Arab Americans

{{See also|Arab immigration to the United States}}

{{Update|section|reason=Needs 2020 Census info|date=January 2024}}

File:Census Bureau 2000, Arabs in the United States.png]]

The majority of Arab Americans, around 62%, originate from the region of the Levant, which includes Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, although overwhelmingly from Lebanon. The remainder are made up of those from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Libya, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and other Arab nations.

There are nearly 3.5 million Arab Americans in the United States according to The Arab American Institute. Arab Americans live in all 50 states and in Washington, D.C., and 94% reside in the metropolitan areas of major cities. According to the 2010 US census, the city with the largest percentage of Arab Americans is Dearborn, Michigan, a southwestern suburb of Detroit, at nearly 40%. The Detroit metropolitan area is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans (403,445), followed by the New York City Combined Statistical Area (371,233), Los Angeles (308,295), San Francisco Bay Area (250,000), Chicago (176,208), and the Washington, D.C., area (168,208).{{cite web|url=http://aai.3cdn.net/9298c231f3a79e30c6_g7m6bx9hs.pdf|title=Arab American Population Highlights|publisher=Arab American Institute Foundation|location=Washington, DC|access-date=7 July 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723000336/http://aai.3cdn.net/9298c231f3a79e30c6_g7m6bx9hs.pdf|archive-date=23 July 2011}} This information is reportedly based upon survey findings but is contradicted by information posted on the Arab American Institute website itself, which states that California as a whole only has 272,485, and Michigan as a whole only 191,607. The 2010 American Community Survey information, from the American Factfinder website, gives a figure of about 168,000 for Michigan.

Sorting by American states, according to the 2000 US census, 48% of the Arab American population, 576,000, reside in California, Michigan, New York, Florida, and New Jersey, respectively; these 5 states collectively have 31% of the net US population. Five other states – Illinois, Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania – report Arab American populations of more than 40,000 each. Also, the counties which contained the greatest proportions of Arab Americans were in California, Michigan, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The cities with 100,000 or more in population with the highest percentages of Arabs are Sterling Heights, Michigan 3.69%; Jersey City, New Jersey 2.81%; Warren, Michigan 2.51%; Allentown, Pennsylvania 2.45%; Burbank, California 2.39% and nearby Glendale, California 2.07%; Livonia, Michigan 1.94%; Arlington County, Virginia 1.77%; Paterson, New Jersey 1.77%; and Daly City, California 1.69%.{{cite web|first=G. Patricia|last=de la Cruz|author2=Angela Brittingham|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-23.pdf|title=The Arab Population: 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|date=December 2003|access-date=17 October 2016}}

Bayonne, New Jersey, a city of 73,000, reported an Arab American population of 17.0% in the 2020 US census.{{cite web|title=Bayonne, NJ Map & Demographics|url=https://zipatlas.com/us/NJ/bayonne.htm#ancestry}}

The US Census Bureau calculates the number of Arab Americans based on the number of people who claimed at least one Arab ancestry as one of their two ancestries. The Arab American Institute surveys the number of people of Arab descent in the US, regardless of the number of people who claimed Arab descent in the census.

{{Pie chart

| thumb = right

| caption = The religious affiliations of Arab Americans as of 2002

| label1 = Catholic

| value1 = 35

| color1 = Red

| label2 = Orthodox

| value2 = 18

| color2 = Purple

| label3 = Protestant

| value3 = 10

| color3 = Blue

| label4 = Muslim

| value4 = 24

| color4 = green

| label5 = Other

| value5 = 13

| color5 = #dbdbdb

}}

According to the Arab American Institute based on the Zogby International Survey in 2002, the breakdown of religious affiliation among persons originating from Arab countries is as follows:

• 63% Christian
• 35% Roman/Eastern Catholic, including Roman Catholic, Maronite and Melkite
• 18% Orthodox, including Antiochian, Syrian, Greek, and Coptic
• 10% Protestant
• 24% Muslim, including Sunni, Shia, and Druze
• 13% other or no affiliation{{cite web|url=http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics|title=Arab Americans: Demographics|publisher=Arab American Institute|date=2006|access-date=18 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060601221810/http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics|archive-date=1 June 2006}}

