Chaldeans in Detroit
By: Jacob Bacall
Series: Images of America
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Charleston, South Carolina
Language: eng
Number of pages: 127
ISBN-13: 9781467112550
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Pictorial works; Emigration and immigration; Immigrants; Chaldean Catholics; Ethnic relations; History
Description: Chaldeans (pronounced Kal-dean) are a distinct ethnic group from present-day Iraq with roots stretching back to Abraham, the biblical patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam who was from the Ur of the Chaldees. Chaldeans are Catholic, with their own patriarch, and they speak a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ. Chaldeans began immigrating to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, when Iraq was known as Mesopotamia (the Greek word meaning land between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates). Lured by Henry Fords promise of $5 per day, many Chaldeans went to work in Detroits automotive factories. They soon followed their entrepreneurial instincts to open their own businesses, typically grocery markets and corner stores. Religious persecution has caused tens of thousands of Chaldeans to relocate to Michigan. Today, the Greater Detroit area has the largest concentration of Chaldeans outside of Iraq: 150,000 people.--Back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (page 127).
Table of contents: title: The Chaldeans; title: Religion and language; title: Coming to America; title: Detroit, the Motor City; title: Cultural adaptation; title: Social life; title: Businesses and media; title: Organizations and clubs; title: New Chaldeans of America.