Arab
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Indianapolis, Ind. — Pennsylvania State University Press in cooperation with the Center for Arab Narratives (CAN) and the William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts at Indiana University Indianapolis will publish Arab Americana, a first-of-its-kind community-engaged scholarly journal about Arab American life. “Embodying the public-facing spirit of both CAN and the Plater…
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This is a history that stubbornly refuses to yield the space of memory to those who wish that we were never here. My new edited book, Arab American Public History, is now available from Temple University Press, and like a number of my works, it has been published at a terrifying moment for the communities…
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November 24, 2025 — The IU Indianapolis University Library has published an online, fully digital open-access archive of the Midwest Federation of American Syrian Lebanese Clubs (MFASLC). Containing over one thousand items ranging from annual convention programs and legal documents to photographs and correspondence among Arab American leaders, the archive is a unique addition to…
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Indianapolis, Ind. — Last week, IU Indianapolis Arabic and Islamic Studies Program Director Edward Curtis, the William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts, took home the Chancellor’s Award for Civic Engagement, and then five days later, he received the Asian Student Union’s Faculty Leader of the Year Award. “I knew that…
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Originally appeared in Traces, Fall 2024, 48-54. Want to know more? You can research the Syrian Ladies Aid Society collection at the IU Indianapolis Library. Established in 1918 in Michigan City, Indiana, the Syrian Ladies Aid Society (SLAS) was a self-defined charitable organization that rendered mutual aid and supported the life of Syrian-Lebanese Christian communities…
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The Muslims of the Heartland audiobook, narrated by yours truly, is now available on Apple Books, Audible, Amazon, and other places. The audio is produced by Kent Vernon, the same sound engineer that worked on Arab Indianapolis: A Hidden History. The book tells the story of several Arabic-speaking Muslim families who settled in the Midwest before World War I and…
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On April 25, 2024, supporters of the Arab Indianapolis project were proud to dedicate the Syrian Quarter marker at Lucas Oil Stadium, where Syrian immigrants developed the first Arabic-speaking neighborhood in Indianapolis. Speakers included Maria Nimri, St. George Church member; Josh Chitwood, filmmaker of When We Were Syrian and descendant of a Syrian Quarter family;…
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This article, published by the Indiana Magazine of History and also available on Project Muse, is the first to document the historical significance of the Indianapolis-based Syrian Ark, the official newspaper of the Midwest Federation of Syrian American Clubs from 1936 to 1954. Extant copies of the periodical provide a detailed record of Arab, Syrian,…
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In the summer of 1936, Arab American Muslims from across the Midwest arrived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to celebrate the first anniversary of the Rose of Fraternity mosque, also known as the Moslem Temple. It was a joyous affair. Local community members Elaine Graham, Lucille Mann, and Margaret Hamad sang, “To a Wild Rose.” Participants…
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Originally published in Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History (Indiana Historical Society), Spring 2023: 5-13. By 1900 there were vibrant Arabic-speaking communities across Indiana, including in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Michigan City. But Fort Wayne was special, at least according to its Syrian residents. Alixa Naff, who developed the Smithsonian Institution’s collection on Arab American…
Edward E. Curtis IV 