AMERI CAN DRUZEFOUNDATI ON
DRUZE
I N
AMERICA
Th eEa r l yYe a r s
KATHYJ ABERS TEPHENS ON & DI MAABI S AI DS UKI wi t hRAYYAN ABOU ALWAN AMI NE
Table of Contents Foreword... xv Preface... xix Introduction: An Overview... xx Demographics Faith History Leaving the Motherland Arriving in America Setting Foot in the New World
Chapter One... 3 West Virginia
Joe Jaber... 4 Peddling The New Syria Party The Great Syrian Revolution of 1925 Henry and Senia Flehan... 9 Assimilation into American Society Anatomy of a Druze Village Wills Marriage Marriage Contracts Dabkeh Hussein and Badia HeLal... 17 The Great Depression Women and Immigration Assad Mahmoud Shaban... 21 Druze Names Refrigeration
viii | DRUZE IN AMERICA: The Early Years
Ali and Toufic Sabra... 23 The Honorific Title Beik or Bey Prices in the 1920s Ameen and Nahia Joseph... 26 Name Changes in America Two Important Dynastic Families Hassen Joseph... 30 Aref Cassem Merhi... 30 Passports Prohibition Willie (WM) Jaber... 38 Harry Hamden... 42 Divorce Aboulhosn Family Tree Freemasonry Jimmy and Nasseby Sangid... 46 Rasheed Milhem Shaar... 47 The Draft Nageeb and Jamilie Mosrie... 49 Arabic Food and Hospitality Amine Saleh Farhat... 54 Asaad and Hassen Najjar and Families... 55 American Troops in World War I Death Qahweh (Coffee) Names Used to Describe Early Immigrants from Greater Syria Druze and Nationalism
Chapter Two... 71
New York, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Virginia & Massachusetts Sleiman Baddour... 72 Role of the Arabic Press Abbas Mahmoud Abu Shakra... 77 Kahlil Gibran and Ar-Rabita Al-Qalamiyya (The Pen League) To the Fighting Columns—Abbas Abu Shakra Early American Druze Directories Hussein Ali Abu-Hamzeh... 82 Abbas Nasrallah... 83 Zajal Shibley Youssif Tajildeen... 86 Ameen David... 90 Mahmoud Sadaka... 92 Toufic Zaineldeen... 96 The Ameen Family of Virginia... 100 Asa’ad and Yousif Kassem... 102 Massoud and Hind Baz... 103 Najib and Dorothy Hallaway... 106 Salman Ali Maher... 107 Rafic and Attia Rasamny... 112
Chapter Three... 119 Michigan
The Hamadys... 120 Child Rearing The Sams Family... 130 Yousef Hassen Saqr... 131 Fred Massey... 132 Kunya Said and Malakie Fayad... 135 Mashyakhat Al-Aql Farris and Nagela Abu Ghanim... 139 Adaptation Jib Women’s Role in World War II Mahmoud Hussein Abraham... 145 Nafe and Hadia Katter... 149 Music Kalel Gosaynie... 153 Druze Shrines Raspberry Time Ameen Gosaynie... 156 Yousif Husein El Halaby... 157 Youssif and Hesn Bomorra... 158 Amin and Helen Kasem... 161 Ferris and Wadad Naim... 165
Table of Contents | ix
The Bridge Builder An old man, going a lone highway, Came at the evening cold and gray, To a chasm, vast and deep and wide, Through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim— That sullen stream had no fears for him; But he turned, when he reached the other side, And built a bridge to span the tide. “Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near, “You are wasting strength in building here. Your journey will end with the ending day; You never again must pass this way. You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide, Why build you the bridge at the eventide?” The builder lifted his old gray head. “Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said, “There followeth after me today A youth whose feet must pass this way. This chasm that has been naught to me To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be. He, too, must cross in the twilight dim; Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.” —Will Allen Dromgoole
xii | DRUZE IN AMERICA: The Early Years
T
here are incalculable resources in the human spirit, once it has been set free. —Hubert H. Humphrey
Ch a p ter Two
New York, Connecticut, Washington,D.C., Virginia &Massachusetts
Dedication
To the Druze immigrants who came to America at the turn of the twentieth century and built the bridge for us
Foreword
I
t is with great pride that I write the foreword to this book, which has been a labor of love for us at the American Druze Foundation (ADF) for several years. The foundation, established in 1989, seeks to preserve the Druze heritage and faith, while celebrating our ancestors’ assimilation into America with all its diverse communities. We view this publication as an exciting achievement in line with our mission, as well as a fitting project to mark our 25th anniversary. This book captures the journeys of our forefathers to these blessed shores. It documents their innermost thoughts, their confessions, their hopes, their fears, and their prayers, all in their own distinct voices. Their stories reveal in intimate detail the struggles and achievements involved in leaving one’s homeland to follow the dream of “becoming an American.” As a collection, they speak to universal questions of personal and national identity, and to the strength of the American spirit. As Board Chair, it is both a privilege and an inspiration for me to be able to witness the culmination of this project. Likewise, it is a privilege to serve with the Board of Trustees of the
ADF, whose passion and dedication bring you this book. I especially want to thank Dima Suki for her unwavering commitment as an ADF volunteer on this project. My gratitude and respect to all our supporters runs deep. As you jump back in time through the pages of this book, I hope the stories you read will be as enriching to you as they are to us. ✯
