She is one of the Arab world’s most well-known female journalists, famous as an interpreter of the Middle Eastern and American cultures and politics for her two audiences. As contributing editor John Mason highlights, Raghida is also known for her incisive analysis of President Donald Trump’s approach to world leadership and the necessity to treat his words seriously.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Philip Hitti

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This is the eighty-first in Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series features personalities from various fields, including entertainment, business, sports, science, the arts, academia, journalism, and politics, among others. Our eighty-first pathbreaker, Philip Hitti, is a Lebanese-born professor and scholar of Arab and Middle Eastern history, Islam, and Semitic languages, and a founder of Arab and Oriental studies in the U.S. John Mason,, contributing writer, focuses on Hitti as a strong proponent of an equitable political solution for Arabs who lived for centuries in what was historically known as Palestine.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Riyad Mansour

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This is the seventy-fifth of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, arts, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our seventy-fifth pathbreaker, Dr. Riyad Mansour, is a Ramallah-born Palestinian American who has been a champion of Palestinian rights and presently serves as the third Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations. Contributing writer John Mason underscores Mansour’s total devotion to the Palestinian cause.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Ismael Ahmed

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By: John Mason / Arab America Contributing Writer This is the seventy-third of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, arts, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our seventy-third pathbreaker, Ismael Ahmed, is an Arab American born in Brooklyn, New York, to a … Continued

Pathbreakers of Arab America—William Peter Blatty

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This is the sixty-ninth of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, arts, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our sixty-ninth pathbreaker, William Peter Blatty, a Christian Lebanese Arab, was a writer, a film director, and a producer. Blatty is best known for his 1971 novel, “The Exorcist,” and his 1973 screenplay for the film adaptation of the same name. Blatty won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Exorcist” and was nominated for Best Picture as its producer. The film also earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama as producer. Contributing writer, John Mason, depicts Blatty’s rise to stardom as exceptional given his humble beginnings, characterized as “comfortable destitution.” He died in 2017.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Rashida Tlaib

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This is the sixty-eighth of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, arts, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our sixty-eighth pathbreaker, Rashida Tlaib, an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2019, representing the state’s 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress and is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. Contributing writer, John Mason, highlights Rashida — a champion of underrepresented Americans and a staunch ally of Arab Americans.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Ernest Hamwi

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This is the sixty-seventh of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, arts, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our sixty-seventh pathbreaker is Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian born Arab American businessman and entrepreneur. Born on November 18, 1883, in Damascus, Syria he is considered by some as the creator of the ice cream cone, which he purportedly conceived of while working as a concessionaire at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Contributing writer, John Mason, informs us that there is much more information available on the ice cream cone than exists on Ernest himself. Nevertheless, this is his brief but eventful story.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Rami Khouri

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This is the sixty-third of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our sixty-third pathbreaker is Rami Khoury, a Palestinian Jordanian, educated in both the Middle East and the U.S. A widely respected, internationally syndicated, political columnist and professor of journalism, Khoury is known for his clear, honest analyses of the global influence of the Middle East, including the hot button topics of today. Contributing writer, John Mason, takes us through a recent interview, in which Khoury renders a clear-eyed assessment of the Gaza war, especially the complicated roles of Hamas, Israel, and the U.S. in reaching a ceasefire.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Alia Shawkat

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This is the sixtieth of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our sixtieth pathbreaker is Alia Shawkat, actress, producer, singer, and painter. Her father is an Iraqi Christian and her mother is American. As John Mason, contributing writer, reports, Alia is best known for her role in ‘Arrested Development,’ a popular, long-running Fox/Netflix TV sitcom series. Joining that series at age 14, she has spent more than half her adult life as a professional actor.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Diana Abu-Jaber

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This is the fifty-fourth of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our fifty-fourth pathbreaker is Diana Abu-Jaber, who writes fiction about Arab and Arab-American culture and identity. As contributing writer, John Mason describes, her stories reflect her intercultural experience, growing up in New York state and Jordan, and the cross-cultural realities of her Jordian father and American-born, Irish-German mother. Diana’s stories often involve the culture of food and food production, as practiced by her two families. She is a professor of English and currently a Writer-in-Residence at Portland State University.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Najla Said

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This is the fifty-second of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our fifty-second pathbreaker is Najla Said, a Palestinian American author, actress, playwright, and activist. Contributing writer, John Mason, writes about Najla, the daughter of noted postcolonial scholar and public intellectual Palestinian American Edward Said and of writer and activist, Lebanese American Mariam C. Said. Najla Said’s literary and academic work addresses racism, stereotyping, and social and economic inequality, focused on the challenges that face immigrant and second-generation Americans.

Pathbreakers of Arab America—Justin Amash

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This is the fifty-first of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our fifty-first pathbreaker is Justin Amash, a lawyer and politician who has served Michiganders in the Michigan House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives. Contributing writer, John Mason reports that he is the child of a Palestinian Christian father and a Syrian Christian mother, who immigrated to the U.S. Justin is a principled politician who is difficult to pigeonhole by his party affiliation since he roots his support of issues in his understanding of constitutional law. He supports Palestinians in Gaza, where several of his relatives have been killed in the war.

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