A Thesis Entitled Planting the Cedar Tree: the History of the Early Syrian
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A Thesis Entitled Planting the Cedar Tree: The History of the Early Syrian-Lebanese Community in Toledo, OH, 1881-1960 By Hanady M. Awada Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Master of Arts in History Advisor: Dr. Diane Britton College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo May 2009 Copyright © 2009 The document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without expressed permission from the author. ii An Abstract of Planting the Cedar Tree: The History of the Early Syrian-Lebanese Community in Toledo, OH, 1881-1960 Hanady M. Awada Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Master of Arts in History The University of Toledo May 2009 This thesis will tell the story of the Syrian-Lebanese immigrants and their children who lived in Toledo from 1881 until the 1960s. Through oral interviews, local newspaper articles, church and mosque records, and historical works on immigration and ethnicity in the United States, this thesis will chronicle their immigration to Toledo, their experiences with Americanization, and their endeavor to maintain their ethnic identity through community building and home- making efforts, as they made the United States their permanent home. This analysis will be accomplished by examining eleven steps that the Syrian- Lebanese people took to make the United States their permanent home. These iii steps were either assimilative- influenced by an external force, or a home making and community building effort- caused internally by the community to recreate a Syrian village-like atmosphere to make their stay in America pleasant. In eight decades, the community grew from a small Christian colony, to a large, well-respected, religiously diverse community. They successfully established families, business, and religious and cultural associations to preserve their ethnic identity, while actively participating in Americanization efforts that ensured their economic and social success. While this work only encompasses a brief period of the community’s existence, it is a start, which must be expanded upon by future scholars. iv I dedicate this thesis to my Parents and my Grandparents, my Children and my future Grandchildren v Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the love and support of my family and friends. I want to thank my mother for pushing me to go to college and later supporting me as I began Graduate School. Thanks to you Mom and my mother-in-law, Hana, for countless hours of babysitting so I could go to class, to the library, and to conduct many interviews. Thank you to my husband Hadi, for giving me Sunday’s off so I can write my thesis and for listening to me talk aloud as I gathered my thoughts and developed my ideas. Thank you to my readers, Miriam Aossey, Randa Awada, and Hiba Fayoumi for reading my thesis and lending me your ears and minds to bounce ideas off of. Together, we watched this paper develop from scattered thoughts, to a complete thesis, and for that I thank you once again. Thank you to all the people who opened up their homes, hearts, and memories to me in order to give this work a historical as well as a personal account. I would like to especially express my gratitude to Mitcheal Salem and James Shemas for sitting down with me several times to answer questions as they divulged further into their memories. As I have said to many people, “Without the stories of Mr. Salem and Mr. Shemas this paper would not have been possible.” A special thank you to Cherrefe Kadri, who accompanied me to many of these interviews. I would also like to express my appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Diane Britton. Our mini-brainstorming sessions made me think like a historian. It has been an absolute pleasure to have you as my advisor and my mentor. Thank you also to my thesis committee, Dr. Samir Abu-Absi and Dr. Charles Glaab. Thank you Linda Weiser, my nanny in Germany for babysitting the kids whenever I needed to get some work done. Thank you Pete Ueberroth from the Catholic Diocese of Toledo for going through endless church records and to the wonderful secretaries at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, St. George Orthodox Cathedral, and St. Elias Orthodox Church for helping my sift through boxes of documents. I would like to acknowledge, Dr. Alixa Naff for giving me the encouragement and guidance that I desperately needed as I began to write this thesis. For everyone who helped me throughout this undertaking I also thank you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyright Page ii Abstract iii Dedication Page v Acknowledgments vi Table of Contents vii List of Figures viii List of Charts and Tables ix I. Introduction: Where is Toledo’s 1 Syrian-Lebanese Community II. Good-Bye Village, Hello America! 