Arab Americans

SIGNIFICANCE: Arab Americans are a diverse group of individuals from one of many Arabic-speaking countries. The rise of Israel and Zionism helped this group coalesce; however, Arab Americans have faced serious conflict with the influential American Jewish community.

Arab Americans are US citizens who have roots in Arabic-speaking countries. Over 3.7 million people of Arab origin were estimated to live in the United States in the 2020s. However, Arab Americans are likely undercounted by the Census Bureau. An estimated 85 percent of all individuals of Arab heritage were citizens in the 2020s, and most were native-born. Historically, the majority of Arab Americans have a national origin of Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, or Iraq.

Definition and Overview

Arab Americans are individuals claiming ancestral roots in Arabic-speaking countries from Morocco to Syria and Saudi Arabia or Yemen with minor exceptions such as Chaldean- and Kurdish-speaking individuals. Americans unfamiliar with the Middle East often assume that all Muslims of the region are Arabs. Therefore, Turkish and Iranian (Persian) Americans, who are Muslims but not ethnically Arabs, are often mistakenly believed to be Arab Americans. Arab Americans are far more likely to be Christian than are natives of their home countries, although a majority of Arab immigrants since the 1960s have been Muslim. In the late 1990s, the Arab American community was believed to be about half Christian and about half Muslim, with Christians being more acculturated and accepted in the United States. By 2012, about 25 percent of Arab Americans identified as Muslim, with 65 percent identifying as Christian. By the 2020s, between 60 and 80 percent of Arab Americans identified as Christian. Arab American Christians often are indistinguishable from other Americans by the second generation, although Arab American Muslims form a more distinct group.

Middle Eastern problems such as the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s have pitted Arab American Christians against Arab American Muslims. However, after the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War in 1967, Arab Americans began to organize to confront hostile stereotypes in the press and discriminatory practices that often imperil their civil rights and employment opportunities. Arab American activists risk potentially serious conflict with the more established American Jewish community when they call on the US government for an “even-handed” (that is, less pro-Israel) Mideast policy. However, both Arab Americans and American Jews may be able to serve as constructive bridges between the United States and the Middle East and help them return to the generally good relations enjoyed before 1948.

Early History

Early Arab American immigrants came to the United States between 1870 and World War I. Most Arabic-speaking individuals who immigrated to the United States during this period were subjects of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and immigration authorities often incorrectly called them Turks. Immigrants described as “other Asian” were often Arabic-speaking individuals.

Arab immigrants during this period were predominantly Orthodox or Eastern Catholic (Uniate) Christians. They often identified themselves by their religious loyalties or local origins, and very few of these pioneers stressed their Arab identity. Most came from the area that later became Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and they frequently called themselves Syrian. Some immigrants were urban artisans and skilled laborers, but most were peasants, less than half of whom were literate in their Native Arabic.

Arab immigrants quickly became peddlers, and many participated very successfully in the free enterprise system. A minority among the Arab immigrant population turned to factory labor, but peddling allowed greater possibility for financial success and more opportunities to learn English and become acculturated. Some Arab American individuals established small businesses in cities and towns. Arab American communities grew in urban centers such as Boston, New York, and Detroit, and hard work produced success for many Arab Americans.

Early immigrants did not bring clergy with them from the Middle East. Therefore, Arab American community leaders worked to secure clergy to serve their compatriots. Most Arab immigrant clergy were marginally educated and prone to sectarian and ethnic factionalism. However, Maronite, Melkite, and Orthodox Christian churches were organized in New York toward the end of the nineteenth century.

Arab American newspapers thrived between 1892, when the first Arabic newspaper was established in New York, and the 1920s. By the late 1920s, the number of Arabic readers was in decline because immigration had been limited by the Immigration Act of 1924, and the children of earlier immigrants spoke only English. The children of both Christian and Muslim immigrants frequently married outside their ethnic groups, and many lost their Arab identity.

