| |
Home > My Ancestors > Syrian-Lebanese
> Timeline: 1950-present
- 1950s:
Syrian professionals emigrate in large numbers.
- 1950:
James Batal, born in Lawrence Massachusetts, publishes Assignment:
Near East while lecturing at American University in Beirut.
- 1954:
Approximately 11,000 Syrian-Lebanese live in Boston, working mostly
in the garment industry.
- 1954:
Lowell native Rosalind Elias debuts at Metropolitan Opera House in
Wagner's "Die Walduere."
- 1960:
American Arabic Association, organized by Francis Maria, starts in
Boston and its humanitarian causes reach many people.
- 1964:
Mohammed Omar (emigrated from Lebanon in 1912) creates a mosque, now
called the Islamic Center of New England in Quincy. Sam Hassan, whose
father and uncles immigrated to Quincy in 1902, becomes its first
president.
- 1967:
A Boston meeting creates an interfaith Near East Bishops Emergency
Relief Fund to help Palestinian refugees following hostilities between
Israel and Arab states.
- 1969:
Farouk El-Baz, Egyptian born, consults on the Apollo Moon landing;
in 1999, he directs the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University.
- 1971:
At the request of the House of Representatives' Foreign Relations
Committee, the President of the American Arabic Association of Boston,
Michael Nackel, reports on Jerusalem to the Committee.
- 1974:
World War II Corporal Raymond A.L. Saquet gets a square named after
him in Boston. In all there are five squares named after Lebanese
war heroes: Thomas Karem Square (Kneeland and Albany Streets); John
S. Lufty (Oak and Taylor Streets); Thomas Abraham (Harvard and Hudson
Streets); Michael Abraham (Oak and Hudson Streets); Nicholas G. Beram
(Washington and La Grange Streets in West Roxbury). Another charitable
group, still active, is founded--The American Arabic Benevolent Association.
- 1975-76:
The Lebanese Civil War causes a great deal of emigration.
- 1984:
Arab Americans in the New England states of Connecticut, Rhode Island,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts total 210,000. Approximately
10% are foreign born, 60% second generation, and 30% third or fourth
generation.
- 1985:
Boston Public Library puts up an Arab Heritage Exhibit focusing on
contemporary poetry, music, and community.
- 1990:
Harvard University Professor Elias J. Corey wins the Nobel Prize for
Chemistry.
- 1997:
South End sculptor Kahlil Gibran, cousin of the famed author, has
five pieces accepted in an exhibit at Chesterwood in Stockbridge,
Massachusetts.
- 1998:
The Boston Globe on May 24 features Abington High School teacher
Robert Louis for his program teaching Arabic language and culture.
|
|