21 III. Welcome to Toledo: A City on the 42 Brink of Becoming a “Future Great City of the World,” 1881-1914 IV. A Whirlwind of Changes: Two Decades of 82 Growth, Community-Building and Assimilation, 1914-1936 V. Economic and Social Success Achieved, 131 1936-1956 VI. Conclusion: Future Growth and Changes 176 vii VII. Bibliography 180 List of Figures Figure 2.1: Map of North End 51 Figure 2.2: Map of Greater Syria, 1914 66 viii List of Charts Chart 1.1: Gender of Immigrants Over Age 18, 1893-1914 22 Chart 1.2: Age at Immigration by Gender, 1893-1914 23 Chart 1.3: Marital Statuses Upon Immigration, 1893-1914 23 Chart 1.4: Immigrant Male Occupation in Greater Syria, 1893-1914 24 Chart 1.5: Port of Departure 32 Chart 2.1: Population of the City of Toledo 43 Chart 2.2: Number of Syrians Living in Toledo 46 Chart 2.3: Syrian Male Occupations over Age 16, 1900 & 1910 58 Chart 2.4: Marital Pattern of Syrian Couples, 1900 & 1910 78 Chart 3.1: Number of Syrian-Lebanese Men Employed 83 in Toledo Factories during World War I, 1917-1918 Chart 3.2: Relation of Syrian Immigrants to Toledo Residents, 93 1922-1930 Chart 3.3: Place of Birth of Syrian-Lebanese Community, 96 1920 and 1930 Chart 3.4: Syrian-Lebanese Male Occupation, 1917-1930 102 List of Tables Table 2.1: Syrian Settlement Pattern by Street, 1900 52 Table 2.2: Syrian Settlement Pattern by Street, 1910 54 ix Introduction: Where is Toledo’s Syrian-Lebanese Community? To date there has been no comprehensive study of Toledo’s Syrian- Lebanese community. Therefore, this thesis will tell the story of the Syrian- Lebanese immigrants and their children who lived in Toledo from 1881 until the 1960s. Through oral interviews, local newspaper articles, church and mosque records, and historical works on immigration and ethnicity in the United States, this thesis will chronicle the immigration of the Muslim and Christian populations to Toledo, their experiences with Americanization, and their endeavor to maintain their ethnic identity through community building and home-making efforts, as they made the United States their permanent home. Although there were forces of assimilation that yearned for their Americanization, their level of acculturation was influenced by their settlement patterns, religion, and the city’s attitude towards them. In eight decades, the community grew from a small Christian colony, to a large and well-respected religiously diverse community that successfully established families and businesses mainly in the North End. They 1 also opened religious institutions and cultural associations to preserve their ethnic identity, while actively participating in Americanization efforts to ensure their future economic and social success. While this work only encompasses a brief period of the community’s existence, it is a start, which must be expanded upon by future scholars. In order to understand the history of the Syrian-Lebanese people in Toledo, it is imperative to explore other historical works on immigration and ethnicity and where they fit in these studies. Historians have written for years about the immigration and assimilation of various ethnic groups in America, yet in most of these works, the Syrian-Lebanese have often been overlooked, even though they shared many of the same experiences as the Italians, Irish, Jews, and others. This is mainly due to their late arrival in America, small numbers, and lack of group unity. In 1985, John Bodnar published The Transplanted, the “Most powerfully argued interpretation of the immigrant epic since Oscar Handlin’s The Uprooted.”1 However, it did not include the experience of the Syrian-Lebanese people who immigrated at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In John Higham’s analysis, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860- 1925, he examined the spread of ethnic prejudice and violence that targeted certain groups such as Asians, Jews, Irish and Italians to name a few, but not the Syrians. Even more recently, Roots Too, written in 2006 by Matthew Frye 1 John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985), back cover. 2 Jacobson explored the ethnic revival that swept America in the 1960s, which caused many Americans to reconsider their own ethnic past. According to Jacobson, “Ethnic traces and trappings that had been lost, forgotten, or forcibly cast off by prior generations in their rush to Americanize were now rediscovered and embraced by a younger generation who had known nothing but ‘American’ culture.”2 He documents ethnic movies such as The Godfather, which revived Italian ethnic identity in descendents of Italian immigrants, while John F. Kennedy’s trip to Ireland led many Irish Americans to reconnect with their Irish heritage. Greeks and Jews are also mentioned, but he does not mention any revival efforts made by the Syrian-Lebanese progenies in the United States or the revival’s impact on them.