The percentage of Arab Americans who are Muslim has increased in recent years because most new Arab immigrants tend to be Muslim. In the past 10 years, most Arab immigrants were Muslim as compared to 15 to 30 years ago when they were mostly Christian. This stands in contrast to the first wave of Arab immigration to the US between the late 19th and early 20th centuries when almost all immigrants were Christians. Those Palestinians often Eastern Orthodox, otherwise Catholic and a few Episcopalians. A small number are Protestant adherents, either having joined a Protestant denomination after immigrating to the US or being from a family that converted to Protestantism while still living in the Eastern Mediterranean (European and American Protestant missionaries were fairly commonplace in the Levant in the late 19th and early 20th centuries).

Arab Christians, especially from Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, continued to immigrate to the US in the 2000s and form new enclaves and communities across the country.{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/arab-christians-minorities-reshaping-us-enclaves-090951417.html|title=Arab Christians, minorities, reshaping US enclaves|date=11 November 2011|publisher=Yahoo News|access-date=18 March 2015}}

The US is the second largest home of Druze communities outside the Middle East after Venezuela (60,000). According to some estimates there are about 30,000{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-druze-future-20170731-story.html|title=Finding a life partner is hard enough. For those of the Druze faith, their future depends on it|date=27 August 2017|work=Los Angeles Times}} to 50,000 Druzes in the US, with the largest concentration in Southern California. Most Druze immigrated to the US from Lebanon and Syria.

The New York City metropolitan area has a large population of Arab Jews and Mizrahi Jews. New York City and its suburbs in New Jersey have sizable Syrian Sephardi populations. Syrian Jews and other Jews from Arab countries may or may not identify as Arab Americans. When Syrian Jews first began to arrive in New York City during the late 1800s and early 1900s, Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews on the Lower East Side sometimes disdained their Syrian co-coreligionists as Arabische Yidden, Yiddish for "Arab Jews". Some Ashkenazim doubted whether Sephardi or Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East were Jewish at all. In response, some Syrian Jews who were deeply proud of their ancient Jewish heritage, derogatorily dubbed Ashkenazi Jews as "J-Dubs", a reference to the first and third letters of the English word "Jew".{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/magazine/14syrians-t.html |title=The Sy Empire |work=The New York Times |date=14 October 2007 |accessdate=2024-04-29 |last1=Chafets |first1=Zev |archive-date=2021-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126101815/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/magazine/14syrians-t.html |url-status=live }} In the 1990 US census, there were 11,610 Arab Jews in New York City, comprising 23 percent of the total Arab population of the city.{{cite web |url=https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/download/1669/934/2599 |title=A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York City |publisher=American Journal of Islam and Society |accessdate=2024-04-29 |archive-date=2021-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515190911/https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/download/1669/934/2599 |url-status=live }} Arab Jews in the city sometimes face anti-Arab racism. After the September 11 attacks, some Arab Jews in New York City were subjected to arrest and detention because they were suspected to be Islamist terrorists.{{cite web |url=https://jaamr.com/resources/key-terms-and-concepts-for-understanding-us-islamophobia/ |title=KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS FOR UNDERSTANDING U.S. ISLAMOPHOBIA |publisher=Jews Against Anti-Muslim Racism |accessdate=2021-05-15 |archive-date=2023-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121051733/https://jaamr.com/resources/key-terms-and-concepts-for-understanding-us-islamophobia/ |url-status=live }}

File:Arab American National Museum.jpg in Dearborn, Michigan, celebrates the history of Arab Americans.]]

