The Metro: New rooftop garden brings Arab American culture to life in Dearborn
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Families gather on the Al-Hadiqa rooftop heritage garden at the Arab American National Museum for English-Arabic storytime during an Eid-Al-Adha party. (Dearborn, MI)
Metro Detroit’s Arab American community is large and has been through several waves of immigration. Long ago, the attraction was the $5-a-day Ford jobs that brought so many people here. Each of those periods brought new families, culture, and heritage.
From Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen, Metro Detroit is home. But the places people emigrated from will always be known as their original home. Part of what makes a place feel like home are the sights, sounds, and smells of the world around us.
Part of feeling at home is the simpler things, like food—the taste of home. Eating together as a family or with certain dishes your parents grew up making. The Arab American National Museum in East Dearborn has been building up a taste of home on the building’s rooftop.
The Al-Hadiqa Heritage Garden at the museum is hosting events like poetry readings and concerts. The next one is August 8, and events run through October 3, including a performance by Kasan Belgrave. Dean Nasreddine is a curatorial specialist at the Arab American National Museum.
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