Between 1899 and 1910, 32% of Arab immigrants
from Greater Syria were female, a much larger percentage of females
than many other groups coming at the same time. By 1919, females
were nearly half of these immigrants.
As the number of immigrants who came to the US
during the Great Migration grew, resistance to them grew among
Americans born in the US. They said the immigrants were un-American,
had cultures which did not fit with American culture, were more
likely to be criminal and poor, and did not understand the American
political system. Nativist movements, groups of people working
to end immigration to the US, grew in strength. A series of laws
passed by the US Congress in 1917, 1921, and 1924 caused immigration
from all but northern and western Europe to slow down to a trickle.
Arabs, Italians, Poles, Greeks, Slovaks, Eastern European Jews,
and many others, were no longer welcomed. Asians were totally
forbidden. The Great Migration was over and a period like it in
US history would not begin again until 1965. And so to with Arab
immigrants, who did not begin coming to the US again in large
numbers until after 1965.
As we look at the Arab immigrants who came to
the US from different countries in this period, we find there
are some differences between them. Some groups started family
migrations and planned to stay in the US. Others were mostly composed
of men seeking work, who planned to return home after a while.
Some groups clustered in certain cities while others were equally
likely to move anywhere in the US. While the most common occupation
of early Arab immigrants was in retail sales - working as peddlers
or shopkeepers - others were manufacturers of linens and clothing,
wholesalers, and factory workers. In many of these occupations,
women worked as well as men.
Syrians and Lebanese
Syrians and Lebanese were the largest group of Arab immigrants
to come to the US during the Great Migration. They were at least
80% of all Arab immigrants. While Syria and Lebanon have Muslim,
Christian, and Druze religious communities, about 90% of the early
Syrian and Lebanese immigrants were Christian. Most of them came
from the area known at that time as Mt. Lebanon, now part of the
country of Lebanon.
Most of them came to the US to make money and,
at least at the beginning, planned to save this money, send it
back home, and return home themselves someday. Interviews conducted
with these early immigrants showed that most of them were neither
fleeing starvation nor persecution. They were simply looking for
a better life for themselves and their families. As word spread
throughout Syria and Lebanon about how successful these immigrants
were at making money in the US, more and more came.
In the US, Syrian and Lebanese immigrants were
mostly engaged in retail trade. This occupation was strengthened
by Syrian and Lebanese successes in the manufacturing and importing
of silk, lace, linen, and clothing in the US. Syrian and Lebanese
peddlers could establish themselves anywhere in the US and sell
these goods door to door, at better prices than at stores, and
to people in the countryside who had little access to stores.
Other Syrian and Lebanese immigrants opened grocery stores, in
large cities and in small towns. Both women and men worked in
these businesses and some say women peddlers were more successful
than men, since most sales were to the lady of the house.