Manal Boukzam Saab Chair, Board of Trustees American Druze Foundation
Foreword | xv
Preface
E
veryone has a story. American Druze are no exception. This book is a collection of stories about the Druze—stories of those who first landed on American shores at the turn of the twentieth century; stories of those who followed later; and stories of generations born in America. These narratives, mostly in the storytellers’ own words, have been gathered from interviews, written correspondence, articles published by the American Druze Society, books, and other publications. Each story can easily be comprehended without reading this book from beginning to end. Together they comprise a collection of memories about individuals from the American Druze community.
society; others chose to go back to Often called Abna’ Bani Maarouf, the homeland. But all struggled and or Muwahhidun, the Druze are fol1 were tried repeatedly along the way. lowers of the Tawhid faith. Most still No matter how each individual story live in the mountainous areas of modends—and there are many different ern-day Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and endings—these are stories of formiJordan. (The word Druze can be used dable people with to identify a single unwavering courage individual, or it can I, the immigrant, and determination. be used in the plural have two souls: This book, a projwith or without the one follows in my footsteps, ect of the American “s” ending. It is somebut the other is hostage Druze Foundation, is times transliterated to my homeland. the first ever to focus as Druse.) In the early —Naseeb Arida on the early years of part of the twentieth Druze immigration to America. The century, many individuals from the authors have spent some five years Druze community braved unforeseen accumulating and organizing data to obstacles to come to America. They document those years here. We were journeyed into the unknown, leavfortunate to have interviewed many ing behind—sometimes forever—a of the earliest Druze immigrants, as beloved native homeland and all that well as a number of their descendants. was dearest to their hearts. And we have tried to highlight as many Their lives in this new country were aspects of their lives as we could— far from easy. Most early immigrants powerful vestiges of a past era. As the started as peddlers. Even so, they mainnoted Lebanese American historian tained their identity, dignity, pride, and Alixa Naff writes, such reminiscences values. Some triumphed, overcoming are “like snapshots of turn-of-thetheir humble beginnings and reachcentury America, its landscape and its ing respectable social echelons; others people, taken through the lens of peasfell short of these achievements. Some ants originating in a world as alien to settled in America for good, assimilatAmerica as America was to them. From ing to varying degrees into American
the threads of their memories emerges the tapestry of this narrative.”2 As you immerse yourself in these stories, we hope that you gain a deeper understanding of the Druze people— of their values, customs, and history; of their unique adaptability; and of their abiding love and loyalty to America and its values. We also hope that you find the common thread that binds immigrants from all corners of the earth to this great country of ours, in their quest to become American. ✯
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Introduction: AN OVERVIEW | xix
Introduction: An Overview
Demographics M
ost sources from the late twentieth century estimate there are approximately one million Druze worldwide. The largest concentration is said to be in Syria and Lebanon. Yet numbers vary widely: from 170,000 to 680,000 in Syria, 130,000 to 400,000 in Lebanon, 60,000 to 115,000 in Palestine and Israel and 2,000 to 20,000 in Jordan. The remainder, numbering around 50,000 to 90,000, are scattered throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, South America, Canada, and other regions and countries.1
The population of Druze in America numbers approximately 25,000 to 30,000, based on published estimates.2 The Druze have settled throughout the country, with the largest concentration in Southern California, followed by Central and South Florida, Texas, Michigan, Northern California, North Carolina, Virginia, Seattle, Boston, Georgia, the Tri-State area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut), and Washington, D.C.3 For centuries, Druze have lived in the mountains of Greater Syria, in small village communities adjacent to one another. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, most worked in farming and agriculture and subsisted on the produce of their land.4 A few engaged in trade or became shopkeepers, but virtually none took on mechanical trades.5 They lived a simple lifestyle and maintained frugal habits.6 A good number remain settled in these villages to the present day. And when they do move to urban areas in search of education or better employment opportunities, they rarely sever ties to their villages, which remain an integral part of their lives and identity. âœŻ
Untouched by the passing of the years and the whims of natural events, this proud home in the Lebanese village of Rashayya stands tall, strong, and forever ready to warmly welcome the next generation of descendants. (Courtesy of Joyce A. Jaoudi.)
