Proclaiming a unique heritage
Arab-Americans are setting up their first museum in the US. Dina Ezzat reports from Detroit
As they recuperate from post-11 September anti-Arab slander, Arab-Americans have begun construction of a museum that will document their history and contributions within the United States. Laying the foundation stone of the museum was celebrated last week in Detroit during the first Arab-US Economic Forum. Construction of the Detroit Museum for Arab- Americans is expected to be competed in October 2004.
"We thought that Arab-Americans, like Arabs, do not have a good image in the US. We are always seen as outsiders to the society despite our many contributions. We wanted to change this," said Anan Ameri, director of the cultural arts progamme at the Arab Community Centre for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS). Ameri has been asked to serve as the museum's director once it is completed.
Last week's ceremony was the culmination of three years of hard work that included fundraising needed to cover the estimated $15-million budget. Funds for the project came from ACCESS, contributions made by Arab-Americans as well as donations from Arab governments and companies.
"This project was really initiated in 2000, when ACCESS chose the site for the museum. That was before the 9/11 attacks and the consequent slanders to which many Arab- Americans, mainly as individuals, were subjected," Ameri said. However, according to Ameri -- a Palestinian herself -- the need for a museum showing the American public the long history and important contributions of Arab-Americans became absolutely necessary "in view of the fact that the many millions of Arab-Americans who have been coming to this country since the early 1880s do not have a single museum -- at a time when the US has 15,000 museums for all sorts of ethnic groups".
Although Detroit is home to a sizable part of the estimated three million Arab-Americans living in the US, the museum will tell the story of Arab-Americans from across the country. It will recount the story of the first Arab-American ever to arrive in the US "a Moroccan slave brought by the Spanish in 1524" as well as the stories of White House arch- correspondent Helen Thomas, of Lebanese origin, and prominent Egyptian-American geologist Farouq El-Baz.
"Many of the Arab-Americans will be donating items for display in the museum," Ameri said. Thomas will be offering her first type-writer; El-Baz will be giving a stone in his possession that was brought from the moon; Palestinian- Americans will be offering the keys of the houses in Palestine that they brought along as they fled the Israeli massacres in 1948 with the hope of being able to one day return.
According to Ameri, the four-floor museum will display artefacts as well as offer documentaries and lectures. ACCESS also plans to build an auditorium in the museum's basement that could accommodate several hundred people. "Cultural shows are very essential for the American people. It is very important to be able to offer cultural shows, music and dance from the Arab world of today," Ameri said. The auditorium will also offer lectures on the history of Arab civilisations. "There are great Arabs and Arab-Americans who could come and talk on behalf of the Arab culture," she insisted. Ameri, like many others, was hoping that "the great Arab-American" late professor Edward Said would be one of the first speakers in the auditorium "but unfortunately we lost him just before we had our groundbreaking."
The main floor of the museum will be dedicated to art exhibits donated by a variety of individuals, organisations and possibly even Arab governments. Ameri said that the museum's board will be in touch with various Arab ministries of culture to have them provide some items for the museum. "Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa is on our board and the League is helping us communicate the message to all concerned governments and organisations."
Arab governments and organisations are also expected to donate books for a library and resource centre that will be located in museum's main floor.
The second and the third floors of the museum will be devoted to displaying the history of Arab immigration to the US starting from the late 19th century up until the years following the second Gulf War in 1991. "We will be simply telling the story of Arabs living in America, being part of America," explained Ameri.
The sponsors of the project believe that the museum is absolutely essential for the image of Arab-Americans as well as for Arabs in general. According to Ameri "by simply displaying photos from our daily life we are going to defy the bad image that was being propagated about Arab-Americans".
