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Lebanese Americans

Americans of Lebanese descent

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  • 4 chapters

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Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the American population, as of the American Community Survey estimations for year 2007, and 32.4% of all Americans who originate from the Middle East. Lebanese Americans have had significant participation in American politics and involvement in both social and political activism. The diversity within the region sprouted from the diaspora of the surrounding countries. There are more Lebanese outside Lebanon today than within.

History

The first known Lebanese immigrant to the United States was Antonio Bishallany, a Maronite Christian, who arrived in Boston Harbor in 1854. He died in Brooklyn, New York in 1856 on his 29th birthday. Large scale-Lebanese immigration began in the late 19th century. These newcomers settled mainly in Brooklyn and Boston, Massachusetts. They were identified as Syrians and almost all were Christians. Upon arrival in America, many worked as peddlers. The first wave of immigration continued until the 1920s.

Many of the Lebanese immigrants settled in northern New Jersey, in towns such as Bloomfield, Paterson, Newark, and Orange. Some set out west, settling in Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo, and Peoria. Others bought farms in Texas, South Dakota, and Iowa. Many traveled via the United Kingdom, including a large number on the ill-fated liner RMS Titanic.

The second wave of Lebanese immigration began in the late 1940s and continued through the early 1990s, when Lebanese citizens began to seek refuge from the Lebanese Civil War. Between 1948 and 1990, over 60,000 Lebanese entered the United States. Since then, the figures have risen to an estimated 5,000 immigrants a year. Those arriving in recent years are predominantly Muslim, although a majority of the Lebanese in America are Christian.

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