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Thursday, May 26, 2011
6:30 p.m. Reception
7 p.m. Program
7:30 p.m. Dinner
The University Club
1 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
Business Attire
What was a thriving enclave and first stop for Arab immigrants a century ago – and home to writers Khalil Gibran, Ameen Rihani, Elia Abu Madi, the PEN League and early Arab American newspapers – is today, a decade after 9-11-2001, the site of the former World Trade Center and the proposed Park51 development.
The fascinating, little-known history of the Little Syria neighborhood of early 20th century New York City is the subject of a traveling exhibition currently being developed by AANM curators and a group of passionate New Yorkers. Read more about the exhibition below.
A benefit to support the historical documentation of Little Syria and the creation of this new traveling exhibition begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 26 at The University Club in New York City and includes a cocktail reception, brief program and elegant meal.
The evening's guest speaker is Kathleen Benson, project director for exhibitions and publications at the Museum of the City of New York.
Click HERE to purchase tickets and explore sponsorship opportunities for this very special evening.
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About Little Syria
From the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, an area of Manhattan’s lower west side was the home to a vibrant and productive community of early Arab Americans. Dubbed the “heart of New York’s Arab world” by The New York Times, the Washington Street neighborhood was commonly referred to as both the “Syrian Colony” and “The Mother Colony” because of its large concentration of immigrants from what was Greater Syria (present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and Jordan).
It was here that many immigrants from the first wave of Arab immigration to the United States got their start in a land of new opportunity. Their experiences, all but lost to living memory, parallel those of other immigrant groups of The Great Migration period. This exhibition seeks to resurrect and document the stories and history of this early community while educating the public on important legacies of Arab Americans in New York.
Little Syria was a neighborhood of many firsts. It was the home of literary greats Kahlil Gibran and Ameen Rihani, both members of the first Arab American literary society known as Al-Rābiṭah al-Qalamiyah (The Pen League). Some of the first Arabic language newspapers including Al Hoda, the originator of the Arabic linotype, got their start in the Washington Street neighborhood.
New York’s first Arab Christian churches, Saint Joseph’s Maronite Church and St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, began their congregations by providing places of worship for the then burgeoning Arab American community. Moreover, many residents of the neighborhood began their lives in America as peddlers, merchants, restaurateurs, and laborers in local mills and sweatshops. It was here that they laid the foundation for generations to come in the United States.
Little Syria will document and celebrate the rich history of New York’s first Arab American community. The exhibition will provide a space for reflection and discussion on the presence of Arab Americans in lower Manhattan; a particularly important and timely subject given the events of the past decade that have affected this part of New York City. Furthermore, the exhibition will build community history and collective memory, thus serving as a source of pride for all Arab Americans.
Images courtesy of Library of Congress
About the guest speaker
Kathleen Benson (right) is project director for exhibitions and publications at the Museum of the City of New York. She has also published some 25 books, primarily for children, the majority of them in collaboration with her late husband, Jim Haskins, as well as several articles.
At the Museum of the City of New York, she has organized some 20 exhibitions, many in collaboration with outside community and cultural organizations. Between 1997 and 2002, she coordinated a multi-faceted project at the Museum entitled A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York City, which included a symposium supported by the New York Council on the Humanities, a book of edited symposium presentations published by Syracuse University Press, an NEH-supported series of professional development workshops with six schools in District 20, Brooklyn, and finally, a major exhibition and associated public programs presented at the Museum from March to September 2002.
She is active in the Museum’s local community of East Harlem and serves on the boards of East Harlem Preservation, an education and advocacy organization, and Hope Community, a nonprofit housing organization. She has been a member of an ad hoc East Harlem Holiday Tree committee for the past eight years.
She serves on the board of Community Works, a nonprofit arts organization, and is a founding member of the Dwyer Cultural Center, a multimedia space devoted exclusively to the culture, traditions and history of Harlem.
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