The Immigration to the USA
The story goes back to the end of the 19th century and the
beginning of the 20th century when Lebanese and Syrians people
migrated massively escaping the Turkish persecutions.
Lebanon was a Turkish province part of Greater Syria (Syria, Lebanon, and
Palestine) and subjugated to Ottoman dominion, which granted the Mount
Lebanon area autonomous rule. The people of Mount Lebanon had struggled for
several years to gain independence from the Ottoman rule. The Mount Lebanon
area was a troubled region, due to the various outside and foreign
interferences that fostered religious hatred between the Christian,
especially the Maronite sect, and Moslem populations.
Throughout the period of maximum emigration from the Middle East
(1890—1918), the Turkish Empire encompassed the entire are. Hence,
immigrants from the region frequently found themselves identified here, in
terms of national origin, as "Ottomans" (or "Turks"). However, aside from
nation of residence, the issue of ethnic identification, and of group
loyalties, throughout the Middle East has long revolved about the twin axes
of religion and mother tongue. Thus, several "Lebanese christians"
immigrants of the early 1920s might more properly be identified as
"syrians"—. In view of the harsh treatment they often experienced at the
hands of their nomadic Moslem neighbors during the late nineteenth century,
these people cling tenaciously to their religious identity; and they
continue to emigrate to this date. Similar cycles of oppression and
emigration launched the exodus of masses of Armenians during the same
period. Whereas the United States has admitted over a quarter million of
these people, even larger numbers emigrated to Latin America, especially to
Brazil and Argentina.
Despite popular American notions ascribing a general "sameness" to all
Middle Eastern peoples, the various cultural units of that region are very
much aware of their respective differences. (The Millet system,
wherein each faith maintained its own laws, courts, schools, welfare
agencies, and systems of taxation contributed to this awareness.)2
This is especially true of those elements that began to migrate to the
New World during the late nineteenth century: the Christian Lebanese and the
Armenians, who are still arriving in United States ports in modest numbers.
All of the peoples native to the Middle East have long displayed a fierce
attachment to faith, family, cultural tradition, and their home soil.
Therefore, despite the great upheavals suffered by many peoples,
particularly the Christian minorities, of the area during the nineteenth
century, emigration remained relatively subdued in terms of absolute
numbers. Moreover, restrictive policies on emigration among the states of
the region and limited immigration quotas set for their nationals by the
United States combined to discourage migrations of the scale witnessed in
Europe throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century. Further, the
Middle East as a whole has not suffered the strains of overpopulation and
consequent pressures on the available arable land, with the obvious
exceptions of Egypt and Lebanon, until recent times.
On the other hand, two relatively small but distinctive ethnic units of
Middle Eastern society, the Armenians and the Christian Lebanese, have
demonstrated over a period of centuries a readiness to emigrate in the face
of adverse living conditions at home, or of opportunities for
self-improvement abroad. A diaspora of both peoples had already commenced
well before the launching of the great European exodus to the Western
Hemisphere. Armenian merchants and tradesmen had founded colonies from
London to Bombay by the turn of the seventeenth century; and Muhammad Ali
Pasha, in the course of his founding of the modern Egyptian state, imported
thousands of Christian Lebanese and Armenian clerks and petty officials
during the early decades of the nineteenth century.3
An early attachment to western educational traditions among the urban
elements of both peoples, reinforced throughout the nineteenth century by
continuous infusions of western Christian missionaries among their urban and
rural segments, plus high rates of literacy and a flair for learning western
languages, especially French and English, facilitated the mobility of both
the Lebanese and the Armenians. Significant numbers of both groups, by
virtue of education and linguistic versatility, found employment and even
dual citizenship among the western commercial firms that burgeoned
throughout the Middle East during the nineteenth century.4 Thus,
the stage was set for large overseas migrations among the Armenians and
Lebanese when strife broke out between them and their neighbors in the
latter half of the nineteenth century.
Although the Christians of Lebanon comprise one of the major ethnic groups
of the Middle East to emigrate to this country and elsewhere commencing in
the late 1880s, a great deal of confusion regarding national origins
persists among such immigrants, and among United States immigration and
census officials as well. Much of this confusion stems from the late arrival
of Lebanon within the society of independent nations (1943). More
specifically, many of the Lebanese settled in the United States and
elsewhere were identified upon arrival in their new homelands as "Syrians."
Many such immigrants continue to this day to think of themselves as
such—whereas their native land was, in fact, Lebanon. United States
immigration and census statistics persist in reflecting a far larger
"foreign stock" of Syrian origin than justified by current realities.
The full "Syrian" immigration statistics will never be known, because many
Syro-Lebanese entered this country sub rosa, via Vera Cruz and a
surreptitious northward crossing of the Rio Grande River. These were
principally diseased persons and victims of horror tales of Ellis Island,
told by steamship agents in Beirut, Naples, and Marseilles, plus a
substantial number of people already refused entry for a variety of reasons
at eastern port cities.5
An eminent Syro-Lebanese scholar, himself an immigrant, records a loss of
one-quarter (one hundred thousand) of the entire population of autonomous
Lebanon through emigration between the years 1900 and 1914;6 the
Christians of the coast, the south, and the Beqaa must have departed in even
greater numbers. Almost all of the many Lebanese families in Utah
interviewed by the writer hail from the latter regions, more specifically
from the vicinities of Zahle in the Beqaa and of Saida and Sour on the
southern coast. However, a few did emigrate from the slopes above Beirut and
from modern Syria proper.
