Virtual Bookshelf: Arab-American Heritage Month neh.gov - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from neh.gov Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Dearborn native Mike Mosallam, who wrote and directed Breaking Fast, says he wanted to avoid the familiar narrative of a gay Arab Muslim man or any gay man of any culture or faith who is not accepted by his family.
Instead, his lead character, Mo, is surrounded by supportive relatives, especially his hilariously outspoken mom, whose only concern is that he be happy.
In one scene, Mo finds out that she has posted on social media: “I have failed as a mother. My son eats alone every night.”
The movie unfolds during the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. Besides being a love story, it s also a movie about the mouthwatering dishes served at nightly iftars, the traditional meal eaten after sunset.
April 1, 2021
Michigan is celebrated for having one of the most vibrant Arab communities in the U.S. In fact, metro Detroit’s Arab population is among the largest outside the Middle East itself, and while Dearborn is undoubtedly the heart of local Middle Eastern culture, communities have also blossomed in West Bloomfield, Troy, Hamtramck, and beyond.
While people of Arab descent are not officially recognized as a racial or ethnic group in the U.S. Census, estimates place the population in Michigan somewhere between 409,000 and 490,000, according to the website Arab America.
The earliest groups of Lebanese and Syrian merchants began making their way to Detroit in the 1880s, with a much larger influx from these countries, as well as immigrants from Yemen, arriving in the early 20th century to take jobs in the city’s thriving auto industry. Many families began to live in or near Dearborn, which was close to Ford’s River Rouge complex. In more recent decades, immigrants from c
Hour Detroit Magazine
February 15, 2021
Museums across the country and here in our own backyard are working to rebound in 2021 after in-person attendance and budgets withered last year. It will pose a tricky challenge for those at the helm. The six women profiled here are part of a national trend: More women than ever hold executive roles at museums, according to a survey released in 2018 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. But diversity is stagnant. The number of people of color in similar positions grew from just 11 percent to 12 percent between 2015 and 2018, when data was most recently available. All the women profiled pointed to mentorship as a possible remedy.
Jan 30, 2021
Sixteen notable writers have created a combined list of places that they believe helped shape and define America, from coastal Oregon and Solvang, California, to Ellis Island and New Hampshire’s Black Heritage Trail.
The resulting collection of mini-essays, including contributions from memoirist Cheryl Strayed, novelist Jodi Picoult, humorist David Sedaris and activist Gloria Steinem, was organized by Frommer’s, the travel guidebook company. The collection can be read for free online.
The compilation is designed to be food for thought rather than an invitation to hit the road.
With COVID-19 cases surging in many parts of the country, “we don’t want people to use these essays as the basis for travel until doing so is safe once again,” Pauline Frommer, who heads the guidebook company, told the AP. “We hope this list will be a spur to future travel, but we also just wanted it to be great reading right now.”