Introduction: AN OVERVIEW | xxi
Arriving in America M
ost records indicate that by 1914 some 100,000 emigrants from Greater Syria had landed in America. Of those, 90 to 95 percent were Christians, 5 to 10 percent were Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, and 1 to 2 percent (or 1,000 to 2,000) were presumably Druze.44 These estimates are speculative, as immigrants’ origins were inconsistently recorded by American immigration officers during the early years. In 1899, for instance, Arabs were classified as Caucasians, in 1910 as Asiatic, and in 1917 as white.45 Moreover, many Arabs arriving in America were registered as Turkish, instead of Syrian, because the Ottoman Empire ruled their country until the end of World War I. The faith of individual immigrants was rarely recorded. And inaccuracies in recordkeeping occurred due to language barrier and voluntary falsification of information.46 All these factors make estimating the exact number of Druze immigrants during those early years a daunting task. Southern Syria, Palestine, and Jordan. It is generally believed that the Most immigrants were single males in first Druze to immigrate to America the second to fourth decades of life, and was Melhim Salloum Aboulhosn, more than half were illiterate.51 Until who arrived in the United States between 1880 and the 1920s, few Druze 47 Lebanon has always been 1882. According to women immigrated a net exporter of its sons and some stories, Hussein to America. By 1928, it daughters, partly through demoMehdi Aboulhosn is estimated that there graphic pressure in this ‘mouneither accompanied were only about 80 him or came sepa- tainous land whose soil was less Druze women in the rately around the entire United States.52 fertile than its women.’ 43 same time.48 Asaad Leaving their vil—T. J. Gorton and and Ahmed Shaban lages and coming to A. Féghali Gorton are also said to have America was some49 come to America in 1880. All four times traumatic for these young men were from the region of Greater Druze. In one case, three young men Syria known at the time as Mount from the Aboulhosn family decided to Lebanon—both a geographical protect one another and their future in mountainous region extending from the New World by signing the followthe Lebanese Metn district south to ing pact: the Chouf district and an autonoHeading to America on January 3, 1898, and nermous political region established vously venturing into the unknown, three young within the Ottoman system. men from the Aboulhosn family—Slayman MahIn fact, 90 to 95 percent of Druze moud Jaber, Hussein Mahmoud Abu Hussein, and Mahmoud Jaber, all from the village of Bteckhnay— immigrants arriving in America during signed a pact to protect each other, no matter the the early days came from this area.50 obstacles they would face in the New World. Fewer came from Jabal Al Druze in (Courtesy of Sajih Aboulhosn.)