Peasants and, to a lesser degree, petty artisans and clerks, formed the
great bulk of Syro-Lebanese emigrants in terms of numbers. Young males held
a heavy majority among those bound for the New World, and many of them
harbored initial intentions of returning to the Levant with their savings.
Thus, many—if not most—left wives and children behind in the care of the
extended family. On the other hand, a few years of the "good life" on these
shores, plus the general devastation of the Levant by the Young Turks during
the First World War,7 sufficed to make permanent Americans of
most of the "Syrian" immigrants. An extraordinary talent for adaptation
among the Syro-Lebanese, born of centuries of politico-economic vicissitude
and constant association with diverse peoples in their native land, greatly
facilitated their cultural absorption in the United States and elsewhere.
This trend was especially true of those who did not congregate in the large
"Syrian" ghettos of New York, Boston, Patterson, Detroit, Philadelphia,
Cleveland, and Chicago. The ghetto-dwellers usually managed to import their
respective churches—and even their Arabic presses—and thus maintained a
modicum of their former culture on the new continent, so much so that New
York, in 1905, saw a brief outbreak of "Syrian" intra-communal violence of
the sort long since deemed endemic among the varied ethnic elements of the
Levant.8
As suggested above, the vast majority of Syro-Lebanese immigrants settled in
areas east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River.9
Nonetheless, the modern Levantines remain the cultural heirs of their
Phoenician forebears insofar as commerce is concerned, and business or
employment opportunities have impelled them to migrate widely throughout
this continent. One can find a "Lebano-Syrian" colony, however small, in
every American city boasting a population of 500,000 or more. Although most
of the Levantines who settled in New England and the Atlantic Seaboard found
work in the textile mills of those regions, many, if not most, of those who
migrated south and west started their new lives as peddlers of
"notions"—souvenirs of the Holy Lands, laces, embroidered linens, and silk
goods (especially lingerie and kimonos).
Many of the native housewives of rural America first learned of the
existence of these luxuries through the door-to-door visits of wandering
"Lebano-Syrian" merchants. Blessed with world-famous business acumen, these
peddlers soon discovered that access to American housewives in the sale of
"personal" goods was generally more open to women than to men and they began
to employ their own womenfolk in this role. Moreover, many a male peddler,
who had hoped to return to the Levant eventually, sent for or acquired a
mate in the homeland. Hence, the web of migrant "Lebano-Syrian" involvement
in America slowly grew taut, and dreams of seeing the motherland again
gradually receded with the establishment of families here. In the meantime,
Syro-Lebanese frugality generated capital among the peddlers, and many of
them opened dry goods and grocery stores, particularly in the Midwest and
the West. Probably the most successful of such ventures was that of the
Farah and Aborjaily families of El Paso, Texas.
Even a decision to settle permanently in New York, Texas, or Utah, however,
did not signal a clean break with the Levant. The ties of kith and kin
remain strong among Syro-Lebanese immigrants, even into the second
generation of the native-born. Hence, the initial waves of "Lebano-Syrians"
to surge upon American shores, having decided to remain here rather than to
return, began to import relatives of both sexes. The modest resources of
immigrant families imposed severe limits to the numbers of persons they
could sponsor for emigration, and many family members preferred to remain in
the home country. As a result many Levantine-Americans retain a strong
attachment to their native towns and villages to this day. Philip K. Hitti
has portrayed this attachment in simple but vivid terms in citing the many
Lebanese villages renovated or expanded, especially after the depredations
of the First World War, through the massive cash remissions of concerned
expatriates.10 Moreover, like their Greek counterparts, many
Levantine immigrants have visited their former homes and taken their
American-born children to meet "Lebanese" cousins and grandparents. Some
naturalized Syro-Lebanese here even retain dual citizenship, a status
actively encouraged by the government of Lebanon.11
Like most immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean basin, the
Middle Easterners in this hemisphere have tended to flock to and remain in
the large cities of their new homelands. On the other hand, relatively few
of the latter group have undertaken heavy labor as a means of family
support. As already suggested, most Levantine stock sought employment in the
manufacture or sale of textiles. This is hardly surprising in view of the
extent to which spinning and weaving are still known and practiced in rural
Middle Eastern households. Textile work, or sales, appealed to many
unskilled and frequently illiterate immigrants who might otherwise have
found only the most menial positions in heavy industry.12
A marked departure from this trend, however, was blazed by the earliest
Syro-Lebanese to settle in Utah. The very first of these identified by the
author, ‘Brahim (Abraham) Howa, having arrived in Carbon County as a peddler
of carpets and jewelry about 1896, tried his hand at both mining and
farming. He conformed with other immigrant Levantine patterns in sponsoring
the immigration to Utah of three brothers and a sister. Their descendants
here have adhered to the general urbanizing trend and gradually migrated to
Price, Provo, and Salt Lake City.13
‘Brahim Howa's niece, Sarah George, came from Dibbel, Lebanon, in 1907 with
her uncle John Howa and his wife, landing in Mexico and traveling from Texas
to Utah. Sarah was thirteen years old and had been betrothed in Lebanon to
sixteen-year-old John Attey, already in Utah. John and his father painted
boxcars in the railyards, later managed an ice cream shop, and worked at the
Garfield smelter and in a brickyard. Sixty-eight years later Sarah Attey
said:
Yes, I wanted to come to America. Streets paved with gold, everyone said. I
was so homesick when I come. I cried all the time for my parents and home.