File:Downtown-paterson-nj2.jpg, New Jersey, has been nicknamed Little Ramallah and contains a neighborhood with the same name, with an Arab American population estimated as high as 20,000 in 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/palestinian-flag-raising-is-highlight-of-heritage-week-in-paterson-1.1324680|title=Palestinian flag-raising is highlight of heritage week in Paterson|author=Deena Yellin|publisher=North Jersey Media Group|date=2015-05-03|access-date=2015-05-04}}]]

In 2012, prompted in part by post-9/11 discrimination, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee petitioned the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency to designate the MENA populations as a minority/disadvantaged community.[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/13/stateline-census-mena-africa-mideast/13999239/ "Lobbying for a 'MENA' category on U.S. Census"] Wiltz, Teresea. USA Today. Published 7 October 2014. Accessed 14 December 2015. Following consultations with MENA organizations, the Census Bureau announced in 2014 that it would establish a new MENA ethnic category for populations from West Asia, North Africa or the Arab world, separate from the white classification that these populations had previously sought in 1909. The expert groups, including some Jewish organizations, felt that the earlier white designation no longer accurately represents MENA identity, so they lobbied for a distinct categorization.{{cite web|title=Public Comments to NCT Federal Register Notice|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-frn.pdf|publisher=United States Census Bureau; Department of Commerce|access-date=13 December 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Cohen|first1=Debra Nussbaum|title=New U.S. Census Category to Include Israeli' Option|url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium-1.661491|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=16 December 2015}} The 2020 census did not include a separate MENA race category and collected detailed ethnicity information.{{cite web |date=21 September 2023 |title=Lebanese, Iranian and Egyptian Populations Represented Nearly Half of the MENA Population in 2020 Census |url=https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-mena-population.html |access-date=2024-04-02 |publisher=United States Census Bureau}}

In the 2015 National Content Test (NCT) for the 2020 Census, the sampling strata for the new MENA category includes the Census Bureau's working classification of 19 MENA groups, as well as Sudanese, Djiboutian, Somali, Mauritanian, Armenian, Cypriot, Afghan, Iranian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian groups.{{cite web|title=2015 National Content Test|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-omb-package.pdf|page=60|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=13 December 2015}}

On 28 March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget published revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity that included the addition of "Middle Eastern or North African" to the race and/or ethnicity categories.{{cite web |title=U.S. Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity |url=https://spd15revision.gov/ |access-date=28 March 2024 |website=U.S. Office of Management and Budget Interagency Technical Working Group on Race and Ethnicity Standards}}{{cite web |date=29 March 2024 |title=Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/29/2024-06469/revisions-to-ombs-statistical-policy-directive-no-15-standards-for-maintaining-collecting-and |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=Federal Register}}

The Arab American Institute and other groups have noted that there was a rise in hate crimes targeting the Arab American community as well as people perceived as Arab/Muslim after the September 11 attacks and the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.Paulson, Amanda. "Rise in Hate Crimes Worries Arab-Americans" (Christian Science Monitor, 10 April 2003). [http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0410/p01s03-ussc.html]

A new Zogby Poll International found that there are 3.5 million Americans who were identified as "Arab-Americans", or Americans of ancestry belonging to one of the 23 UN member countries of the Arab World (these are not necessarily therefore Arabs). Poll finds that, overall, a majority of those identifying as Arab Americans are Lebanese Americans (largely as a result of being the most numerous group). The Paterson, New Jersey-based Arab American Civic Association runs an Arabic language program in the Paterson school district.{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/paterson-school-district-restarts-arab-language-program-for-city-youths-1.1149766|title=Paterson school district restarts Arab language program for city youths|publisher=Paterson Press, North Jersey Media Group|date=2014-12-10|access-date=2014-12-10}} Paterson, New Jersey has been nicknamed Little Ramallah and contains a neighborhood with the same name, with an Arab American population estimated as high as 20,000 in 2015. Neighboring Clifton, New Jersey, is following in Paterson's footsteps, with rapidly growing Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian American populations.{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/hundreds-in-clifton-cheer-raising-of-palestinian-flag-1.1546953|title=Hundreds in Clifton cheer raising of Palestinian flag|author=Andrew Wyrich|publisher=North Jersey Media Group|date=2016-04-17|access-date=2016-04-17}}

