North Carolina Humanities joins the nation in observing Arab American Heritage Month. This month, and every month, NC Humanities works to celebrate and uplift histories, stories, and cultures of all North Carolinians.
Quilts are important to many cultures and people, including to North Carolinians. This month we are giving away 1 copy of The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story by Aya Khalil!
In this children’s book, Kanzi’s family has moved from Egypt to America, and on her first day in a new school, what she wants more than anything is to fit in. After a difficult day at school, Kanzi wraps herself in the beautiful Arabic quilt her teita (grandma) in Cairo gave her and writes a poem in Arabic about the quilt. The next day her teacher sees the poem and gets the entire class excited about creating a “quilt” (a paper collage) of student names in Arabic. This authentic story includes a glossary of Arabic words and a presentation of Arabic letters with their phonetic English equivalents.
Head to NC Humanities’ Instagram to enter to win! The giveaway closes April 14.
Additionally, we invite you to read through the below list of resources that explore and pay tribute to Arab American Heritage Month. This is just a short collection of the amazing cultural heritage month resources that are available. We encourage our readers to explore beyond what we have listed.
- Educators, use this The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story teacher’s guide.
- Read the Statement by President Joe Biden on Arab American Heritage Month, 2023
- Read the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Virtual Bookshelf, featuring NEH-supported projects on Arab American heritage.
- Visit the collections of the Arab American National Museum, dedicated to telling the Arab American story.
- Join the Library of Congress on April 19. Join Curator Sara W. Duke in a look at photographs, cartoons, and drawings that depict famous people, social life, traditions, and immersion into Arab American culture.
- Watch a multitude of documentaries and programs from PBS that celebrate the diversity and history of Arab American communities.
Have a resource to share? Please email Melanie Moore Richeson at mmoore@nchumanities.org.
Image: Windmill People (2021) by Almigdad Aldikhaiiry