My father had a farm. He raised melons, grapes, silkworms. Two years after,
I married my husband in the Salt Lake Catholic Cathedral. We had big dinner
at my aunt and uncle's house. Roast lamb, pilaf, dolmas [meat and rice
wrapped in grape leaves], chicken, honey pastries. Dancing, music.
We lived on the west side, by Greek Town, with Lebanese neighbors. You know,
when you are far from home, you want to be with your people. Lebanese Town
it was called. Three Lebanese were very successful. Bonos Shool had a
grocery store in Greek Town, on Second South. George Katter and Kalil Fadel
also, dry goods, stores. George Katter got men jobs at Bingham copper mine.
Lebanese men peddled, sold lot of jewelry to Greeks. They peddled lace,
linens, cloth, bedspreads all over Utah. They bought from New York stores.
Lebanese men in some labor jobs made ten cents an hour for ten hours a day.
That's why some Lebanese women took in boarders. They had to.
When the Greeks had weddings and baptisms in their first church on Fourth
South, we used to go there to watch them dance in the churchyard. Namedays
[saints' feast days] were big holidays for us, but Easter was the great
holiday of the year.14
Other early arrivals among the Levantine settlers in Utah, the Malouf family
of Salt Lake City and Logan, first entered a variety of mercantile ventures
in and around Richfield before gravitating to Provo, Salt Lake City, Ogden,
and Logan. The Maloufs constitute a classic example of the products of
Syro-Lebanese frugality, commercial shrewdness, and passion for education in
a milieu of opportunity. Although their earliest arrivals were virtually
illiterate, in a single generation they established several flourishing
businesses in Richfield, before moving to Salt Lake City to found the
Western Garment Manufacturing Company, subsequently developed by Anees B.
Malouf and his kin as the nationally known Mode O'Day, a women's garment
manufacturing and sales firm. Meanwhile, both physicians and university
professors of note, not to mention the current leadership of Mode O'Day,
have emerged from the ranks of the first and second generations of the
native-born Maloufs of Utah.15 Similarly, both the Howa and Sheya
families of Carbon County have produced conspicuously successful members
among the professions—again reflecting the trend toward urban migration
among the Syro-Lebanese of Utah's central counties.16
Later arrivals, those who came to Utah after 1905, seem to have concentrated
in Salt Lake and Weber counties and comprise the bulk of the state's current
"Syrian" element. Although a substantial number among them started life here
as peddlers of clothing and notions in the mining and farming communities of
northern Utah, perhaps even more males eventually took up labor at the Utah
Fire Clay Company, formerly located at 1078 South First West in Salt Lake
City. And, in consequence, a miniscule Little Syria blossomed during the
1920s and 1930s in the vicinity of the residences and stores centered on
Third South and Fifth West. Among the most prominent members of this colony
the late Gibran (George) Katter, who arrived as a peddler in 1901, founded
the Salt Lake Grocery and Dry Goods Company (now defunct) and opened a
boardinghouse for miners in Bingham Canyon. His involvement with labor
recruitment for the Utah Copper Company continued until his death in late
1937. His marriage to the former Mary Elizabeth Hussoun Boyer in 1915 marked
one of the major social events among the entire foreign-born community of
Salt Lake City for that year. Extensive news coverage of this occasion
presents a vivid description of all-night Lebanese dancing, music, and food.
The entire neighborhood was invited as were all of the local police.17
Although both Syro-Lebanese immigrants and their United States-born children
have demonstrated a strong preference for marrying among their own kind, to
include religion, in all districts of Utah, the degree to which the
traditions of the homeland have been preserved in home life varies sharply
between the relatively large colonies of Salt Lake City and Ogden on one
hand, and the dispersed elements of the rest of Utah on the other. As one
might expect, "Syrian" lifestyles prevail far more among the former group
than among the latter. Were it not for their surnames, one would scarcely
recognize the children of the latter group as first-generation native-born.
Most of them profess to know little Arabic, and, in consequence, they speak
flawless Utah folk-English. Many of the first generation native-born among
the former group still reveal traces of a "Lebanese" accent when speaking
English, and, perhaps more significant, they cling tenaciously to the values
and customs peculiar to their forebears. The author has encountered here a
sprinkling of such individuals who appear to have strayed less from the
lifestyle of late nineteenth-century "Lebanon" than relatively recent
arrivals from that area or the current inhabitants of the region. One finds
among the children of the Salt Lake City enclave of Levantine immigrants
many who continue to serve "Lebanese" dishes at home and who can play the
oud, the def, or the tabla—or dance the dabke to
the strains of these ancient musical instruments.18
Whereas Hitti has anguished at considerable length over the clannishness and
individualism of his countrymen and the consequent lack of cohesion among
them,19 Levantine fraternal associations, newspapers, and
churches founded in America have served to enhance and preserve the memory
of native customs and traditions among United States—born offspring. Since
the Syro-Lebanese immigrants found themselves engulfed everywhere amidst
other, larger ethnic elements, they derived much comfort and a sense of
solidarity from their own organizations. The sole entity of this sort formed
in Utah to date is the Phoenician Lodge of Salt Lake City, originally
chartered in 1936 as The United Syrian-American Society. Membership, since
the inception of the club, has varied between thirty and forty persons and
includes several residing in Ogden and Provo. The major social events of the
association, however, frequently command attendance by as many as ninety
from the Levantine community.20
Despite their small numbers and their reputation for adaptability, the
Levantine settlers of Utah have endured the full range of nativistic
hostility and bigotry shared by immigrant Italians, Greeks, Blacks, and
other "swarthy" peoples at the hands of the culturally dominant Anglo-Saxon
majority of the population. Thus, bitter memories of cries of "dago" and
"greaser" and "nigger" still linger among the Middle Eastern residents of
Salt Lake City and Ogden; and, under the pressures of such treatment, much
of the mutual distrust and suspicion that divided the various religious
sects in the motherland has gradually vanished, and sectarian mobility and
intermarriage has ensued among Christians. A few Levantines have even
entered the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Although the Maronites (who use the Syriac liturgy, are governed by the
patriarch of Antioch, and acknowledge the Roman pope as supreme) boast the
largest sectarian membership of the "Lebanese" Christian groups, the entire
Maronite population of Utah is not sufficient to warrant the importation of
a priest of that denomination; and the Utah Maronites have merged with the
local Roman Catholic diocese. Nor have the Greek Orthodox or the Protestant
Levantines banded together to form their own ecclesiastical communities.
