Summer Film Series: Our Arab American Story: Reverence, Resourcefulness and Respect

Detroit is home to one of the largest, most diverse Arab communities outside the Middle East. Arab Americans living here number nearly 200,000, having begun their immigration more than a century ago. 

Like many immigrants, the first Arabs arrived to join the Ford assembly lines in Highland Park, and when the automaker moved to Dearborn in 1924, many moved with the company. A number of Palestinian Muslims joined them after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In the 1960s, large numbers of Arabs, including Yemeni Muslims, immigrated here, again at the heels of conflict, including the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The Lebanese civil war and other Middle East conflicts during the 1970s and 1980s brought still more Arab immigrants to Dearborn, and after the Gulf War, as many as 5,000 Iraqi refugees came to view our city as a place of refuge. Many eventually moved to the north end of Dearborn, which today is bustling with Arab bakeries, clothing stores, restaurants, and professional offices.

‘Our Arab American Story’ will track the predominate Arabic groups in Detroit: Lebanese, Palestinians, Iraqis and Yemenis — and pay special attention to the two major religious communities here, Muslim and Christian.

Running time: 60 minutes. Shown at the Detroit Historical Museum. Admission is FREE.