Lebanese American

Lebanese Americans

Ralph Nader • Kathy Najimy • Christa McAuliffe • Jamie Farr Helen Thomas • Darrell Issa • Tiffany Tony Shalhoub • John E. Sununu • James Abourezk Rima Fakih • Ray LaHood • Marlo Thomas
Total population
504,499 0.16% of total population (2009) 3,300,000 Americans have at least partial Lebanese ancestry.
Regions with significant populations
Michigan, California, New York, Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts, Texas, Louisiana., Illinois, Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Jersey, Washington
Languages
American English, Arabic, French, and Armenian
Religion
90 % Christianity (mostly Catholic and Orthodox), with minorities of Islam and Judaism.
Related ethnic groups
Other Lebanese people and Arab diaspora, Syrian Americans, Turkish Americans, Cypriot Americans, Egyptian Americans, Armenian Americans and Greek Americans.

Lebanese Americans are American citizens of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States as well as Lebanese immigrants to America. The vast majority of them are Christians, in particular Maronite Catholic. Lebanese Americans are the largest Arab group in America, comprising 0.16% of the American population as of the American Community Survey estimations for year 2007, and 32.4% of all Arab Americans. Over three million Americans are estimated to have at least partial Lebanese ancestry according to Lebanese American activists.

History

The first known Lebanese immigrant to the United States was Antonios 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. They settled mainly in Brooklyn and Boston, Massachusetts. While they were marked as Syrians, the vast majority of them were Christians from Mount Lebanon. Upon entering America, many of them worked as peddlers. This wave continued through the 1920s. During the first wave, an estimated 100,000 Lebanese had immigrated to America. Many immigrants settled in Northern New Jersey, in towns such as Bloomfield, Paterson, Newark, and Orange. Some immigrants set out west, with Detroit, Michigan and Peoria, Illinois, gaining a large number of all Lebanese immigrants. Others bought farms in states such as Texas, South Dakota and Iowa. Large numbers came 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 immigrants had been fleeing the Lebanese Civil War. Between 1948 and 1985, over 60,000 Lebanese entered the United States. Since then, immigration has slowed down to an estimated 5,000 immigrants a year, and those who do settle these days are predominately Muslim, different from the predominately Christian population of immigrants during all previous waves.

Religion

Around 90% of all Lebanese Americans are Aramaic Christians, most of them being followers of the Maronite and Orthodox Christian faiths. Most of the Lebanese immigrants during the first and the early part of the second waves were Christians. Muslims followed in large numbers beginning in the late 1960s. Among Muslims, the Shi'ite and Sunni communities are the largest. A number of Jews fled Lebanon for the United States due to fears of persecution, and populations of Druze and Atheists also exist. This information has been distributed by all American organizations, including the Arab American Institute and the United States census team.

Places with sizable populations

Dearborn, Michigan has the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States, at over 40%. Of these Arab Americans, two thirds are Lebanese Americans. The rest of Metro Detroit has Lebanese residents as well. Brooklyn, New York has one of the oldest Lebanese populations in America, dating over 125 years; one large center is in the Bay Ridge section. Once predominately Christian, the Lebanese in Bay Ridge are today equally split between Muslims and Christians. South Paterson, New Jersey historically had a large Lebanese Christian population dating back to the 1890s, but only a few remain, and the neighborhood has largely been replaced by new Palestinian immigrants.

Utica, New York; San Diego, California; Jacksonville, Florida; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Los Angeles County; San Francisco, California; Grosse Pointe, Michigan; Miami, Florida; Wichita, Kansas; Bloomfield, Michigan; Fall River, Massachusetts; Worcester, Massachusetts; Boston, Massachusetts; Methuen, Massachusetts; Lawrence, Massachusetts; Salem, New Hampshire; Lansing, Michigan; East Grand Rapids, Michigan; Lafayette, Louisiana; St. Clair Shores, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio and Houston, Texas also have sizeable Lebanese communities.

The Arab American Institute reports the top five states where Lebanese Americans reside are: Michigan (11%), California (9%), Ohio (6%), Florida (6%), and Massachusetts (5%).

Famous Lebanese-Americans or Americans of Lebanese descent

Main article: List of Lebanese people in the United States