File:45a.March.March4Gaza.KStreet.WDC.13January2024 (53514358529).jpg in January 2024]]

In a 2007 Zogby poll, 62% of Arab Americans voted Democratic, while only 25% voted Republican.{{cite web|url=http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=22587&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0|title=US elections through Arab American eyes by Ghassan Rubeiz – Common Ground News Service|access-date=18 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210203231/http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=22587&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0|archive-date=10 December 2014|url-status=dead}} The percentage of Arabs voting Democratic increased sharply during the Iraq War. However, a number of prominent Arab American politicians are Republicans, including former Oregon Governor Victor Atiyeh, former New Hampshire Senator John E. Sununu, and California Congressman Darrell Issa, who was the driving force behind the state's 2003 recall election that removed Democratic Governor Gray Davis from office. The first woman Supreme Court Chief Justice in Florida, Rosemary Barkett, who is of Syrian descent, is known for her dedication to progressive values.

Arab Americans gave George W. Bush a majority of their votes in 2000. However, they backed John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012. They also backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

According to a 2000 Zogby poll, 52% of Arab Americans were anti-abortion, 74% support the death penalty, 76% were in favor of stricter gun control, and 86% wanted to see an independent Palestinian state.{{cite web|url=http://allied-media.com/Arab-American/Arab%20american%20Demographics.htm|title=Arab american Demographics|access-date=18 March 2015}}

In a study, first-generation Arab Americans living in Detroit were found to have values more similar to that of the Arab world than those of the general population living in Detroit, on average, being more closely aligned to the strong traditional values and survival values. This was less the case when participants were secular or belonged to second and subsequent generations.{{cite book|author=Detroit Arab American Study Group|title=Citizenship and Crisis: Arab Detroit After 9/11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Dgn9wqJVAEC&pg=PA22|date=2 July 2009|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|isbn=978-1-61044-613-6|pages=22–23}}

An 30 October 2023 poll by the Arab American Institute found that support for Biden among Arab Americans dropped from 59% in 2020 to 17%.{{Cite news |last=Salam |first=Erum |date=31 October 2023 |title=Arab American backing for Biden sinks over 'rock-solid' Israel support |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/31/biden-polling-israel-hamas-war-arab-americans |issn=0261-3077}} The drop in support has been attributed to the administration's handling of the 2023 Israel-Gaza War and Gaza genocide.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-02 |title=The Arab American Vote 2024 |url=https://www.aaiusa.org/library/the-arab-american-vote-2024 |access-date=2024-10-31 |publisher=Arab American Institute |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last1=Perkins |first1=Tom |last2=Salam |first2=Erum |date=27 October 2023 |title='How can I vote for Biden?' Arab Americans in Michigan 'betrayed' by Israel support |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/27/michigan-arab-american-voters-biden-israel |issn=0261-3077}}

There are many US immigrants from the Arab world who are not always classified as Arabs because through much of the Arabized world, Arabs were considered a colonizing force and many ethnic groups maintained their ethnic cultural and religious heritage, oftentimes through syncretism. Among these are Armenian Americans, Assyrian Americans, Kurdish Americans, Jewish Americans of Mizrahi origin. Some of these groups, such as Assyrians, are Semitic language speakers, while the vast majority of the rest are not Semitic language speakers. It is very difficult to estimate the size of these communities. For example, some Armenians immigrated to the US from Lebanon, Syria, or Iraq. Estimates place these communities at least in the tens of thousands.{{cite web|title=Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates|url=https://archive.org/details/2011AmericanCommunitySurveyAncestry|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=22 December 2012}}"2006–2010 American Community Survey Selected Population Tables". Government of the United States of America. Government of the United States of America. Retrieved 5 August 2013.{{cite book|last1=Ben-Ur|first1=Aviva|title=Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History|date=2009|publisher=NYU Press|location=New York|isbn=9780814786321|page=35}} Other smaller communities include Assyrians, Amazigh/Berber, Turks, Mandeans, Circassians, Shabaks, Georgians, Yazidis, Balochs, Iranians, Azerbaijanis, and Kawliya/Roma.

