23-Lebanese and Syrian Texans Early Immigrants

Lebanon is located in the Middle East. It is bordered by Syria on the north and east, Israel on the south, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. Until 1920, when Lebanon became an independent country, it was part of Syria. All the people were called Syrians until 1920. Both countries were part of the Roman, Byzantine, Mongol, and Ottoman Empires.

The first Arabic-speaking Syrian, Hadji Ali, arrived with Greek and Turkish shipmates on the Texas coast at Indianola in 1856. They came with 33 camels! Just before the Civil War, the United States Army wanted to start camel transportation between Camp Verde, Texas, and San Diego, California. A couple years later, Mrs. Watson, an Englishwoman, brought another shipload of camels and Arabs to Houston for her nearby ranch.

Lebanese and Syrian Settlers

Most Arabic-speaking immigrants came to Texas between 1880 and World War 1. Texas's first Syrian family was Professor Joseph Arbeely, who had been president of a Syrian college. There he taught Arabic to American missionaries and helped translate the Arabic Bible. He brought his family to America in 1878, and two of his sons settled in Austin a few years later.

Also in 1881 Cater Joseph Azar, a teacher in a Presbyterian school in Lebanon, began send­ing his children to America to escape Turkish rule. Eight of his sons and a daughter settled in Austin, where they took the family name of Joseph. Son Isaac began to sell laces and other

The Serur brothers, Tim, Fred, George, and Ellis, are out with their Uncle CM Haddad, but what are they doing with the long cane poles?

sewing items from a big, black satchel, or bag, along the dusty country roads of Austin to earn a living. Later opening 'a restaurant and general store on Congress Avenue, he was able to help his brothers get started in busi­ness and in 1902 brought his wife to Austin.

The Lebanese and Syrians settled in cities and towns across Texas. While most of the early settlers were Christian, those coming later in the 20th century were Muslim.

The 2000 census counted 5,704 Lebanese Texans and 2,249 Syrian Texans. Many live in Beaumont, El Paso, Austin, and Houston.

Lebanese and Syrian Cultural Folkways

The immigrants keep close family ties with family members in Lebanon and Syria and

often visit their homelands. The Houston community groups are well known for use­ing Arabic as a family language and continue cultural traditions at gatherings called sahrias. The sahrias, held in family homes, clubs, or churches, include dances such as the dabke, or circle dance, Arabic music, costumes, and foods of their homeland.

Another dance from these countries on the Mediterranean is called the belly dance in Texas. It is one of the oldest forms of dance and probably started as a religious ritual. When this Middle Eastern dance came to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, it shocked ev­eryone with its rolling, vibrating belly move­ments. Sometimes called Oriental dance, it's great exercise!

Special recipes of the Middle East are becom­ing Texas favorites. In the ten Lebanese res­taurants in Houston, the menu is filled with delicious dishes such as lamb shish kabobs, pickled turnips, hummus and pita bread, baklava, date cookies, and cardamon-flavored coffee. Cucumbers, garlic, mint, and olive oil mixed into yogurt is a favorite appetizer at the restaurants.

Rug merchants can be found in all Texas cities. Hand-woven carpets are made in all Middle Eastern countries with designs, col­ors, and weave special to each area.

Carpets are often passed down through the generations in a family because they were prized possessions of the first immigrants. The Houston Oriental Rug Study Society with fifty members was formed in 1989. The group meets 11 times a year to learn more about the rugs from Middle Eastern coun­tries such as Lebanon and Syria.

Amazing Lebanese and Syrian Texans

Najeeb Elias Halaby (1878-1928) was born in Aleppo, Syria, and came to New York dur­ing the 1890s. He lived with his brother, Habeeb, working as an importer of Middle Eastern goods. When Najeeb arrived in Texas, he married a ranch woman. They lived in Dallas, and he worked as an oil dealer. In 1915 Halaby's son, also named Najeeb Elias Halaby, attended Stanford University and Yale Law School. He worked with Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy in jobs at the State Department, Defense Department, and NATO. His daughter, Lisa, Queen Noor al Hussein of Jordan, was the first American­born queen of an Arab country. She was the wife of the late King Hussein, who died in 1999.

Joseph Maroun Haggar (1893-1965) was born in Jezzeen, Lebanon. At the age of 13, he immigrated to Mexico. Mter a stopover in New Orleans, he decided to remain in America and lived in St. Louis, where he mar­ried and started his family. The family finally settled in Dallas, where he went to work for the Oberman Pant Company.

In 1927 he began his own company with 80 used sewing machines. Using assembly-line methods, the company mass-produced pants that were sold at popular prices. Instead of using denim or work fabrics, he bought suit cloth and made a new kind of dress pants he called "slacks." The Haggar Company is a multimillion-dollar business and in 2003 was the world's largest manufacturer of men's slacks.

Web site: www.texancultures.utsa.edu/texansoneandall