Like the Maronites, they too have joined local churches of their respective
faiths.21 Again, due to the modest size of the "Lebanese" element
in Utah, no Arabic publications have emerged here nor any media of any sort
or language directed at Middle Eastern peoples. The only attempt to
perpetuate local knowledge of the Arabic language uncovered by the writer,
other than informal instruction in the home, was undertaken by Michael S.
Allam, formerly a young schoolteacher in southern Lebanon, when he
voluntarily conducted classes in Salt Lake City. This instruction lasted for
only a few months. Allam remains the chief link in correspondence between
many Levantine residents of Utah and their relatives in the motherland. He
is frequently asked by the former to translate their messages into the
Arabic language and script and to read and translate letters from the
latter.
Other than their remarkable achievements here in the spheres of business and
the professions, Levantine immigrants and their children have accrued a most
enviable reputation for respect for law and order. Even during the violent
strike at the Utah Fire Clay Company in 1910, the "Lebanese" laborers there
emerged without mention in either the newspapers or the police "blotters" of
the time.22 Further, as a dramatic indication of the continuing
strength of family ties, one finds that divorce among Utah Levantines is
extremely rare. Their traditional respect for their women and their elders,
moreover, seems undiminished by their long residence in the states. However,
a steady trend toward migration to the Pacific Coast and elsewhere,
increasing intermarriage, and other inevitable forces of cultural absorption
even now foretell the eventual extinction of the Syro-Lebanese Utahns as a
communal entity. In the meantime, the impact of their coming here upon the
lives of many outside their own ranks stands out far more significantly than
mere demographic data would suggest.
The staff and faculty of the University of Utah probably boast the largest
Middle Eastern work force in the state. A survey of the staff and faculty
portion of the campus directory reveals many Middle Eastern names, spread
throughout every college and major staff agency. Finally, the university
claims one of the few Middle East centers founded in recent years among
American institutions of higher learning.36 Although the Middle
Eastern ethnic faculty of the center is quite small, they spark some of the
major social events today among the entire Middle Eastern community of Utah
and, through courses, publications, and public appearances, contribute to
American understanding of the Middle Eastern peoples.
1
The 1910 Census reflects the entire Middle Eastern population of Utah as
merely "Turkey in Asia" or "Turkey in Europe" with a net strength of only
361 foreign-born (215 from Asia), comprising a mere 0.5 percent of the total
foreign-horn element of Utah. When combined with their 36 offspring as the
Middle Eastern "foreign white stock" of Utah, however, they encompassed only
0.2 percent of that same total. These percentages closely match nationwide
trends for the same census. The above source sets the foreign-born from all
of Turkey in Utah for the previous census (1900) at a mere 18 persons. The
1910 Census reveals the following county distribution of the Middle
Eastern-born of Utah: Salt Lake 229, Carbon 31, Weber 30, Utah 30, Summit
15, Sevier 8, Uintah 7, Juab 6, Morgan 2, and 1 each for Grand, Wasatch, and
Washington.
Although failing to record any speakers of Armenian or Turkish, the 1960
Census does set Utah speakers of Arabic at—1960: 94( all urban). 1940: 100,
1930: 144, 1920: 162, 1910: 118. Thus, if all the above statistics are
accurate, it seems reasonable to assume that the hulk of the state's
SyroLebanese immigrants arrived in Utah between 1900 and 1920. The 1920
Census confirms the presence of eighty foreign-born Armenians in Utah.
2
For further details on the Millet System, plus identification,
population, distribution, and doctrinal differences of the various sects
contained within it, see: Sir Harry Luke, The New Turkey and the Old
(London, 1955), pp. 66—101; A.H. Hourani, Syria and Lebanon (London
and New York, 1954), pp. 121—45, 386; George Haddad, Fifty Years of
Modern Lebanon (Beirut, 1950), pp. 10—19; Harvey H. Smith et a!.,
Area Handbook for Lebanon (Washington. D.C., 1969), pp. 45—57, 59—65,
123—33, 159—79; Richard F. Nyrop et al., Area Handbook for Syria
(Washington, D.C., 1971), pp. 55—100; Philip K. Hitti, The Syrians in
America (New York, 1924), pp. 35—43. The author is particularly indebted
to Professor Hitti and the last cited work for much of the content of the
Syro-Lebanese portion of this chapter.
3
Abstracts of the Egyptian census, contained in: Edward Lane, The Manners
and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (New York, 1963), p. 23; and J.C.
