[MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> with the island and welcome.

my name is dave cereal and the curator of education here at the arab american national museum, which is the first and only museum of its kind dedicated to telling the story of the arab american community.

the museum itself with open may fifth.

two thousand five, we are a smithsonian affiliated institution, were also accredited by the american alliance of museums.

and we're also an institution of access, which has been around for fifty plus years, providing social services to the community.

today we're going to take a look at individuals and organizations within the arab american community.

they're devoted to activism and community building.

the business played a major role in the arab american community ever since the first parents immigrated to the next, for example, we have the syrian ladies aid society of new york that was created in nineteen.

oh, seven that helped deliver funds and services to young women and girls that were in the community who are in need of service.

so this activism continues up until present day.

so if we look historically the arab american community, you see there's a lot of activism kind of matching what's going on in the us.

we see a lot of air of american participation in activism in the nineteen fifties and sixties all the way up until present day.

we highlight a couple of stories.

typically nineteen sixties that really speaks to what's going on in the country at large.

for example, one of the stories we highlight is of k elder whose family is very well known in the community.

so k elder was one of many folks who successfully stopped the bulldozing of homes in the south end of your points south and is where a lot of new immigrant families go, whether they were era or not era.

but it was known as a safe haven for a lot of new immigrant families.

and in the nineteen sixties, there were companies that want to bulldoze some of these homes.

it's ok, elder, along with other activists successfully stopped this bulldozing the south and is also where we see present activism that revolves in more of a different form around climate change and environmental laws during this time period of the fifties and the sixties.

this is also where we start to see kind of the shaping of the american identities.

you have folks like ibrahim of we know that who create organizations that revolve around eric american identity, but that also will vote on her own political rights and political representation such as the a g. we also folks outside of the sixties a little bit more into the seventies and eighties.

we're fighting for representation and are more entrenched in after this.

for example, we have not had a full lot was very well known in the community who was from yemen, who marched with cesar chavez to fight for better working conditions for folks who were working in the farm's out in california.

he learn spanish.

she also learned english and of course, he spoke arabic.

so he was able to kind of help rally the spanish speakers, the english speakers in the speakers to kind of come together for better treatments, better pay for those who are working in the fox.

we all know cesar chavez is a pretty big character to might know is that their marriage has also played a role.

i'm marching along with the chopped.

one of the exhibits in a museum is our activism, all where you'll see different cars that americans are connected to even again, up until present day three organizations and causes that americans can exit.

for example, many heir of americans are currently fighting to have a box on the census.

as of right now, the chair of americans are considered to be white folks on the census.

we're trying to get a box on the census to represent kind of where we are.

there's other causes that are little bit more focus on a specific group within the arab american community, such as the palestinian cause or fighting against war in yemen or in iraq.

there's also causes that bridge other communities together, right?

so we see, for example, a lot of free palestine after this that are working with black lives matter after this.

we saw a lot of air of americans that were protesting some of the issues going on with the indigenous community.

we also a lot of americans that are protesting against certain political parties, which again brought a lot of different committees together, was not just an air of american activism is very much alive and well in the air america.

so to learn more about the individual activism or any other things that i mentioned is that the arab american national museum's website of america museum dot org or come and visit us in person.

>> this program was made possible by a grant from ct in community telecommunications network.