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xxxiv | DRUZE IN AMERICA: The Early Years
We, the undersigned, Slayman Mahmoud Jaber, Hussein Mahmoud Abu Hussein, and Mahmoud Jaber, from the Aboulhosn family and from the village of Btekhnay, are heading to America on January 3, 1898. Starting from this day and as long as we are away, we agree to share equally whatever we earn individually and collectively between the three of us. And if, God forbid, one of us becomes sick, the other two will pay his expenses and share with him all their earnings during his sickness. Furthermore, if God forbid two of us get sick, the healthy third member of the group will pay their expenses and share his earnings with them during their entire sickness.… None of us can revoke this agreement, which we enter into willingly and with no pressure from anyone at all. —Slayman Mahmoud Jaber, Hussein Mahmoud Abu Hussein, and Mahmoud Jaber53 ✯
SettingFoot in theNewWorld T
he first immigrants touched ground at Castle Garden, the immigration center created by New York State to protect new arrivals. Located near Ellis Island but at the southern tip of Manhattan, it operated from 1855 through 1890. During those years, two of every three American immigrants, including the first Druze, entered America through Castle Garden, “receiving lodging and travel information, medical attention and honest currency exchange.”55 In 1892 Ellis Island replaced for legal reasons before gaining right Castle Garden as the main port of of entry. entry for immigrants to America. The early Druze who managed to Ellis Island witnessed the passage of pass through immigration spread out approximately 12 million immigrants over large areas of their new nation. before its closure They had heard about The immigrants made a in 1954. Travelers opportunities from voyage not only across the sea, arriving there, after one end of the contibut across time at Ellis Island. long and frantic voynent to the other, and It was a journey from…a way ages across the sea, so they forged their of life that had not changed for had to pass numerway into the country, ous inspections by hundreds of years to an America settling in states heavimmigration officers ily populated with coal that was changing too rapidly and medical personmines—especially to know its own nature. Ellis nel. Individuals with Island was the crossroads where West Virginia. They contagious diseases, also ventured to Michthe immigrant’s journey and mental disturbances, igan, following work America’s became one.54 insanity, “moral turavailable in beet fields —David M. Brownstone, pitude,” or a crimiand in the emerging Irene M. Franck, and nal record were automobile industry. Douglass Brownstone deported, as were They spilled into the individuals thought to be unable to neighboring steel-producing states of care for themselves, such as unacOhio and Pennsylvania, into the middle companied women, minors, elders, of the country where railroads were and paupers. Some immigrants were being built, and even down into Texas. detained for medical treatment or They rode trains to the state of Wash-
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Ellis Island building in New York Harbor, ca. 1905. This was the main port of entry for immigrants to America from 1892 to 1954. It witnessed the passage of some 12 million immigrants, including many Druze seeking a new life. (Courtesy of National Park Service.)
Having feverishly awaited the end of their long journey, immigrants disembark on Ellis Island, ca. 1910. (Courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org.)
ington, beckoned by the lure of work building new highways from Alaska to California. No state was out of reach. Alixa Naff writes: Druze…peddled their way, before 1900, to such widely separated regions as West Virginia and Seattle. The first Druze [male] to arrive in West Virginia may have meandered southward along the East Coast in 1885, passing through the Pennsylvania coal districts.… He started a chain migration of males within his extended family to that area which, in time, became an important nucleus of Druze. From there, small clusters of Druze men settled neighboring Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, forming what appears to have become, after 1908, a hub of settlements from which Druze spread southward and westward as far as Texas and Oklahoma. Some also formed enclaves in Cleveland, Akron, and Dayton, Ohio.56 ✯ Introduction: AN OVERVIEW | xxxv
He brought his young bride to “ America through Ellis Island. She was still in her teens at the time. Our grandfather was a dignified and forward-thinking man. He registered her in boarding school.... After our grandmother graduated from high school, Massoud offered her the option of going back to Lebanon or staying with him in America. —May Hallaway Kassem and Samia Hallaway Fayyad
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Hind Baz high school picture, Waterbury, Conn., ca. 1900s. (Images courtesy of May Hallaway Kassem.)
He felt it was his patriotic duty to do so. He served in a Mobile Army Surgical Unit in Turkey, and then in Iceland, where he married Selma Dytel. The couple moved to Connecticut and later brought our grandmother back to the US. She lived with them until she passed away in November 1973. ✯
Hind Baz and her daughter Dorothy, New Haven, Conn., ca. 1917. (Images courtesy of May Hallaway Kassem and Dima Abisaid Suki.)
Chapter Two: NEW YORK, CONNECTICUT, WASHINGTON, D.C., VIRGINIA & MASSACHUSETTS | 105
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You who have been born in America, I wish I could make you understand what it is like not to be an American—not to have been an American all your life—and then suddenly with the words of a man in flowing robes to be one. For that moment and forever after, one moment you belong with your fathers to a million dead yesterdays. The next you belong with America to a million unborn tomorrows.57 —George Magar Mardikian
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