9781422277478

13

Getting Here

The Very Earliest Settlers

Although immigrants from the Middle East did not begin to arrive in the United States in any large numbers until the late 19th century, there are historical accounts of some arriving earlier. In the mid-18th century, a royal emissary was sent from the region to explore the possi- bilities of establishing a Muslim presence in the New World. He was shipwrecked off the coast of Ocracoke Island, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He established a village there, and to- day a few Arabian horses, descendants of those he had traveled with, still roam the island. In the mid-19th century, Hadj Ali, a Christian from Lebanon, came to America to work on the

Camel Driver Experiment, a US Army project to establish a transportation route across the desert between Texas and California. The Americans pro- nounced his name “Hi Jolly,” and he is still referred to in some history books that way and on this Arizona monument.

their own culture. Like other immigrant groups, a percentage of these Middle Easterners found that working as peddlers enabled them to earn a living and savemoney. They often sold embroidered linens and religious items they imported fromtheir native lands. Married peddlers sometimes sold baked goods and candiesmade by theirwives. (Ahmed points out that food carts like the one owned by his cousin have a lot in common with the peddlers’ carts fromthat era, even though themodern version is equipped with a griddle, refrigerator, and other conveniences.)