YearEvent1870sFirst Arab immigrants arrive in the United States.1883Kahlil Gibran, noted Lebanese immigrant and author, is born (dies 1931).1892First Arab American newspaper, Kawkab Amerika, is published.18981948The formation of the state of Israel creates a large Palestinian diaspora.1961Institute of Palestine Studies creates Maronite seminary (Our Lady of Lebanon) in Washington, DC1967Israeli victory in Six-Day War provides stimulus to Arab organizations to present their case to the American public.1967Professionals form Association of Arab American University Graduates.1968Sirhan Bishara Sirhan assassinates Senator Robert Kennedy.1972Lobbying group National Association of Arab Americans is founded.Mid-1970sLebanese civil war divides Arab Americans.1978Lisa Najeeb Halaby marries King Hussein of Jordan and assumes the name Queen Noor.1982American Arab Antidiscrimination Committee (ADC), a civil rights activist group, is organized.1985West Coast ADC leader Alex Odeh is assassinated.1989Council of Lebanese American Organizations, umbrella organization lobbying for Lebanese freedom and sovereignty, is founded.1991Educational outreach group, Arab World and Islamic Resources and School Services, is created.

From the mid-1920s to World War II, immigration declined. After the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the United States accepted significant although disputed numbers of Arab immigrants from all parts of the Arabic-speaking world. Most have been Muslims, and many have been educated professionals who originally entered the United States as students. Other Arab groups, especially Egyptian Copts and Yemenites, have become important in the changing American cultural mosaic.

Arab American Organizations

Since the mid-1960s, an era emphasizing multiculturalism and the rediscovery of ethnic roots, Arab Americans have sought to foster pride in their Middle Eastern heritage. Significant Arab American organizations include the Institute for Palestine Studies (formed in 1961), the National Association of Arab Americans (1972-2002), the Al-Bireh Society (1981), the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (1982), the Arab American Institute (1985), the Council of Lebanese American Organizations (1989), and Arab World and Islamic Resources and School Services (1991-2012). The Association of Arab American University Graduates (AAUG) was very active at the time of its founding in 1967. This tax-exempt educational and cultural organization promoted understanding between the American and Arab worlds through an annual convention, a strong publication program, speakers, and support of human rights in the Middle East and elsewhere. In its early years, the AAUG attracted post-1948 immigrants while the National Association of Arab Americans gained more US-born individuals. By the 1990s, this distinction had largely disappeared, but the AAUG disbanded in 2007.

The program of the twenty-ninth annual convention from October 18 to 20, 1996, in Anaheim, California, illustrates the diversity of concerns of Arab Americans. Both Democratic and Republican speakers were present. The cultural and legal status of the Arab American community, as well as its demographic makeup, provided the focus for several sessions. The group also scheduled sessions on Palestinian issues and their connection to Arab Americans, the status of Arab American women, and studies of Arab American urban communities in the United States.

The National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) lobbied Congress concerning issues of concern to Arab Americans. A February 27, 1996, statement by Khalil E. Jahshan, president of the NAAA, illustrated the group’s public profile. Jahshan addressed the Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to request that the ban on the use of US passports for travel to Lebanon be lifted for both humanitarian and business reasons. In his statement, Jahshan spoke with pride of the work of Lebanese Americans in Congress and praised Senator Spencer Abraham of Michigan and Representative Nick Joe Rahall of West Virginia for their support. The NAAA disbanded in 2002.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) confronts the civil rights issues facing the Arab American community. It has never had universal Arab American support because the head of the Maronite Catholic Church forbade its members from joining when the group did not support the Phalangist cause in the Lebanese civil war. However, since its founding by former South Dakota Senator James Abourezk, a Lebanese American, the group made significant progress on issues of concern to the Arab American community.

To protect the civil rights of Arab Americans, the ADC’s Department of Legal Services aids individuals who have experienced defamation and discrimination based on their Arab ethnicity. In an attempt to combat negative portrayals of Arabs in the media, the ADC media and publications department publishes a bimonthly newsletter, ADC Times, as well as special reports and “action alerts” on issues of concern. In addition, the organization’s Department of Educational Programs sponsors the ADC Research Institute, which encourages public school teachers to provide a balanced portrayal of Arab history and culture.

Established in 1985, the Arab American Institute (AAI) is based in Washington, DC, and was created to support and develop the participation of Arab Americans in US political and civil life. The organization is nonpartisan and nonprofit and produces a number of publications and news briefs to encourage member mobilization.

Arab World and Islamic Resources and School Services (AWAIR), founded in 1991, provided educational outreach at both the elementary and secondary school levels. To improve public understanding of the Arab world, this group conducted teacher training and provided a summer institute for teachers. To celebrate National History Day, this group donated an Arab and Islamic History Award. Book-length publications offer recommended curricula targeting elementary and secondary school students. The group disbanded in 2012.

