A Brief History of Arab American Women, 1890s to World War II

FOLLOWING EVELYN SHAKIR’S (1997) outstanding and pioneering study of Arab and Arab American women in the United States, this chapter is an attempt at writing a history of Arab American women in the early part of the twentieth century based on their writing.¹ It is worthwhile to report how I went about seeking resources as well as the difficulties I encountered in the process. To begin with, I had to rely almost solely on primary sources. This meant that I had to look for writings by and about Arab American women in the early and pioneering Arab American press. In