meerat-ul-gharb: News for “little Syria” and the Arabic-speaking NYC community
One hundred years ago today … Meerat-ul-Gharb , published at 93 Washington Street–in the heart of the neighborhood known as “Little Syria”–offered news to the Arabic-speaking community in New York City.
In “The History of Arab American Newspapers in NYC’s Little Syria,” Abdessamad Kharmaj describes the daily and its significance:
Founded in 1899 by Najeeb Diab, a Lebanese immigrant from Mount Lebanon, Meraat-Ul-Gharb quickly achieved a wide readership among Arab readers in the States and abroad. By the year 1911, Meraat-Ul-Gharb was considered “the best Arabic Newspaper” published in the United States. The paper circulated in New York City, and was also published in other American and Canadian cities. Copies of the paper managed their way back to homeland Lebanon…. The critical tone of the paper against the Ottomans was set by its founder Najib Diab, who was an activist for Arab freedom from Turkish control. Like Al-Hoda [another NYC newspaper in Arabic], Meraat-Ul-Gharb often criticized the Turks for their harsh policies toward Arabs and Arab Christians in particular.
The June 28 edition reported international politics, including articles about the Greco-Turkish conflict and postwar Germany. Its “News of the Day,” editorial focuses on postwar Lebanon, then officially part of the nation of Greater Syria. It critiques a law that “allows the army and navy and families of the Allies to vacation in Lebanon and enjoy its climate and sun free of charge while it levies taxes on the Lebanese citizens from June to December.”*
Meerat-ul-Gharb featured occasional contributions from Ameen Rihani, who has been described as “the most influential, prolific and world-renowned Arab-American author of the early 20th century” (Library of Congress Information Bulletin).
Charcoal drawing by William Oberhardt, 1921. Rihani Papers, Manuscript Division. Library of Congress.
Ameen Rihani’s by-line. Meerat-ul-Gharb 28 June, 1920, p. 4. Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies.
On this day, the paper printed the essay “Syria and Lebanon,” in which Rihani, at this point a US citizen of twenty years, muses over his complicated origins:
I’m Syrian first, Lebanese second, and Maronite third. I am proud of my Arabic language and heritage and the glory of Islam. But I believe in the separation of religion and politics and in the removal of religious fanaticism.
Note: The Maronites are Catholics from the Eastern Mediterranean, with their greatest concentration in Lebanon.
Meerat-ul-Gharb’s advertisers included A.J. Macksoud Phonograph Record Company:
Meerat-ul-Gharb, 28 June 1920, p. 3. Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies.
Macksoud’s was located at 89 Washington Street, on the Lower Weest Side of Manhattan, a couple doors down from the newspaper headquarters in Little Syria.
The Washington Street Historical Society, devoted to keeping alive the legacy of Little Syria and its role in Arab-US history and immigration, summarizes the neighborhood’s community:
The great majority of those who came were Christians: Maronites (Lebanese Catholics), Melkites (Greek Catholics), Orthodox, and a sprinkling of Protestants. They attended American churches until they could bring over their own Arabic-speaking priests, the first of whom arrived in 1890; others followed in short order.
(Note: Little Syria will be the subject of future posts. Stay tuned.)
*All Arabic translations by Mariana Abdelnour and writer/editor Salma Abdelnour Gilman (website linked here).
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, JUNE 28, 2020.
TAGS: Little Syria, Arabic, Lebanon, Maronite, newspapers, immigrants, phonographs