Salah Hassan, professor of English at Michigan State University, delivers a talk entitled, "Middle East to Middle West: Arab merchants on the frontier, 1900-1920." Hassan discusses his family's migration to Sioux Falls, South Dakota within the greater context of Arab migration to North America during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He notes generalizations and cultural images he found while researching Arab migration to the Americas, including the notion that many of the first Arab immigrants were peddlers when they arrived. Hassan challenges these notions with research and family anecdotes showing Arab immigrants were more than peddlers, but grocers and farmers as well. The event is convened by John P. Beck, Michigan State University professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations.
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