Most of these ethnic groups speak their own native languages (usually another Semitic language related to Arabic) and have their own customs, along with the Arabic dialect from the Arab country they originate from.

{{See also|Arab American literature}}

{{Main|National Arab American Heritage Month}}

In 2014, Montgomery County, Maryland, designated April as Arab American Heritage Month in recognition of the contributions that Arab Americans have made to the nation.{{cite web|title=April is Arab American Heritage Month|url=http://insidemc.montgomerycollege.edu/details.php?id=53294|publisher=Montgomery College|access-date=26 December 2014}} Arab America and the Arab America Foundation launched the National Arab American Heritage Month initiative in 2017, with just a handful of states recognizing the initiative. Each year, the Arab America Foundation activates a grass-roots network of over 250 Arab American volunteers in 26 states. It gathers hundreds of proclamations from state governments, counties, municipalities, and local school districts. The first documentary on Arab Americans premiered on PBS in August 2017, "The Arab Americans" features the Arab American immigrant story as told through the lens of American History and the stories of prominent Arab Americans such as actor Jamie Farr, Ralph Nader, Senator George Mitchell, White House Reporter Helen Thomas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony Shadid, Danny Thomas actor and Founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, pollster and author John Zogby, Congressman Nick Rahall, racing legend Bobby Rahal. The documentary is produced and directed by Abe Kasbo.

The US Department of State has recognized April as the National Arab American Heritage Month, making it the highest level of federal recognition, yet. Stating in a public announcement on 1 April 2021, through their official social media channels: "Americans of Arab heritage are very much a part of the fabric of this nation, and Arab Americans have contributed in every field and profession."{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/1377701045288235012|title=Department Spokesperson Ned Price delivers remarks at the Daily Press Briefing on April 1, 2021. |work=page Official verified Twitter account of the United States Department of State – 1 April 2021 }}

The recognition of the month of April as the National Arab American Heritage Month by the US Department of State was mainly influenced by independent advocate efforts across the United States calling for inclusivity. Most notably the petition and social change campaign by Pierre Subeh, who is a Middle-Eastern American business expert, executive producer, and author. He orchestrated a self-funded social awareness campaign with over 250 billboards across the country asking the Federal government to recognize the month of April as the National Arab American Heritage Month and issue an official proclamation. His social change campaign called the recognition to be critical as it celebrates Middle Eastern heritage in combating post-9/11 anti-Arab sentiments and recognizing the social difficulties that Arab Americans face every day in their communities.{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/05/us/arab-american-heritage-month/index.html|title=April is Arab American Heritage Month, the State Department declares|work=page Mirna Alsharif, CNN on 5 April 2021 |date=5 April 2021 }}{{cite web|last=David|first=Kevin|date=3 April 2021|title=This Immigrant Entrepreneur Made History by Pushing The U.S. Department of State to Recognize April as the NAAHM|url=https://therealkevindavid.medium.com/this-immigrant-entrepreneur-made-history-by-pushing-the-u-s-department-of-state-to-recognize-naahm-8224f23be535|url-status=live|work=Medium|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419234057/https://therealkevindavid.medium.com/this-immigrant-entrepreneur-made-history-by-pushing-the-u-s-department-of-state-to-recognize-naahm-8224f23be535|archive-date=19 April 2021}}{{cite web|date=3 April 2021|title=Pierre Subeh thanking the Department Spokesperson Ned Price after delivering remarks at the Daily Press Briefing on April 1, 2021.|url=https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/1377701045288235012|url-status=live|publisher=United States Department of State|via=Twitter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401191522/https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/1377701045288235012 |archive-date=1 April 2021 }}

In 2023, President Joe Biden issued an official proclamation on the Arab American Heritage Month.{{Cite web |date=2023-03-31 |title=A Proclamation on Arab American Heritage Month, 2023 |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/03/31/a-proclamation-on-arab-american-heritage-month-2023/ |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}

File:Mansaf, the traditional dish of Jordan.jpg, a popular Arab lamb dish]]

A variety of traditional Arab dishes are eaten by Arab Americans, often by substituting out traditional ingredients for modern or Western elements.{{Cite news |title=For Many Members of the Arab American Diaspora, Mansaf Offers a Taste of Home |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/t-magazine/mansaf-bedouin-rice.html |work=The New York Times}}

While the spectrum of Arab heritage includes 22 countries, their combined heritage is often celebrated in cultural festivals around the United States.