McCoan, Egypt (New York, 1900), p. 23, estimate 5,000 "Syrians" and
2,000 Armenians for the census of 1847—48 and 7,000 "Syrians" and 10,000
Armenians for the census of 1859, respectively. Also see: Philip K. Hitti,
Lebanon in History (New York, 1967), pp. 473—74.
4
This is not to claim that the Syro-Lebanese who came to America were an
educated group. On the contrary, they were more often illiterate than not,
because most of them were from the peasant class.
5
U.S., Commissioner-General of Immigration, Annual Report for 1903,
pp. 86, 88—89; and Lawrence Guy Brown, Immigration: Cultural Conflicts
and Social Adjustments (New York and London, 1933), pp. 194—95. The
former source alleges that a constant stream of 500 "Syrians" per month
sailed to Mexico for ultimate destinations in the United States.
Ottoman Nationals Admitted to the United States, 188 1—96.
YearTurkey in
AsiaTurkey in Europe (total/males)(total/males) 18815/572/54
188615/14176/132 18912488/1774265/224 18964139/2915169/118
Compiled from
Imre Ferenczi, ed., International Migrations (New York, 1969), vol.
1, Statistics, pp. 418—31.
6
Hitti, Lebanon in History, p. 474.
7
For accounts of the devastation suffered by the "Syrians" during the war,
see: Hitti, Lebanon in History, pp. 483—86; Zeine N. Zeine, The
Emergence of Arab Nationalism (Beirut, 1966), pp. 23—40; George Haddad,
Fifty Years of Modern Lebanon (Beirut, 1950), pp. 46—50; Salom Rizk,
Syrian Yankee (Garden City, N.Y., 1943), pp. 1—47; and George
Antonius, The Arab Awakening (Beirut, 1955), pp. 185—91, 202—42.
Additional data on "Syrian" emigration from the Levant are available in:
Hitti, Lebanon in History, pp. 473—77; Haddad, Fifty Years,
pp. 10, 18—19, 134-36, 163; Smith, Area Handbook, pp. 47—48; Elie
Adib Salem, Modernization without Revolution: Lebanon's Experience
(Bloomington, Ind., 1973), pp. 27—29, 44-45, 139; and Hitti, Syrians in
America, pp. 47—61. Subsequent to the completion of this chapter, an
entire issue of ARAMCO World Magazine 26 (March—April 1975), was
devoted to Arab immigrants in America.
8
Hitti, Syrians in America, pp. 84—85.
9
Ibid.,
p. 64, presents a valuable map depicting the distribution of "Syrian"
immigrants throughout the United States in the year 1919. However. this map
reflects no such immigrants in Utah, nor in any of the Intermountain states.
10
Hitti, Lebanon in History, pp. 474—76. Haddad, Fifty Years, p.
136, states that the expatriate remissions of 1924 exceeded the value of all
Lebanese exports for that year.
11
George Grassmuck and Kamal Salibi, Reformed Administration in Lebanon
(Beirut, 1964), pp. 43—44. According to this source, the Lebanese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs maintains a benevolent surveillance over expatriates and
assists them in protecting their interests (e.g., real property) in the
homeland. However, under U.S. law dual citizenships are not recognized.
12
Hitti, Syrians in America, pp. 69—73; on p. 67 of his work, he has
compiled a list of the nation's fourteen largest "Syrian" urban colonies
with estimated populations.
13
Interview with Joseph P. Howa, June 25, 1974, Salt Lake City.
14
Interview with Sarah Attey, April 29, 1975, Salt Lake City.
15
Interview with Dr. Phelon J. Malouf, December 3, 1974, Salt Lake City.
16
Most of what follows is a synthesis of many interviews with Utahns of
Lebanese extraction. To cite all of them would prove tedious to both reader
and writer. Nonetheless, the author wishes to acknowledge the valuable
assistance and keen perception of the following persons who were interviewed
at length: Interview with George Haddad, August 2, 1974; interview with John
L. and Helen S. Anton, September 16, 1974; and interview with Michael S.
Allam, September 23, 1974.
17
Interview with Helen F. Jones (nee Katter) and Frieda Katter, August 10,
1974, Salt Lake City. Salt Lake Tribune, December 20, 1915, and
December 4, 1937.
18
Respectively, the forerunner of the lute, the tambourine, and the
bongo-drum. The dabke, national folk dance of Lebanon, is a communal
activity wherein the performers form a line, side-by-side, hold hands, and
follow the movements of a leader.
19
Hitti, Lebanon in History, pp. 476—80; Hitti, Syrians in America,
pp. 23—24, 94—97.
20
Hitti, Syrians in America, appendices A-F, pp. 125—35, lists "Syrian"
churches of all denominations and publications extant in the United States
as of 1924. He discusses fraternal organizations on p. 90, citing a few in
Boston and New York.
21
The author's estimate of the present sectarian composition of the Levantine
community of Utah is 70 percent Maronite, 10 percent Greek Orthodox, 10
percent Protestant, 5 percent Mormon, and 5 percent Moslem.
22
Hitti, Syrians in America, pp. 82—87, displays obvious pride in this
aspect of the "Syrian" experience in America.
23
For a detailed exposition of this issue, with extensive bibliographic notes,
see the author's forthcoming article, "Britain and the Launching of the
Armenian Question," in The International Journal of Middle East Studies
7 (April 1976).
The immigration of Lebanese came in two waves. The first arrived between the
1870s and the 1920s, when new laws cut off much of the influx to the United
States. The second large group of arrivals entered after immigration laws
changed again in 1965.