The Council of Lebanese American Organizations (CLAO), an umbrella organization, lobbies for freedom and sovereignty for Lebanon and the withdrawal of all foreign troops, both Israeli and Syrian. It provides the monthly report Adonis as well as a monthly newsletter Lebanon File. In addition, this Lebanese American organization offers the annual Cadmus Award.

The El Bireh Palestine Society of the USA (EBPSUSA), founded in 1981, attempts to unite former residents of El Bireh residing in the United States. It wishes to preserve traditional Arab culture and values in a new American environment and facilitate contact among members. It offers educational and children’s services. By focusing on remembered ties to a locality, this group strengthens the local allegiances of its members.

The Washington, DC-based Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS), founded in 1961, is a research-oriented, nonprofit, independent organization formed to study the Arab-Israeli conflict and status of the Palestinians. The best-known publication of IPS is the Journal of Palestine Studies: A Quarterly on Palestinian Affairs and the Arab Israeli Conflict. IPS also has an extensive list of publications in Arabic, English, and French.

Other organizations important in preserving and supporting Arab American culture include the Arab American National Museum, the National Network for Arab American Communities, the Arab American Action Network, and the National Arab American Medical Association. Many states and cities also have Arab American organizations. In 2021, the federal government declared April National Arab American Heritage Month in a show of support.

Despite the existence of these organizations, Arab Americans continued experiencing significant civil rights problems in education, employment, immigration law, and public accommodations. Whenever there is a crisis in the Mideast or a terrorist act such as the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York (1993), the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building (1995), or the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Arab American community braces for significant hostility from the non-Arab American population. Ironically, Arab American community ties have probably been increased by unfavorable portrayals of Arabs in the mainstream press and a political environment that makes criticism of Israel difficult to separate from traditional anti-Semitism.

Hate Crimes and Targeting Issues

Federal law defines hate crimes as "crimes committed on the basis of the victim’s perceived or actual race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability." The number of anti-Arab hate crimes increased dramatically immediately after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but dropped noticeably the following year. In the early 2010s, the ADC advocated for the Office of Management and Budget to add a racial designation for Arab Americans to the record-keeping efforts of governmental agencies. Arab Americans were often racially targeted, but anti-Arab hate crime was poorly documented because data regarding Arab Americans was mixed with data concerning other groups. In 2015, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that hate crimes committed against Sikh, Hindu, and Arab Americans would be tracked. Prior to 2015, hate crimes against these groups were not tracked.

Many individuals worldwide believe that a facet of hate crimes is racial profiling, which refers to using an individual's race or country of origin as the basis for suspicion of committing or planning to commit a crime. The US government and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been repeatedly accused of engaging in racial profiling against Arab Americans or those perceived to be Arab American or Muslim. Although the FAA denies targeting Arab Americans or including Arab descent as part of its terrorist profile, Arab American individuals repeatedly face detention and interrogation at airports, an experience not shared by members of many other groups.

Prominent Arab Americans

From assassin to peacemaker, from author to queen, Arab Americans have achieved prominence in many fields. One of the best-known Arab Americans is Lebanese-born artist and author Kahlil Gibran, who made a difficult cultural transition between a mountain village in late Ottoman Lebanon and turn-of-the-century Boston. Although he was active in many cultural fields, Gibran is best remembered today as the author of The Prophet (1923).

Another well-known Arab American is Queen Noor of Jordan, the widow of King Hussein. She was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby on August 23, 1951, in the United States to an Arab American family with Syrian roots. She received her BA in architecture and urban planning in 1974 as part of Princeton University’s first coeducational class. When she married King Hussein on June 15, 1978, she converted from Christianity to Islam. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. She has patronized many educational and cultural organizations in Jordan, and she has consistently exhibited an interest in work that enhances the welfare of women and children. Given her unique cross-cultural perspective, Queen Noor has attempted to serve as a bridge between American and Arab cultures. She supported the establishment of the Jordanian society in Washington in 1980 to promote better understanding and closer relationships between the United States and Jordan. Following the death of her husband in 1999, Noor founded the King Hussein Foundation and the King Hussein Foundation International, both of which promote peace throughout Jordan and the Middle East.

