KAHLIL GIBRAN PAINTING
AIRED: Season 6, Episode 9
THE DETECTIVE: Tukufu Zuberi
THE PLACE: Savannah, GA and New York City
THE CASE:
A contributor from Overland Park, KS has an unsigned oil portrait of his grandfather, Najib Musa Diab, that he believes was painted by the Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet.
His grandfather was a contemporary of Gibran, whose poetry was published by the Arabic-language newspaper that Diab founded in Brooklyn, New York.
Gibran and other Arab immigrants faced perplexing challenges as they balanced their new American identities with loyalties to their native lands when World War I changed the Middle East map and policy.
From this turmoil, Gibran found the unique blend of Eastern and Western philosophy that permeated his writing and art.
Did this period in Gibran's life also produce Diab's portrait? History Detectives finds out.
Feature: Kahlil Gibran Poems
Read more poems by Kahlil Gibran translated into English.
Think you have a case for the History Detectives? Send us your mystery here. 