The earliest immigrants that we would call Arabs had Turkish passports
because of the reach of the Ottoman Empire. But most spoke Arabic and came
from Syria and Lebanon. The majority were not Muslims but Catholics, divided
among Maronites and Melchites. There were Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Jews.
Once in the states, they were known as Syrians.
This is the community that settled on Washington Street. From the late 19th
century until the building of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in the 1940s,
Manhattan's Little Syria was home to countless immigrants from Syria and
Lebanon, again most of them Christian. They were bankers and publishers as
well as manufacturers and importers of lace, linen, embroideries and
lingerie.
Philip Kayal, a professor at Seton Hall University who wrote "New York: The
Mother Colony of Arab-America, 1854-1924," said, "This community was an
entrepreneurial community, it wasn’t an educated community. It had been
influenced by French imperialists. They thought like Western Europeans for
the most part."
When the immigrants became more affluent, they took the ferry from Whitehall
Street to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. There, they found more spacious
residences and created the South Ferry community, which encompassed most of
the areas now called Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill. By 1895, there were
30 Syrian families living in South Ferry. As more arrived, they organized
churches and societies and started businesses. Many were merchants or
peddlers worked in the needle trades.
What did Brooklyn think of these immigrants? One New York newspaper said,
"There is not a more industrious or capable representative of the East than
the Syrian. He generally brings money and lives at peace."
But the immigrants also faced discrimination, according to Mary Ann Haick
DiNapoli of the Arab American Heritage Association. "There were feuds with
the Irish because it was the Irish immigrants whom the Lebanese and Syrians
were displacing as they moved into these neighborhoods." And the 1921
immigration act sharply restricted Lebanese and Syrian immigration.
In 1920, half of all Syrian and Lebanese immigrants in the U.S. lived in New
York City. And half of those lived in South Ferry. Meanwhile, the original
community on Washington Street faded until the construction of the Brooklyn
Battery Tunnel in the 1940s ended the community for good.
The Brooklyn Syrian community, though, entered what DiNapoli calls a golden
age in the 1920s, becoming a self-sufficient ethnic neighborhood. By this
time, Syrians left peddling and entered any and all industries and
professions, although the needle trades continued to be key. The Syrian
Lebanese community became autonomous and successful and, because of that,
more assimilated. People learned English quickly and many married outside
the community.
In the 1950s, most Syrian Americans moved to Bay Ridge. The old South Ferry
community changed with an influx of Puerto Ricans and of people wanting to
fix up the neighborhood’s elegant brownstones.
Ellis Island Great Hall
THE IMMIGRANT JOURNEY
THE EARLY YEARS
Located in the upper New York Bay, a short distance from the New Jersey
shore, Ellis Island was originally known to Native Americans as Kioshk,
or Gull Island, named for the birds that were its only inhabitants.
Consisting of nothing more than three acres of soft mud and clay, it was so
low that it barely rose above the high-tide level of the bay.
The island was purchased by the colonist governors of Nieuw Amsterdam (later
New York) from Native Americans on July 12, 1630, for "certain cargoes, or
parcels of goods." The Dutch called it "Little Oyster Island," because of
the delicious oysters found in its sands, and used it as a base for
oystering. Because the island was not good for much other than its oysters –
certainly it was not a prime building site – it changed independent
ownership many times during the next century.
During the 1700s, the island was also irreverently known as Gibbet Island,
due to the executions by hanging from a "gibbet," or gallows tree, of state
criminals that took place there.
By means never officially determined, ownership passed into the hands of one
Samuel Ellis about the time of the American Revolution. Ellis tried,
unsuccessfully, to sell the island. A notice in the January 20, 1785,
edition of Loudon’s New York Packet offered:
"To Be Sold By Samuel Ellis, no. 1 Greenwich street, at the north river near
the Bear Market. That pleasant situated Island, called Oyster Island, lying
in York Bay, near Powles’ Hook, together with all its improvements, which
are considerable…."
Ellis still owned the island when he died in 1794. In his will he bequeathed
it to the unborn child of his pregnant daughter, Catherine Westervelt, on
two conditions: that the baby would be a boy, and that the child would be
named after him. A son was born, but died in infancy. Title to the island
was then disputed by other members of the family.
On April 21, 1794, the city formally deeded the only part of the island that
was publicly owned, a narrow strip of mud between the water and the
high-tide mark, to the state. (Samuel Ellis had actually drawn up a deed
transferring ownership of his island to the state, but died before the deed
could be completed.) On this narrow strip, considered and excellent defense
for the harbor, construction of the first fort on Ellis Island was begun in
fear of new attacks from the British. A few wooden buildings and thirteen
24-pound guns were ordered. As threats of war with Britain increased, the
island was also used for training recruits. Amid all this military activity,
the island was still privately owned property which was leased for the
anticipated military fortifications.
To speed up the transfer of the property, New York State ceded its right of
legal jurisdiction over the island to the federal government in February
1808. After several inspections by U.S. Army engineers, it was concluded
that Ellis Island’s position in the harbor made it strategically invaluable
to the safety of the nation, despite potential construction problems. But
the disputed "rights of ownership" battle dragged on, and anything built
above the high-tide mark would have to be torn down if the Ellis family
members changed their minds about the lease agreement. Finally, a committee
of New Yorkers was appointed to estimate the island’s value. The agreed
figure was "no less than $10,000," a very large sum for apparently unusable
land in the early 1800s.