Two Arab Americans who have made their mark in politics are Spencer Abraham and George Mitchell. Abraham is a conservative Republican senator from Michigan, first elected in 1994. The Lebanese American Abraham received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in 1974 and his JD from Harvard in 1979. After teaching at the Thomas J. Cooley School of Law from 1981 to 1983, he became Michigan Republican chair in 1983. He served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle from 1990 to 1991 and was cochair of the Republican National Committee from 1991 to 1993. Although he does not stress his Arab ancestry outside Detroit’s Arab community, Abraham has a strong interest in the Middle East. He values his family’s immigrant past and has worked hard to fight severe restrictions on new immigration. Mitchell, a Lebanese American born in Waterville, Maine, served as US senator from Maine and Democratic majority leader in the 1980s. As a diplomat in Northern Ireland during the administration of Bill Clinton, he helped negotiate a peace agreement between Roman Catholics and Protestants in 1998.

Perhaps the most infamous Arab American is Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, born in Jerusalem on March 19, 1944. He became a resident of the United States in 1957 but remained an outsider who resented American economic and political aid to Israel. Angry over his family’s losses in the War of 1948 and US policy supporting Israel, Sirhan assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968, the day that Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California. In addition to killing Kennedy, Sirhan assaulted five other people. After receiving a death sentence, Sirhan had his sentence commuted to life in prison. His assassination of Kennedy may have changed the course of US political history because Kennedy appeared to have a realistic chance of receiving the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. At the time, the press described Sirhan as a Jordanian because the term “Palestinian” had not yet come into use. Sirhan was imprisoned in the R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, where he sought parole twenty-one times until 2021 when the parole hearing board recommended the seventy-eight-year-old man for release. However, Governor Gavin Newson rejected the decision in 2022, and Sirhan remained imprisoned. In 2023, the parole board denied his release.

The work of many prominent Arab Americans has positively impacted twenty-first-century American society. Pediatrician and C. S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Mona Hanna-Attisha, was a key advocate in exposing the Flint, Michigan water crisis in 2014. Her work and bravery in environmental health saved thousands from continued lead exposure. Michigan politician Rashida Tlaib was the first Palestinian American woman and the second Muslim woman to serve in the US Congress. She was also a lawyer who advocated for human rights and equality. Similarly, accomplished lawyer Fatina Abdrabboh has fought against racism as the Director of the American Muslim and Minority Advocacy League.

Many Arab Americans also found success in the arts. Among the many actors are Tony Shalhoub, Danny Thomas, Marlo Thomas, Rami Malek, Demián Bichir, Vic Tayback, and Kristy McNichol. Palestinian American comedian and actor Maysoon Zayid is known for giving one of the most popular TED Talks ever filmed. Kahlil Gibran wrote the best-selling poetry collection, The Prophet (1923), in Arabic and English.

Arab American Churches

The Antiochian Orthodox Church is based in Syria, although it is increasingly active in the United States. Metropolitan Philip heads the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, headquartered in Englewood, New Jersey. Unlike most Arab Orthodox churches, the Antiochians do not focus solely on their own ethnic communities and Middle Eastern concerns. A notable example of Arab acculturation to life in the United States, this Arab-based church has sought and received the membership of many non-Arab Americans, including a significant number of former Episcopalians unhappy with what they perceive as liberal trends in belief and practice in the Episcopal Church.

The Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate-Archdiocese of North America, an Egyptian-based group, owes allegiance to H. H. Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. The North American Bishop is H. G. Bishop Suriel. The Egyptian Copts practice a form of Eastern Orthodoxy that dates from antiquity. They are generally considered the descendants of the ancient Egyptians because Egypt was Coptic Christian before it became Muslim.

Maronite Catholics are an Eastern Rite church that has been in full communion with Rome since the sixteenth century. Lebanese immigrants have brought the Maronite Church to the United States from its native Lebanon. The Maronites are notable for their married clergy. Maronite parishes exist in Austin, Texas; Detroit; New York; Washington, DC; and other US cities. Our Lady of Lebanon Seminary in Washington, DC, established in 1961, is the only Maronite Catholic seminary outside Lebanon. Priests from twenty-four American Maronite Catholic churches participated in the foundation of the seminary. During the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s, the Maronites in the United States and the Middle East allied with Israel. This caused severe conflict with other Arab American groups, especially those strongly supporting the Palestinian struggle for statehood.

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