About National Arab American Heritage Month
National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM) takes place in April. It celebrates the Arab American heritage and culture and pays tribute to the contributions of Arab Americans.
Across the country, cultural institutions, school districts, municipalities, state legislatures, public servants, and Arab Americans engage in special events that celebrate our community’s rich heritage and numerous contributions to society.
According to ArabAmerica.com, It was first celebrated in the 1990s, primarily in school districts. Since then, it has grown to be recognized increasingly by states, cities, and school districts across the country.
In 2017, Arab America, a media and educational resource organization dedicated to portraying the Arab community in the United States began an initiative to designate the month as a national holiday.
Arab America and the Arab America Foundation launched the National Arab American Heritage Month initiative in 2017, with just a handful of states recognizing the initiative. Each year, a grass-roots network of over 250 Arab American volunteers in 26 states gathers hundreds of proclamations from their states, counties, municipalities, and local school districts.
The President of the United States recognized the month of April as National Arab American Heritage Month with a special commemorative letter to our organization. In 2021, Congress, the U.S. Department of State, and 37 state governors issued proclamations commemorating the initiative.
Many Arab Americans are second, third, and fourth-generation immigrants. Some are descendants of the first immigrants who arrived in the New York and New Jersey areas in the second half of the 19th Century.
Arab Americans can trace their ancestry to the countries from which they or their ancestors migrated to the United States. These countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The largest group, comprising nearly one-third of the Arab American population, are Lebanese Americans. The Census Bureau reported in 2010 that there were 1.8 million Arab Americans in the United States, with the largest percentage residing in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.
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