April is one of the many opportunities available to acknowledge, learn, and celebrate the bountiful and diverse culture of Arab Americans and their accomplishments. Arab American heritage recognizes and honors having ancestry in one of the twenty-two Arab nations:  Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Yemen.

In 2017, Arab Americans started a national initiative to bring to awareness the notion of Arab American heritage month, as well as to advocate for it. The United States’ governmental agencies responded and helped put into motion the action that several cities and states took to issue proclamations in acknowledgement of Arab American heritage. Many of these proclamations note that April is Arab American heritage month. Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell put out a congressional resolution that Arab American Heritage month be recognized on a national scale in 2019. Arab American Heritage month was officially given recognition on a national scale in April of 2021 by President Joe Biden and the U.S. Department of State, some members of Congress, as well as 37 Governors issuing proclamations.  In 2023, the annual proclamation continues to be issued through the Whitehouse and many other states across the country.

• Roughly 4 million Arab Americans reside in the U.S., with the majority having ancestral ties to Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, and Syria.
• Native Arabic-speaking students are the fourth largest group of self-identified home languages throughout Brevard schools. 
• The first Arab-language newspaper in the U.S., Kawkab America, was published in 1892 in New York City.

Military Veteran

James Jabara was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma to his Lebanese- American father and Lebanese mother. He grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where he worked in his family’s grocery store and became a boy scout, earning him the rank of Eagle Scout. In 1942, he enlisted in the aviation academy of the U.S. Army Air Corps.  He completed 1.5 wins while flying more than 100 stories in Europe as a P-51 Mustang pilot during World War Two. With 15 victories in the Korean War, he became the second-leading Ace of the conflict, also noted as the first American and US Air Force jet-to-jet ace.  During the Vietnam War, he was promoted to Colonel. He served in the military until his death in 1966.  Today, his legacy can be recognized in the naming of a Kansas airport, a statue in the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy, and multiple aviation awards. 

United States Representative, Michigan - 12th Congressional District

Rashida Tlaib, the oldest of 14 children and the proud daughter of Palestinian immigrants, was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She made history in 2008 by becoming the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in Congress, the second Muslim woman to serve in Congress, and the first Muslim woman elected to the Michigan legislature. She uses her position to assist her constituents in tackling daily obstacles while addressing major community disparities.

Chemist

Known as the “father of femtochemistry”, Ahmed Zewail was an Egyptian-born chemist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, in 1999. He won the award for developing a rapid laser technique, femtosecond spectroscopy, which enabled scientists to study the actions of atoms during chemical reactions. In doing so, he created Femtochemistry, an entirely new field of physical chemistry. He was the first Egyptian, Egyptian-American, and Arab to win a Nobel Prize in a science category. He also developed a 4D electron microscope that made it possible for users to examine atom dynamics one billion times more quickly than with earlier microscopes.

Events and activities throughout the district will be added to this page, as submitted. Please contact each school directly or visit their website to learn more about their recognition of each observance.

Schools & Sites - Share how you are recognizing this observance by clicking here.

Arab American Heritage Month Resource Guide https://teachmideast.org/resource_guides/arab-american-heritage-month-resource-guide/

Smithsonian - Arab American History and Culture https://www.si.edu/spotlight/arab-american

Story of Arab American's Beginning in America https://www.state.gov/dipnote-u-s-department-of-state-official-blog/the-story-of-arab-americans-beginning-in-america-and-the-quest-for-fair-representation/

Notable Arab Americans in History https://www.womansday.com/life/inspirational-stories/g27195411/arab-americans-in-history/

History - Arab American Immigration Timeline https://www.history.com/news/arab-american-immigration-timeline

Arab American National Museum (The first and only museum dedicated to the Arab American Story) https://arabamericanmuseum.org/

National Arab American Heritage Month | INSIGHT Into Diversity

National Arab American Heritage Month - Arab America Foundation