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and society of the United States, having brought with 
them to the United States their resilient family values, 
strong work ethic, dedication to education, and diversity 
that have added strength to United States democracy; 
Whereas Arab American entrepreneurs from the first door-to- 
door peddlers, to owners of restaurants, bakeries, and 
stores, to large manufacturers of men’s and women’s 
clothes (Farah and Haggar, for example) have been hard- 
working, self-sufficient contributors to the United States 
economy; 
Whereas the first recorded Arab in America was the Moroc-
can Mostafa (Estanaico) Zemmouri in 1527, and Arab 
Americans, including the early Syrians and Lebanese, 
began arriving in significant numbers to the shores of the 
United 
States 
in 
the 
1870s, 
including 
Antonio 
Bishallany, who arrived in Boston in 1854, and another 
early wave arrival, Dr. Joseph Arbeeley, who became 
American citizens, and waves of other Arab Americans 
that followed; 
Whereas Arab Americans have served the United States as 
first responders, in the public sector, and as public serv-
ants from both political parties, past and present, in the 
United States Government, the Congress, the Senate, as 
exemplified by James Abourezk, the first Arab American 
Senator who was raised by Lebanese immigrant parents 
in South Dakota, and as ambassadors, cabinet members, 
as well as all other Arab Americans in uniform today; 
Whereas Arab Americans have and continue to play a critical 
role in America’s social justice and human rights move-
ments, such as the civil rights, labor organizing, and en-
vironmental justice movements; 
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Whereas recently Arab Americans’ activism continues to play 
a key role in present day struggles for social justice and 
human rights such as the movement for Black lives, the 
ceasefire movement to end the genocide of Palestinians, 
and many more; 
Whereas Arab Americans have excelled in science, engineer-
ing, medicine, education, scholarship, and architecture, 
including— 
(1) organic chemist Elias James Corey (Nobel Prize 
1990); 
(2) Ahmed Zewail, a chemist investigating transition 
reactions (Nobel Prize 1999); 
(3) Mostafa El-Sayed, a chemical physicist and lead-
ing nanoscience researcher, a member of the National 
Academy of Sciences and a United States National Medal 
of Science laureate who sat on the President’s National 
Medal of Science Committee in 2014; 
(4) Dr. Farouk El-Baz, a pioneer in space photog-
raphy; and 
(5) Dr. Michael DeBakey, a cardiovascular surgeon 
and inventor of ventricular assist devices and aorta repair 
procedures; 
Whereas, in 1959, Mohamed Atalla, an Egyptian-American 
engineer who was an important pioneer and contributor 
to the early field of modern electronics, invented the 
metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, which is 
the most-frequently manufactured device in history and 
hailed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office 
as one of the most important inventions in electronics; 
Whereas Arab Americans have excelled in sports, like quar-
terback and Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, and in 
entertainment, including actors, singers, comedians, and 
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musicians such as actor, singer, and founder of St. 
Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Danny Thomas, Emmy-win-
ner Tony Shalhoub, comedian, and commentator Dean 
Obeidallah, gifted musician Dr. Ali Jihad Racy, award- 
winning violinist Simon Shaheen, and so many others; 
Whereas, according to Census Bureau data, Arabic is one of 
the fastest-growing languages in the United States, and 
Arab American journalists, newspaper editors, and writ-
ers have informed their communities and others in Arabic 
and English, adding to the body of American literature 
and reporting beginning with Nabeeb and Ibrahim 
Arbeely, editors of the first Arab American newspaper, 
Kawkab Amirka, the distinguished writer of the first 
Arab American novel, ‘‘The Book of Khalid’’, Ameen 
Rihani, the renowned poet, writer, and artist, author of 
‘‘The Prophet’’, among his other numerous writings, and 
founder of the Pen Bond writers, the beloved writer 
Kahlil Gibran, the late New York Times reporter An-
thony Shadid, White House Press Corps Correspondent 
Helen Thomas (recognized by the World Almanac as one 
of the 25 most influential women in America), poet and 
writer Naomi Shihab Nye, novelist Diana Abu-Jaber, and 
hundreds more; 
Whereas Arab American women have provided excellent role 
models such as Emmy-winning actor Marlo Thomas, ac-
tress Kathy Najimy, Secretary of Health and Human 
Services Donna Shalala, artist and poet Etel Adnan, Na-
tional Public Radio host Diane Reim, and the doctor who 
raised awareness that children were being poisoned by 
lead in Flint, Michigan, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, plus 
all the women previously mentioned and thousands of 
other accomplished women not herein listed; 
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Whereas 
‘‘National 
Arab 
American 
Heritage 
Month’’ 
(NAAHM) is necessary to address the misconceptions, 
misinformation, Arabophobia, anti-Arabism, and discrimi-
nation against Arab Americans by celebrating their ac-
complishments and providing factual information about 
Arab American culture and persons and the need for 
public education, awareness, and policies that are cul-
turally competent when describing, discussing, and ad-
dressing the impacts of being Arab American in all as-
pects of American society; 
Whereas, in 2017, Arab America established NAAHM, and 
President Biden recognized the celebration of NAAHM in 
an April 19, 2021, letter to the Arab America Founda-
tion, making him the first sitting United States President 
to do so, and the Department of State recognized April 
as NAAHM in 2021; 
Whereas last year at least 48 States and territories have 
taken steps to recognize April as NAAHM, including the 
governments of— 
(1) Alabama; 
(2) Alaska; 
(3) Arizona; 
(4) Arkansas; 
(5) California; 
(6) Colorado; 
(7) Connecticut; 
(8) Delaware; 
(9) the District of Columbia; 
(10) Georgia; 
(11) Hawaii; 
(12) Illinois; 
(13) Indiana; 
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