On June 8, 1808, the state of New York bought Ellis Island at the
committee’s recommended price, and was immediately reimbursed when the
federal government took possession of the island on the same day. At last,
the task of building the installation that had been approved a year before
could begin. After feverish and difficult preparations, Fort Gibson, a
full-scale stronghold boasting 13 guns and a garrison of 182 gunners, was in
place just before the outbreak of the War of 1812. But Fort Gibson wasn’t
needed. As the years passed, the army and navy had little use for the
island. It was used only to store ammunition until, in 1890, it was chosen
by the House committee on Immigration as the site of the new immigrant
Station for the Port of New
York.
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
When Ellis Island was finally selected, $150,000 was authorized for
improvements and buildings. To make the small, muddy island usable, every
penny – and more – would be spent.
To begin, a channel 1,250 feet long and 200 feet wide had to be dredged to a
depth of more than 12 feet. New docks had to be constructed. Landfill (from
subway tunnels and from the Grand Central Station excavation) had to be
brought in to create the "ground" for the new buildings. And because there
wasn’t enough fresh water on the island, artesian wells and cisterns were
dug.
The first buildings were constructed of Georgia pine with slate roofs. The
main building was two stories high, about 400 feed long, and 150 feet wide.
Four-story peaked towers marked the the corners of the building. There were
baggage rooms on the ground level, with a great inspection hall above them.
Smaller buildings included a dormitory for detainees, a small hospital, a
restaurant, kitchens, a baggage station, an electric plant, and a bathhouse.
Some of the old Fort Gibson brick buildings were also converted into
dormitories and office space.
Personnel included immigration officers, interpreters, clerks, guards,
matrons, gatekeepers, watchmen, and cooks, as well as maintenance staff such
as engineers, firemen, painters, and gardeners. The huge medical staff
numbered scores of doctors, nurses, and orderlies. The number of employees
varied with the number of incoming immigrants; the average staff ranged
between 500 and 850 people. Often, as immigration increased, the need was
greater than the number of employees available. Most workers commuted to the
island by ferryboat from Manhattan.
When the Immigrant Station officially opened on January 1, 1892, its final
cost had reached approximately $500,000, and it had become a city unto
itself.
THE 1891 CHANGE IN IMMIGRATION LAW
As superior as the new facilities were in comparison to the old
accommodations, immigrants now faced stricter laws than ever before. A more
comprehensive immigration law had been passed in the spring of 891. In
addition to the previously established categories of "undesirables,
inspectors now also screened for polygamists, people with prison records for
crimes involving "moral turpitude." and all "persons suffering from a
loathsome or contagious disease." The Contract Labor Law of 1885 was
stiffened to exclude immigrants who were entering the country at the
encouragement of American employers; it was even illegal for American
employers to advertise.
While steamship companies had previously been held responsible for screening
their passengers before leaving Europe, now they were also made responsible
for returning deportees to their homeland and for the cost of their food and
lodging while they were in detention here. Aliens who entered the country
illegally or became "public charges within a year of their arrival due to
some preexisting condition before they landed were to be deported.
Additional amendments were added to the law in 1893.
The combination of this stricter law, a cholera scare in 1892, and the
financial panic of 1893, followed by several years of economic depression,
began to show its effect. The
number of
immigrants arriving in New York consistently decreased until the turn of the
century. In 1892, Ellis Island welcomed 445,987 incoming foreigners; in
contrast only 178,748 immigrants passed through the station in 1898.
THE FIRE OF 1897
Fortunately, there were only 200 people on Ellis Island the night of June
1`4, 1897. Shortly after midnight without warning, a disastrous fire broke
out. The buildings of pine went up in flames as if they had been made of
paper. The slate roof of the main building crashed in within an hour, and by
dawn there was hardly a trace of the station left. Yet, not one life was
lost.
Congress immediately appropriated $600,000 to replace the lost structures
with fireproof buildings. During the two and a half years it took to rebuild
Ellis Island, the processing of immigrants was again conducted at the old
Barge office.
The Naming of Ellis Island
Ellis Island was no more than a lot of sand in the Hudson River, located
just south of Manhattan, in the 17th century. The island was named Kioshk
(Gull Island) by the Mohegan Indians that lived on the nearby shores. In the
1630's a Dutch man, Michael Paauw, acquired the island and renamed it
"Oyster Island"; the island was used as a place to shuck and eat oysters. In
1664, the British took possession of the area from the Dutch and renamed the
island "Gull Island". Not long afterwards, the name of the island changed to
"Gibbet Island", because men convicted of piracy were hanged there ("Gibbet"
refers to the gallows tree).
In the 1770's the island was sold to Samuel Ellis, who developed it into a
picnic spot. The U.S. War Department bought the island for 10,000 dollars in
1808. Defenses were built on this and other islands in the area in the years
preceding the war of 1812. During the war, Fort Gibson was built on the
island to house prisoners. Half a decade later, Ellis Island was used to as
a munitions arsenal for the Union army during the Civil War. It was said
that there were enough explosives stored on the island to cause significant
damage to all of the neighboring areas.
After the Civil War, the island stood vacant until the government decided to
replace the Immigration Station at Castle Garden. In 1890, Castle Island,
located on the southern tip of Manhattan, was closed. Ellis Island was
selected to be the new immigration processing center to facilitate the large
number of immigrants coming to America. In 1892, Ellis Island opened and for
the next fifty years more than twelve million people came through the island
on their way into the United States.
1770-1790
During the American Revolution (1776) Ellis Island proprietor and New York
merchant Samuel Ellis caters to local fisherman in his tavern located on the
island.
