News

Aug 17, 2020

Letters from Afar: New Khayrallah Center collection of letters from West Africa to Lebanon

Introduction In 1936 Nadim Attallah, a Lebanese immigrant living in Conakry, Guinea (West Africa), wrote an exasperated and desperate letter to his father, Maronite Rev. Tobia Attallah of Bayt Shabab village . He chided him: “I am astounded that after the hundreds of letters that I have sent you, I have yet to receive one… 

Aug 7, 2020

Re-Collecting Beirut: Archiving the Tragedy and its Aftermath

After a deadly chemical explosion in the port of Beirut in August of 2020, Re-Collecting Beirut was established to create a safe space for those impacted to share their feelings and thoughts about the event. 

May 19, 2020

Announcing the Angele Hobeiche Kmeid-Ellis Collection

The Khayrallah Center is excited to announce a three part project centered on an extraordinary collection of over three-hundred letters received by Angele Ellis from friends and family in Lebanon, Cuba, Canada, Chile, and France. They are written in Arabic, English, and French, and many are accompanied by translations. Through extensive research, careful cataloging of… 

Feb 26, 2020

The Second Jabbour Immigrant: Albert Jabbour and His Courtship Story

This blog was written by Folklorist, Sabra Webber. Webber is a professor emerita at The Ohio State University in the Department of Comparative Studies and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. She visited the Khayrallah Center in the Summer of 2018 while researching her former colleague and friend Alan Jabbour. This is the… 

Jan 9, 2020

New Perspectives on Middle East Migrations: 2020 Conference

The Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies (NC State University) will host an international conference—titled New Perspectives on Middle East Migrations —at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA) on September 11 – 13, 2020. The Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, in conjunction with the editors of Mashriq & Mahjar: The Journal of Middle East and North African Migration… 

Nov 12, 2019

Fahrenthold Wins 2019 Prize in Migration Studies

Stacy D. Fahrenthold is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Davis, where she is also affiliated with the UCD Migration Research Cluster.  

Nov 6, 2019

Announcing “The Romey Lynchings” Website

On May 17th, 1929, two Lebanese immigrants in Lake City, Florida were murdered in a tragic tale of racial violence against Arab immigrants. Hasna Romey was killed by police while defending her husband and business, and her husband, N’oula, was imprisoned and lynched by members of the Ku Klux Klan in retaliation for his wife’s… 

Sep 15, 2019

Teaching Public History: Interactive Program Paves The Way For Lebanese Teachers

A program hosted by the Khayrallah Center is transforming the way Lebanese teachers educate students about their country’s history.  

Aug 28, 2019

Passing a Camel Through Ellis Island: Arab-American Press and the Immigration Act of 1924

This post was written by Diogo Bercito, a Brazilian journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent in Jerusalem, Beirut, and Cairo. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in Arab Studies at Georgetown University, where he researches Arab migration to Latin America. He was a recipient of the Khayrallah Center’s Visiting Scholar Grant in May of 2019. A… 

Jun 25, 2019

A Waking Dream: Syrian Migrants’ Journey to the Americas

This post was written by Randa Tawil, a PhD candidate in American Studies at Yale University. Tawil’s dissertation focuses on early 20th century migration routes from Syria to North and South America, and explores how constructs of gender and race impacted immigrant experiences. Syrians traveling to the Americas in the late 19th and early 20th…