April is Arab American Heritage Month
April 3, 2024
“Arab American” encompasses people with ancestry from a wide range of Arabic-speaking countries and regions in the Middle East and parts of northern Africa. Southeast Michigan is home to the largest concentration of Arabs in the country.
As Governor Whitmer said in her 2022 Proclamation, "Arab Americans have been an integral part of the State of Michigan since their migration to the United States around 1880."
Visit our guide to Arab American Studies to find relevant resources, such as books about Arab Americans in Michigan, subject terms for finding books on Arab Americans, key databases, news sources, and websites.
Among the highlights:
- The Hani Bawardi Collection at the University of Michigan – Flint, which documents the history of the Arab American community in Flint, MI and includes interviews and oral histories on videotape. Bawardi, a Palestinian-born Flint resident, assembled these materials in the 1990s for a PhD dissertation.
- Arab Americans, Chaldeans, and Muslims in Michigan: Collections at the Bentley Historical Library, a rich collection of materials on the Arab American, Chaldean, and Islamic communities in Michigan.
- Arab American Politicians, Artists and Organizations, a public collection of archived websites documenting the presence of Arab Americans in politics and the arts sponsored by the Arab American National Museum.
Find Arab Heritage Month event listings.
Have a question about Arab American resources? A library specialist can help.
The Looting of the Museum of Art by Hanaa Malallah, painted collage on cut and burned wood, 2003.