;New York City

The Annual Arab-American & North African Street Festival was founded in 2002 by the Network of Arab-American Professionals of NY (NAAP-NY).[http://www.naaponline.org/ny Network of Arab-American Professionals of NY (NAAP-NY)] Located in downtown Manhattan, on Great Jones Street between Lafayette & Broadway, the Festival attracts an estimated 15,000 people, in addition to over 30 Arab and North African vendors along with an all-day live cultural performance program representing performers from across the Arab world.

The New York Arab American Comedy Festival was founded in 2003 by comedian Dean Obeidallah and comedian Maysoon Zayid. Held annually each fall, the festival showcases the talents of Arab American actors, comics, playwrights, and filmmakers, and challenges as well as inspires fellow Arab Americans to create outstanding works of comedy. Participants include actors, directors, writers and comedians.{{cite web|title=Arab-American & North African Cultural Street Festival 2017 in New York, NY {{!}} Everfest|url=https://www.everfest.com/e/arab-american-north-african-cultural-street-festival-new-york-ny|website=Everfest.com}}

;Seattle

Of particular note is ArabFest in Seattle, begun in 1999. The festival includes all 22 of the Arab countries, with a souk marketplace, traditional and modern music, an authentic Arab coffeehouse, an Arabic spelling bee, and a fashion show. Lectures and workshops explore the rich culture and history of the Arab peoples, one of the world's oldest civilizations. Also of new interest is the Arabic rap concert, including the NW group Sons of Hagar, showcasing the political and creative struggle of Arabic youth.{{cite web|title=Live at Seattle Center|url=http://seattlecenter.com/festal/detail.aspx?id=21|website=seattlecenter.com}}

File:Arab american festival 2008.jpg

;Phoenix

In 2008, the first annual Arab American Festival in Arizona was held on 1 and 2 November in Glendale, Arizona. There were more than 40,000 attendees over the two-day event; more than 35 international singers, dancers, and musicians from all over the Arab World performed 20 hours of live entertainment on stage. Activities included folklore shows, an international food court, hookah lounge, kids rides and booth vendors, open to the public, and admission was free.{{cite web|url=http://ArabAmericanFestival.Com|title=Arab American Festival – المهرجان العربي الأمريكي|access-date=18 March 2015}}

;California

The Annual Arab American Day Festival is a three-day cultural and entertainment event held in Orange County. Activities include book and folk art exhibitions, speeches from community leaders in the county, as well as music and poetry, dancing singing, traditional food, hookah and much more.[http://www.aafestival.com Arab American Festival]

;Wisconsin

Since 1996, Milwaukee's Arab World Fest has been part of the summer festival season. It is held on the second weekend of August. This three-day event hosts music, culture, and food celebrating the 22 Arab countries. The festival features live entertainment, belly dancing, hookah rental, camel rides, cooking demonstrations, a children's area, and Arab cuisine. It is a family-friendly festival on Milwaukee's lakefront.{{cite web|url=http://www.arabworldfest.com|title=Welcome arabworldfest.com – BlueHost.com|access-date=18 March 2015}}

{{Main list|List of Arab Americans}}

DJ Khaled (born 1975) : DJ and record producer

George A. Kasem (1919–2002) : Politician, First Arab Congressman

James Abourezk (1931–2023) : Politician, First Arab Senator and founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Ray LaHood (born 1945) : Politician, 16th Secretary of Transportation

