Bazzi 1

Nayef Bazzi
Harrison
HON 1000
22 October 2015
Paper #1
Ali Nassers story is not unlike the stories of thousands of Lebanese people who lived
through the Ottoman Empires rule. Born in 1890, Ali was a Shia Muslim born and raised in a
village called Bint Jbeil in what is now modern day Lebanon. Growing up on a small family
owned farm, Ali did not attend school and neither did his three sisters. His parents had also not
been educated. They lived in a time where education simply wasnt as much a necessity as it is
today, not to mention it was highly impractical for it would prevent children from working on the
farm. Life in a rural area was trivializing at times as well as highly unsafe, for rural areas were
the most prone to violence. To backtrack, this violence was largely a result of Sunni versus Shia
fighting, a seemingly never-ending initiator of violence. The Ottoman Empire, which ruled on
the basis of Sunni Islam, was despised by the Shia communities of Lebanon and Iraq. Obviously
the Shia communities had no choice but to endure this hardship, but once it reached a point
where Shias were being publicly executed for possessing slightly different beliefs, they had to
begin considering fleeing to a safer country, particularly the United States, hailed as the safest
nation on Earth.
In 1910, Alis family finally decided that the benefits of making the journey to America
outweighed the risks, which, in all honestly, were not light at all. Not only was the journey
extremely dangerous, but it was expensive. To afford the trip, his parents sold the farm and the
remaining animals, and prepared for the journey that thousands would also be making.

Bazzi 2
Interestingly, this was to be the first large scale Shia immigration to America in history, and the
only logical destination once they arrived to the U.S. was Detroit simply because of its booming
auto industry. Specifically, the Ford Motor Company is what people were chasing after. Due to
the immense growing success that the company was experiencing in recent years as well as its
willingness to hire unskilled workers, Detroit transformed into a hotspot for immigrants, soon
becoming home to the first and largest concentration of Lebanese people in North America (Mir
327).
When Alis family had heard numerous stories about Dearborn, a small suburb in
Detroits shadow where most of the Lebanese immigrants were moving to, they were perplexed.
They were extremely proud of their heritage and abolishing it to fit a certain American standard
was out of the question (Terry 232). The family was rational in their fear of having to sacrifice
their culture to fully assimilate and become American at the expense of giving up their original
heritage, but moving to Dearborn would allow them to preserve their old ways, for the Lebanese
population there was constantly growing (Mir 327). With this in mind they happily rented a one
story apartment in East Dearborn with money they had not yet spent during their voyage.
Finding work soon proved more difficult than anyone could have imagined. Ali and his
father were the only ones fit to work, considering they were the only men of the house. His
father, however, was in his ageing stages, and his body couldnt handle the intensive labor of
working in the factory. Thus, he opened up a corner grocery store while his son aimed at finding
work at the Ford Motor Company factory. Several months later, Ali was still out of a job, and he
knew why. While he could interpret a limited range of simple phrases in English, he could not
speak English fluently, making him insufficient to work on the assembly line which was heavily
reliant on communication with other workers. Despite the claim that all Americans are united

Bazzi 3
through their differences, this was only one of the numerous ways America unintentionally
restricted immigrants and minorities (Fisher 38). Ali decided to learn English on his own then try
getting hired again, a plan few in his situation also contended.
Four Years Later
Ali awakes early in the morning to attend his job at the Ford Motor Company factory. His
wife of two years remains asleep, as does his 9 month old son. The company, at the beginning of
1914, sent a $5 daily pay initiative into full effect, bringing hordes of people searching for jobs
from across the country; it was such big news that it made international news (Martelle 76). Ali
was luckily one of the first hired. After learning English Ford couldnt pass him up; his work
ethic was unmatchable. After four years wait, he has finally joined the 81,000 strong workforce
making history with Ford (Martelle 76). His fathers grocery store has found significant success
as well, and he has expanded his business to three locations spread over Dearborn. Ali has
afforded himself a house in one of the middle class orientated neighborhoods. The Lebanese
American community has grown sizably, and they are currently beating out every other ethnic
group in regards to grades and test scores in school.
Ultimately, Alis story is also the story of many who found themselves in America
clueless about how to survive. Through perseverance and determination, immigrants assimilate
into American culture while still maintaining their individual cultures, allowing the whole of
America to be united through peoples differences, a characteristic unique to the U.S.
(Tocqueville 236-237).

Bazzi 4

References
Fisher, Phillip. Democratic social Space. Still the New World: American Literature in a
Culture of Creative Destruction. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 33-55.
"Lebanon." Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2016. Ed. Karen Ellicott. Vol. 1.
Detroit: Gale, 2016. 1359-1376. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
Martelle, Scott. "The Auto Era." Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2012. 72
76.
Mir, Raza A. "Religion as a Coping Mechanism for Global Labor." Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion: An International Journal 32.3 (2013): 325-37. ProQuest. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
Terry, Janice J. The Michigan Historical Review: Without Forgetting the Imam: Lebanese
Shi'Ism in an American Community. 23 Vol. Published by the Clarke Historical Library at
Central Michigan University in cooperation with the Hi, 03/01/1997. Web. 15
Oct. 2015.
Tocqueville, Alexis. Fortnight in the Wilderness. Tocqueville in America. Ed. George W.
Pierson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1938. 229-259.