New York City is a vibrant tapestry woven from countless cultures, histories, and stories. Yet, amidst its celebrated diversity, some narratives remain overshadowed, hidden away from the spotlight. Enter the man dedicated to bringing these stories to life: uncovering the rich and often overlooked histories of New York’s Arab and Muslim immigrants.
The Untold Stories of New York
New York’s identity is synonymous with immigration, a city where people from every corner of the globe converge, bringing their traditions, languages, and beliefs. For the Arab and Muslim communities, this narrative is no different. They have been part of the city’s fabric for over a century, contributing to its cultural, economic, and social landscape. However, their stories have often been eclipsed by broader immigrant narratives, reduced to footnotes in the grand tale of New York.
A Journey into the Past
The man at the heart of this endeavor is a historian and storyteller, passionately committed to illuminating the experiences of Arab and Muslim immigrants. His journey into uncovering these hidden histories began with a personal realization of the glaring gaps in the representation of his own community’s past. Through meticulous research, oral history projects, and community engagement, he has sought to bring these forgotten stories to the forefront.
His work reveals a mosaic of experiences, from the early Lebanese and Syrian immigrants in the late 19th century, who established thriving communities in Manhattan’s Little Syria, to the more recent waves of immigrants who settled in Brooklyn and Queens, seeking new opportunities and a chance to build a life in America. His research is not confined to libraries and archives; it involves talking to the elders, listening to their stories, and piecing together the lived experiences that form the backbone of these communities.
Bringing History to Life
What sets his work apart is not just the depth of his research but his commitment to bringing these histories to life. He organizes community events, walking tours, and exhibitions that highlight the contributions of Arab and Muslim immigrants to New York’s cultural and social landscape. These events serve as a powerful reminder of the enduring impact of these communities, from the culinary influences that have shaped the city’s food scene to the artistic and intellectual contributions that have enriched its cultural heritage.
One of his notable projects includes a documentary series that delves into the personal stories of Arab and Muslim New Yorkers, capturing their struggles, triumphs, and the complex interplay of identity and belonging in a city that is both a haven and a challenge for immigrants. Through this series, he hopes to not only educate but also inspire a sense of pride within the community and foster greater understanding among New Yorkers of all backgrounds.
When imagining turn-of-the-century immigrants to New York City, the images that often come to mind are those of Eastern Europeans in simple clothing and headscarves on the Lower East Side, or Irish farmers fleeing the horrors of the potato famine. Yet, among the throngs of people arriving in New York during this iconic immigration period were also Arabs from the Ottoman Empire, who established Arabic-language businesses, mosques, and churches in Lower Manhattan.
“History tends to exclude certain groups,” says Asad Dandia, who grew up in a Pakistani community in Coney Island, Brooklyn. “If you don’t know your past, you can’t understand your future. A sense of history gives you a sense of place and belonging.”
For the past several years, Dandia has been delving into the overlooked histories of New York, particularly focusing on Arab, Muslim, and South Asian immigrants. “I wanted to share the stories of people like me and my family,” he explains about his project, New York Narratives, which organizes tours and events that reveal parts of the city’s history that are often neglected.
“I don’t want people to view the city as just a mass of buildings,” Dandia says. “I want them to connect with the city on a personal level. The best way to do this is to bring them down to the street level and show them that they are a part of its story.”
A native of Brooklyn, Dandia is committed to telling a more inclusive story of New York’s past. One of his tours highlights the history of Little Syria, a community of immigrants from what was then Ottoman Syria, who lived alongside German and Irish immigrants in Lower Manhattan from the 1880s to the 1940s. In Harlem, his Malcolm X tour guides visitors through the mosques and churches the civil rights leader frequented in the mid-1940s, emphasizing the Muslim faith often overlooked in his narrative. Other tours cover the history of the NYPD from the perspective of marginalized communities, and he is currently developing a tour of Little Palestine in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
On a recent hot and rainy Saturday, Dandia led his second sold-out tour of the day (tickets are $30 through his Substack). A diverse group of New Yorkers gathered with him amidst the crowds of Lower Manhattan, where tourists were preparing to board ferries to New York’s iconic immigrant landmarks: Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
Dandia, however, directed his group inward, away from the boats and into the heart of Lower Manhattan. As they passed by churches and monuments reflecting the area’s rich diversity, the group headed towards Washington Street, the core of Little Syria.
