Essays

Feb 6, 2019

“Like a wolf who fell upon sheep”: Early Lebanese Immigrants and Religion in America

For some early Lebanese immigrants, religion was a source of comfort. Its rituals, language and congregations provided a sense of home in an alien environment, and stability amid the fast-paced changes they experienced in their new lives. For others, it was an oppressive reminder of a past they left behind, and a source of discord… 

Nov 8, 2018

The Early Lebanese in America: A Demographic Portrait, 1880-1930

This post was written by Dr. Akram Khater, Director of the Khayrallah Center, and Marjorie Stevens, Senior Researcher. It is the third installment in the center’s Core Story, a series of essays detailing the broader history of Lebanese immigration to the United States. Some material for this essay was based on a previous demographic analysis… 

Nov 15, 2017

Why did they leave? Reasons for early Lebanese migration

This article is authored by Dr. Akram Khater, Director of the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies and Khayrallah Distinguished Professor of Lebanese Diaspora Studies, and Professor of History at NC State. It is part of a planned series of article that explore the early Lebanese immigrant experience. The first article in this series  focused on who… 

Sep 20, 2017

Phoenician or Arab, Lebanese or Syrian ~ Who were the early Immigrants to America?

This article is authored by Dr. Akram Khater, Director of the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies and Khayrallah Distinguished Professor of Lebanese Diaspora Studies, and Professor of History at NC State. His earlier article focused on Lebanese-Americans in WWI. Between the 1870s and the 1930s some 120,000 immigrants left the Eastern Mediterranean and traveled to the…