CHICAGO: Dorrah Alharbi believes Arab Americans need to “tell their stories” to help the public better understand who they are, but more importantly to preserve a rich history of settlement, going back two centuries, that has not been fully documented.
A history graduate from the University of Illinois Chicago, where many Arab Americans have graduated over the years, Alharabi decided to launch The Little Palestine Project to document, through family artifacts, the story of Palestinian and Arab settlement.
Although Alharbi is Iraqi American, she told Arab News she wants to pay homage to the Arab character in the neighborhood where she now lives, called “Little Palestine,” that includes suburban communities that have become warrens not only for Palestinian immigrants but also Iraqis, Lebanese, Yemenis and other Arabs.
“The Little Palestine Project is an object-based oral history initiative where I ask people who have immigrated from any Arab country, it doesn’t have to be specifically from Palestine, and ask them what items they decided to bring with them on their journey here to Chicago,” Alharbi told Arab News.
Iraqi American Dorrah Alharbi wants to pay homage to the Arab character in the neighborhood where she now lives. (Courtesy of Dorrah Alharbi)
