Skip to Main Content

AMEMSA+ History & Heritage Month

AMEMSA History & Heritage Month

AMEMSA+ History & Heritage Month, also called Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian+ Heritage Month, is a month-long commemoration of the history and achievement of AMEMSA+ people that takes place each April in the US. Arab Americans are immigrants or descendants of people from the Arabic-speaking world, which includes twenty-two countries in the Middle East and West, North, and East Africa. The countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

U.S. Congress recognizes Arab American History Month 

Famous People in AMEMSA History

Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri surprised the literary world in 2000 when she won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her very first full-length effort, a collection of short stories titled Interpreter of Maladies. Full bio

Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran

Gibran sought and won acceptance from New York's artistic and literary world. His first work in English, The Madman, appeared in 1918. Following the release of several other titles, in 1923 The Prophet was published, selling more than 1,000 copies in three months. Full bio

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader was born in 1934 to a Lebanese immigrant couple; He grew up speaking Arabic as well as English. As a young attorney, Nader took on a number of auto accident cases and in the process began to delve into highway mortality statistics. Full bio

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris became the vice president of the United States in 2021 becoming the first woman, first African American, and first South Asian American to serve as vice president. Full bio

Bobby Rahal

Bobby Rahal

Bobby Rahal grew up around racing. In 1982, Bobby became the first rookie in twelve years to win an Indy car race and was voted the Championship Auto Racing Team's (CART) Rookie of the Year.  Full bio

Hoda Kotb

Hoda Kotb

Hoda Kotb was born in Norman, Oklahoma to Egyptian parents. She is a television journalist known for hosting the fourth hour of the Today Show with Kathy Lee Gifford. She has won a Daytime Emmy Award for her hosting talents. Full bio

Rashida Tlaib

Rashida Tlaib

Rashida Tlaib is an American politician who is one of the first two Muslim women to join the U.S. Congress. Before that, she was elected to the Michigan House, becoming the first Muslim woman to serve in Michigan's CongressFull bio

Fady Joudah

Fady Joudah

Fady Joudah, an emergency room physician and poet, has earned acclaim for his translations. His first collection, The Earth in the Attic, won the prestigious Yale Series of Younger Poets award in 2007. Full bio

Zainab Salbi

Zainab Salbi

The co-founder of Women for Women International, Zainab Salbi helps women in war-torn countries connect with women in the West. A native of Iraq, Salbi also offered insight into Saddam Hussein's regime with her 2005 autobiography. Full bio

Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria

Through his writings, research, and teaching, Fareed Zakaria has made an impact in the field of political science and foreign policy. A graduate of both Yale and Harvard, Zakaria writes extensively on the subject of international affairs. Full bio

Mona Hanna-Attisha

Mona Hanna-Attisha

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is an American pediatrician and professor who discovered high levels of poisonous lead in children in Flint, Michigan. She is credited as a hero for exposing the lead levels in water there. Full bio

Danny Thomas

Danny Thomas

Born Muzyad Yakhoob, Danny Thomas began singing on a Detroit radio station. In the 1950s he became one of the most successful television producers and his work included The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Full Bio

Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul made a name for herself in the 1980s as a dancer, choreographer, and vocalist. Her 1988 debut album, Forever Your Girl, launched her career. She later starred as a judge on the reality television competition American Idol. Full bio

Mehmet Oz

Mehmet Oz

New York City heart surgeon Mehmet Oz, or Dr. Oz., has become one of America's best-known doctors thanks to his frequent media appearances and best-selling You series of books, which includes You: The Owner's Manual.   Full bio

Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar is a Somali American politician. Omar was sworn into office as one of the first Muslim women in the House of Representatives in 2019. She is the first member of Congress to wear a Hijab. Full bio

Fazlur Rahman Khan

Fazlur Rahman Khan

Fazlur Khan was an innovative architecture who was involved in the construction of the Windy City's two landmark skyscrapers: the John Hancock Building and the Sears Tower (now the Willis Building). Full bio

 

Ibtihaj Muhammad

Ibtihaj Muhammad

Ibtihaj Muhammad is an American saber fencer and member of the 2016 United States Olympic team and was the first U.S. woman to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab.  Full bio

Har Gobind Khorana

Har Gobind Khorana

Har Gobind Khorana was an Indian organic chemist. His work in chemical genetics earned him: Merck Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada, Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize of Columbia University, and Nobel Prize. Full bio

AMEMSA History & Heritage eBooks @ Miracosta Library