History of Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit
The Detroit metropolitan area has one of the largest concentrations of people of Middle Eastern origin, including Arabs and Chaldo-Assyrians in the United States.
[2] Dearborn's sizeable Arab community consists largely of Lebanese people who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s, and of more recent Yemenis and Iraqis.
Jordanians and Palestinians in Metro Detroit include believers of Sunni Islam, Catholic, Protestant, and Greek Orthodox Christian beliefs.
[5] A 2007 Wayne State University study said that the Metro Detroit Arab American community produced $7.7 billion annually in earnings and salaries.
[10] As of 2004 Arabs stated that they wish to come to Detroit to unify their families, escape from conflicts in the Middle East, and improve their economic standing.
[11] Andrew Shryock and Nabeel Abraham, authors of "On Margins and Mainstreams", wrote that "When asked to explain why so many Arabs have migrated to Detroit, most people in the community will mention the automobile industry.
After 1920 the Ottoman Empire collapsed and European colonial administrators divided the areas in the Levant into Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.
[14] Around the same year there were about 4,000 to 5,000 persons in Detroit and Dearborn who had origins from the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Yemen, and other Middle Eastern countries.
[15] Sally Howell, author of "Competing for Muslims: New Strategies for Urban Renewal in Detroit", wrote that Yemeni people had a presence in the area since the late 1960s.
This phrase is defined by the U.S Census Bureau as ethnic origin, descent, roots, heritage or place of person's or ancestor's birth.
[20] The U.S Census Bureau considers individuals who reported being one of the following ethnic origins as an Arab: Algerian, Bahraini, Egyptian, Emirati, Iraqi, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Libyan, Moroccan, Omani, Palestinian, Qatari, Saudi Arabian, Syrian, Tunisian, and Yemeni.
[21] With the aforementioned criteria, it was estimated that 850,000 people with Arab ancestry (0.35 percent of the total population) lived in the United States in 1990.
[21] Currently, the ten states with the largest Arab populations are California, Michigan, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, respectively.
[17] The Islamic Center of America (Arabic: المركز الإسلامي في اميركا[1]) is a mosque located in Dearborn, Michigan.
[5] With its large Shia Arab population (consisting mostly of Lebanese), Dearborn is often called the "heart of Shiism" in the United States.
[27] Typically, newly arrived immigrants initially worked in small family-owned stores which older groups setup.
Yasmeen S. Hanoosh, the author of The Politics of Minority Chaldeans Between Iraq and America, wrote that the giveways were called donations, but were interpreted as bribes.
[5] Areas that had Assyrian residents c. 2001 included Chaldean Town in Detroit, Southfield, Oak Park, Troy, and West Bloomfield Township.
[38] Assyrian residents of Chaldean Town tended to be low-income elderly people and recent immigrants from the Middle East.
[39] By 2014, in addition to West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills and Sterling Heights had also received Assyrians due to higher income stability.
[43][44] After the riots, Assyrians purchased abandoned businesses at rock bottom prices, increasing the level of ownership in the community.
[46] According to the Associated Food Dealers of Michigan (AFD),[47] only larger stores had mixed race employment with African Americans and Assyrians working together.
[46] Natalie Jill Smith, author of "Ethnicity, Reciprocity, Reputation and Punishment: An Ethnoexperimental Study of Cooperation among the Chaldeans and Hmong of Detroit (Michigan)", stated that she "met few grocers who employed Blacks" and that employees unrelated to the owners are more likely to be Assyrians or Caucasian Americans.
[46] Relations between African American and Assyrian communities in Chaldean Town almost reached a breaking point in the late 20th century, with killings across both groups leading to heightened tensions.
[48] However, many young Assyrians today are now pursuing more professional fields for work, attending universities and abandoning the traditional grocery model.
[49] In Chaldo-Assyrian culture, traditional family and religious values are increasingly important to the community, even as younger generations are becoming more Americanized.
[52] One group, Chaldean Americans Reaching and Encouraging (CARE), takes efforts to improve the Assyrian community such as doing food drives.
In 2014, the Dearborn Heights director of community and economic development, Ron Amen, stated that Arabs are about 25% of the city's population.
[58] In 2021 Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press reported that Yemeni Americans in Dearborn were advocating for more of a role in their city's government.
[70] In 2005, Highland Park Schools made plans to attract Arab and Muslim students resident in Detroit and Hamtramck.
