April is Jazz History Month, National Poetry Month, the celebration of Earth AND Arab American History Month too! Enjoy today's guest blog exploring connections to Arab Roots!
In honor of Arab American heritage month I had the idea to
plunge into my own family history to see if there were was any secret lineage
that could be traced to Arab roots. My
ethnic background, like many Americans is a mishmash of European nationalities,
much of which has not been traced. There
is really only one relative that I can chart back to his immigration to the
United States.
My great-grandfather was born in 1896 and around the early
1910’s immigrated to the United States in the mass exodus of Sicilians leaving
the island. Historical records recount abject poverty and an enormous surge of
Sicilians entering the United States. It’s somewhat shocking to meet an Italian
American today that isn’t really Sicilian-American. As I began doing some
digging for a project on Morocco through the 20th century I
uncovered the depth of influence the Arab world had on Italy.
Italian immigrants, like Arab immigrants and many other
groups didn’t find the United States as welcoming as they may have hoped. But,
with a lot of hard work, a little luck and determination many have gone on to
live comfortable lives and some have even become famous.
Estimates that I have found claim that between 20-40% of
Sicily’s population has connection to the Arab world. That’s a pretty high
percentage! The connection between the
foods, ingredients, lifestyle and general attitudes between these two groups
always struck me as complimentary but now there was some backing behind it. I don’t know if I will ever know for sure
that my roots are Arabic but it just goes to show how much influence Arabs have
had on the rest of the world.
Do a little digging – maybe you’ve got some
Arab roots too!
AUTHOR BIO:
Amanda is a curious world traveling, mom of two busy boys, foodie at heart, and lover of all things Moroccan. Her areas of interest include bi-cultural and international relationships, raising bi-cultural children, ethnic and whole food, and the issues of being and raising Muslims in America. You can connect with her on her blog MarocMama.com, Facebook and Twitter.
Twenty to forty percent is a high percentage. This makes me want to trace my roots as well.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by that (a little) probably because it's so rarely talked about.
ReplyDelete