The first federal immigration law, The Naturalization Act, is passed in
1790. This allows all white males living in the U.S. for two years to become
citizens.
1800-1820
In 1808 Ellis Island is sold by the heirs of Samuel Ellis to the State of
New York, but the name is kept. Later this year, the island is sold for
$10,000 to the Federal Government.
There is little regulation of immigration when the first great wave begins
in 1814. Nearly five million people will arrive from Northern and Western
Europe in the next forty-five
years
1840-1860
The potato blight strikes Ireland and the ensuing famine (1846-50) leads to
the immigration of over 1 million Irish in the next decade. Concurrently,
large numbers of Germans flee political and economic unrest.
Castle Garden, one of the first state run immigration depots, opens in New
York City in 1855.
1861-1885
Rapid settlement of the West begins with the passing of The Homestead Act in
1862. Attracted by the opportunity to own land, more Europeans begin to
immigrate.
Beginning in 1875, the United States forbids prostitutes and criminals from
entering the country.
The Chinese Exclusion Act is passed in 1882. Restricted as well are
"lunatics" and "idiots."
1890
The control of immigration is turned over to the Federal Government, and
$75,000 is appropriated for construction of the first Federal Immigration
Station on Ellis Island. Artesian wells are dug as the size of Ellis Island
is doubled to over six acres with landfill created from incoming ships'
ballast and the subway tunnels in New York. During the time of this
construction, the Barge Office at the Battery at the lower tip of Manhattan
serves as the reception site for immigrants.
1892
Ellis Island Opens
The first Ellis Island Immigration Station officially opens on January 1,
1892 as three large ships wait to land. 700 immigrants passed through Ellis
Island that day, and nearly 450,000 followed through the course of that
first year. Annie Moore, a 15 year old girl from County Cork, Ireland, is
the first person admitted to the new immigration station. On that opening
day, she received a greeting from officials and a $10.00 gold piece.
1893-1899
On June 15, 1897, with 200 immigrants on the island, a fire breaks out in
one of the towers in the main building and the roof collapses. Though no one
is killed, all immigration records dating back to 1840 and the Castle Garden
era are destroyed. The Immigration Station is relocated to the Barge Office
in Battery Park in Manhattan.
1900-1910
On December 17, 1900, the New York Tribune offered a scathing account
of conditions at the Battery station including "grimy, gloomy...more
suggestive of an enclosure for animals than a receiving station for
prospective citizens of the United States." In response to this, New York
architectural firm Boring & Tilton reconstructs the immigrant station and
the new, fire proofed facility is officially opened in December as 2,251
people pass through on opening day.
To prevent a similar situation from occurring again, Commissioner of
Immigration William Williams cleans house on Ellis Island in 1902 - he
awards contracts based on merit and announces contracts will be revoked if
any dishonesty is suspected. He imposes penalties for any violation of this
rule and posts "Kindness and Consideration" signs as reminders.
By 1903 anarchists are denied admittance into the U.S.
On April 17, 1907, an all time daily high of 11,747 immigrants received is
reached. Ellis Island experiences its highest number of immigrants received
in a single year, with 1,004,756 arrivals. Federal law is passed excluding
persons having physical and mental defects as well as children arriving
without adults.
1911-1920
World War I begins in 1914 and immigration to the U.S. halts. Ellis Island
experiences a sharp decline in receiving immigrants - from 178,416 in 1915
to 28,867 in 1918.
Starting in 1917, Ellis Island operates as a hospital for the Army, a way
station for Navy personnel and a detention center for enemy aliens. The
literacy test is introduced at this time, and stays on the books until 1952.
Those over the age of 16 who cannot read 30 to 40 test words in their own
language will not be admitted through Ellis Island. Asian immigrants are
nearly all banned.
By 1918 the U.S. Army takes over most of Ellis Island and creates a
make-shift way station to treat sick and wounded American servicemen.
1920's
The first Immigration Quota Law is passed by Congress in 1921 after booming
post-war immigration results in 590,971 people passing through Ellis Island.
Only 3% of an ethnic group living in the U.S. in 1910 will be allowed to
enter the country in a year.
With the Immigration Act of 1924 restricting further immigration, the annual
quota of immigrants reduces to 164,000. The buildings on Ellis Island begin
to fall into neglect and abandonment. America is experiencing the end of
mass immigration.
The National Origins Act is passed (1929) banning immigrants from East Asia.
It also decreases the quota of European immigration to 2% of the figures
recorded in the 1890 census.
1950's
The passage of the Internal Security Act of 1950 excludes arriving aliens
with previous links to Communist and Fascist organizations. With this, Ellis
Island experiences a brief resurgence in activity. Renovations and repairs
are made in an effort to accommodate detainees, sometimes numbering 1,500 at
a time.
The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952, and a liberalized detention
policy, results in the number of detainees on the island to plummet to less
than 30.
Ellis Island is formally placed under the jurisdiction of the General
Services Administration from 1954 to 1964, and all thirty-three structures
on the island are officially closed in November, 1954.
1965
After President Lyndon B. Johnson issues Proclamation 3656, Ellis Island
falls under the jurisdiction of The National Park Service as part of the
Statue of Liberty National Monument
1970-1990
Ellis Island opens to the public in 1976. During this year over 50,000
people visit.
Restoration of Ellis Island begins in 1984.
The $156 million dollar restoration of the Main Arrivals Building is
completed and re-opened to the public in 1990. Since then millions of
visitors have retraced the steps of their ancestors by experiencing Ellis
Island.