Page - 185 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Kenneth Starck | Perpetuating Prejudice 185 who during this period established several universities in the region including what was to become the American Universities of Beirut and Cairo, both highly respected institutions to this day. The immigrants were mainly farmers and merchants. Males made up well over half of the early arrivals. Women were to come later. The experiences of these immigrants paralleled those of immigrants from other parts of the world. Finding funds and arranging travel, usually at the lowest level of accommodation called “steerage”, were challenges not without danger. More than 100 Syrians were aboard the Titanic when it sank. Arabs in the United States prior to World War I thought of themselves as “sojourners, as people who were in, but not part of, American society” (Suleiman 1999b, p. 4). Still, for many of these immigrants, their Arab ethnicity gave way relatively easily to Americanization. They gradually assimilated into the fabric of American society. The second wave of Arab immigrants took place roughly 1925 to 1965. Much of the activity during this period was driven by world events. After World War II political and economic unrest made life untenable for many of those in the Arab world. Some Arab elites, especially from Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine, were permitted entry into the United States as political exiles. Others, such as the late Columbia University Professor Edward W. Said, came to the United States to study. During the 1950s and 1960s nearly 6,000 Palestinians came to the United States as political refugees. Their entry was facilitated by the U.S. Congress’ passage of the Refugee Relief Act. Immigrants during this period were markedly different from their earlier counterparts. Many were educated and had good English language skills as well as resources to draw on. They melded smoothly into mainstream American society. During the third wave of immigration – roughly 1965 to 2006 – more than 400,000 Arab immigrants came to the United States. They were encouraged by changes in U.S. immigration law and quotas as well as continuing turmoil in the Middle East. The number of immigrants was significantly larger than those in the second wave and three times as large as those in the first wave, according to Kayyali (2006). Many of the immigrants fled their homelands following the humiliating defeat of the Arabs in the 1967 Six-Day War. Other conflicts, including the war in Lebanon and the 1991 Gulf War, resulted in the dislocation of many people in the region. Disenchanted with prospects for the future, people were attracted to the United States for its educational possibilities and its general attitude of tolerance. Kayyali (2006) notes that most