Washington Street, and the now-demolished end of Greenwich Street, was once home to the city’s White Anglo-Saxon Protestant community in the 18th and early 19th centuries. But the wealthy residents fled uptown after frequent epidemics, the Great Fire of 1835, and the advent of noisy steamships docked nearby.
Tenement buildings sprang up in their place, transforming the area into a first stop for many immigrants arriving in Manhattan. Syrians, Lebanese, Armenians, and others from the Ottoman Empire formed a substantial part of this community, opening stores selling Arab goods and publishing the United States’ first Arabic-language newspaper, Al Kawkab.
Most of the Syrian immigrants were Christians, who often found work as translators for Western missionaries. Their connections to missionary work and other typical Christian professions gave them more job mobility than their Arab Muslim counterparts, who usually worked in agriculture. At its peak, Little Syria was home to thousands of Arabs, in what is now the city’s Financial District.
Today, only one tenement remains from the hundreds that once stood. The area was dramatically altered when the city government, under the direction of the notorious urban planner Robert Moses, demolished many buildings to make way for the Battery Park Tunnel.
The revival of Little Syria’s story is not only Dandia’s mission but also a goal for other historians and researchers. The Washington Street Historical Society, established in 2013, along with the Friends of the Lower West Side, recently received approval for a public monument dedicated to the Pen League, or al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya—the first group of Arab-American writers in the U.S., which included renowned figures like Kahlil Gibran.
One prominent member, writer Ameen Rihani—who was the first Arab to publish a novel in the U.S. (The Book of Khalid, 1911)—lived on Washington Street when he first arrived.
Today, Washington Street shows little evidence of its rich history. Even the World Trade Center memorial, whose towers loom in the background, makes no mention of Little Syria in its local history section.
Lower Manhattan was also the first area settled by the Dutch and British, and Dandia traces back even further to illustrate the long-standing connections between Arabs and the United States. The first peace treaty signed by the new country—in Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street—was with Morocco, written in both English and Arabic.
Dandia’s approach often involves highlighting individual stories to demonstrate the lasting impact of Arab and Muslim immigrants on American society today. One particularly colorful character, who was half-Dutch and half-North African, has the distinction of being one of the first Muslims tried on what is now U.S. soil, in 1638. His misdeeds ranged from owing money to attempting to pay his debt with a goat (the goat, unfortunately, died). He was sentenced to exile in Brooklyn, but eventually redeemed himself and rejoined society. Today, his descendants include well-known figures like Anderson Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt, and the Whitney family of the Whitney Museum.
Although only 30, Dandia is no stranger to the public eye, having experienced a significant event in his youth. As a college student in Brooklyn, he co-founded a Muslim charity with friends, only to discover that one of their members was a police informant. This occurred in 2012 and 2013, during a period when Islamophobia was still pervasive in the aftermath of 9/11.
Dandia became part of a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU, and before turning 21, he successfully sued the NYPD. The resulting agreement prohibited the police from using race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin as reasons for surveillance, offering protection to New York Muslims from unjust investigations.
For Dandia, this experience was deeply unsettling, and he sees New York Narratives as a way to reclaim his own story. “I feel I’m no longer just reacting to what happened to me,” he reflects. “I’m now the one setting the terms of the conversation and empowering others to learn about their own histories.”
A Legacy of Understanding
In an era where misunderstandings and stereotypes about Arab and Muslim communities can lead to prejudice and discrimination, this historian’s work is crucial. By shedding light on the diverse and rich histories of these communities, he is helping to build bridges of understanding and empathy. His work is a reminder that New York’s strength lies in its diversity and that every community has a story worth telling.
Through his dedication to uncovering the hidden histories of New York’s Arab and Muslim immigrants, he is not just preserving the past but also shaping the narrative of the future. His efforts ensure that these stories are not lost to time but instead become a celebrated part of the city’s collective memory, enriching the tapestry that makes New York one of the greatest cities in the world.
The man uncovering these hidden histories reminds us that history is not just about what is written in textbooks; it is about the lived experiences of people who call this city home. His work serves as an invaluable contribution to the understanding of New York’s diverse cultural landscape, ensuring that the voices of Arab and Muslim immigrants are heard, celebrated, and remembered.
