User:Owlsmcgee/Syrian Diaspora

Syrian diaspora in the United States - draft and outline
Lead goes here.

History
The first wave of major migration from the area now known as Syria were among citizens of the Ottoman Empire in the period between 1889 and 1914, many citing their persecution as Christians. Until 1899, all migrants from the Ottoman Empire were referred to as "Turks" during immigration registration at Ellis Island. "Syrian" became available as a designation at the turn of the 20th century. After the designation was introduced, 3,708 migrants from the region registered as Syrians, only 28 as Turks.

Many within the first wave of Syrian migration to the United States worked as, or worked to support, street merchants. . Scholars such as Oswaldo Truzzi have speculated that this work ultimately helped Syrian integration into the US by accelerating cultural contact and English language skills. However, historian Charlotte Karem Albrecht writes that Syrians were the only ethnic group that included women street merchants; others, including white "Yankee" traders from the north as well as Jewish traders, carried a stigma of dishonesty. It has been estimated that nearly 80% of first generation Syrian women worked as street merchants, and they and their children were often negatively stigmatized as "street Arabs" or inaccurately assumed to be unmarried mothers or prostitutes. In 1907, Congressman John L. Burnett called Syrians “the most undesirable of the undesirable peoples of Asia Minor” and such stigmas appear again in a 1929 survey in Boston that associated Syrians with "lying and deception."

In 1890 the writer Jacob Riis wrote How the Other Half Lives, a book focused on Arab street children using what historian Albrecht calls a racialized language, representing the children as pitiful but dangerous. In 1899 the National Conference on Charities declared children engaged in the street market to be equivalent to begging, opening the possibility that women street merchants with children could be deported.

The first wave of Syrian migrants presented a mixture of alarm but also faced romantic stereotyping of their Christian origins. The migrant and writer Mary Amyuni described being advised to describe her home as "the Holy Land" to ease her integration into the United States: "hold up the rosaries and crosses first; say they are from the Holy Land because Americans are very religious."

Writers such as Horatio Alger and M.A. Howe, contributed to the understanding of Syrian migrants as "redeemable peasants." This view pressured Syrians to reject old ways of life as "un-American" and to "accept new ideals."

Immigrant writers often balanced an adopted culture with a home culture, such as in Ameen Rihani's 1911 "The Book of Khalid," which revolved around an imagined Arabic text inscribed with images of skyscrapers and pyramids. Others argued for the possibility of both identities in public discourse, including Syrian academic Abbas Bajjani, who wrote that "inhabiting two separate worlds—physically and socially—was not only possible but actually desirable, since it was the only hope for the salvation, edification, and modernization of “Syria.”

Early newspapers
Early Syrian-American newspapers often included articles intended to help readers assimilate. Such advice included etiquette advice for American culture, such as not entering the home of a friend uninvited. Another chastised Syrian migrant mothers for "backwards" child rearing, contrasted with the "scientific" methods of American mothers blaming these disparities for "weak" children. Such emphasis on secularization and modernization spoke to its Syrian readership as a more progressive and culturally superior group from homeland Syrians, while still apart from broader American culture.

Civil War/"Today"
Probably major focus of the diaspora page, outline civil war as it relates to migration and movements of Syrians; who they are (Christian, Muslim, Sunni/Shiite, etc). Controversies can be touched upon but keep article on the diaspora.

Religious communities
Religious communities in the United States included Maronite, Melkite, and Syrian Orthodox churches. Ninety such churches were established across the country by 1920, many establishing firm contrasts between themselves and American Christian faiths such as the Episcopalians or Catholics. Historian Naff writes that as a broad global diaspora threatened the Syrian identity, the preservation of its religious traditions became increasingly important.

Social organizations
Before World War 1, many organizations emerged to build and assist Syrian migrants in the United States. These included the Douma Society, Syrian Women’s Charitable Society (Brooklyn), the literary society Rabitat al-Qalam (the Pen Club), and the Young Syrian Society.

Outline business networks, cultural hubs and other communities. Economic impact estimates if available.