Ralph Nader (born 1934): Political activist, author of Unsafe at Any Speed

Spencer Abraham (born 1952): Politician, 10th Secretary of Energy and senator from Michigan

{{Portal|United States|Middle East}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
• Arab American Institute
• Arab American Political Action Committee
• Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services
• Arab American literature
• Arab diaspora
• Arab immigration to the United States
• Arab lobby in the United States
• Arabs in Europe
• Diaspora politics in the United States
• History of the Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit
• Hyphenated American
• Iraqi diaspora
• Islam in the United States
• Islam in Europe
• List of American Muslims
• Refugees of Iraq

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• Abraham, Nabeel. "Arab Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, ed. by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 125–140. [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3273300020/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=d9ecdd9d online]
• {{cite book | author-last=Oweis | author-first=Fayeq S. | title=Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists | series=Artists of the American Mosaic| publisher=Greenwood Press-Bloomsbury Publishing | location=Westport, Connecticut, USA | date=30 December 2007 | isbn=9780313337307 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dEZC4g_j62gC}}
• Abraham, Nabeel, and Andrew Shryock, eds. Arab Detroit: From Margin to Mainstream (Wayne State UP, 2000).
• Ameri, Anan, and Holly Arida. Daily Life of Arab Americans in the 21st Century (Greenwood, 2012).
• Alsultany, Evelyn. Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11 (New York University Press, 2012).
• Cainkar, Louis A. Homeland insecurity: the Arab American and Muslim American experience after 9/11 (Russell Sage Foundation, 2009).
• Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck. Becoming American?: The Forging of Arab Muslim Identity in Pluralist America (Baylor University Press, 2011).
• Köszegi, Michael A., and J. Gordon Melton, eds. Islam in North America: A Sourcebook (2 vol. 1992).
• McCarus, Ernest, ed. The Development of Arab-American Identity (U of Michigan Press, 1994).
• Naff, Alixa. Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience (Southern Illinois University Press, 1985).
• Naber, Nadine. Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism (New York UP, 2012).
• Odeh, Rasmea. "Empowering Arab Immigrant Women in Chicago: The Arab Women's Committee." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 15.1 (2019): 117–124.
• Pennock, Pamela E. The Rise of the Arab American Left: Activists, Allies, and Their Fight against Imperialism and Racism, 1960s–1980s (U of North Carolina Press, 2017). xii, 316 pp
• Shahin, Saif. "Unveiling the American-Muslim press: News agendas, frames, and functions." Journalism (2014) 16#7 884-903 https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884914545376
• Naff, Alixa. "Arabs" in Thernstrom, Stephan; Orlov, Ann; Handlin, Oscar, eds. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, Harvard University Press, {{isbn|0674375122}}, pp 128–136, [https://archive.org/details/harvardencyclope00ther Online free to borrow]
• Waleed, F. Mahdi. Arab Americans in Film: From Hollywood And Egyptian Stereotypes To Self-Representation (Syracuse University Press, 2020).
• Wills, Emily Regan. Arab New York: Politics and Community in the Everyday Lives of Arab Americans (NYU Press, 2019).
• {{cite book | last=Zeineddine | first=Ghassan | last2=Abraham | first2=Nabeel | last3=Howell | first3=Sally | title=Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging | publisher=Wayne State University Press | series=Made in Michigan Writers Series | year=2022 | isbn=978-0-8143-4926-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rG49EAAAQBAJ | oclc=1264458748}}

• [https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-23.pdf 2000 U.S. Census Report on the Arab-American population]
• [http://www.arabamerica.com Arab American Content Portal]
• [https://arabamericanstudies.org/about/ Arab American Studies Association (AASA)]
• [https://umdearborn.edu/casl/centers-institutes/center-arab-american-studies Center for Arab American Studies (CAAS) at University of Michigan-Dearborn]

{{Arab American}}

{{Arab diaspora}}

{{Middle Eastern American}}

{{North Africans in the United States}}

{{African immigration to the United States}}

{{Demographics of the United States}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Ethnic groups in the United States

Category:Middle Eastern diaspora in the United States

America