The Lebanese in Mississippi: An Oral History

The Lebanese in Mississippi: An Oral History explores the lives of first- and subsequent-generation Lebanese Mississippians whose families immigrated to the state looking for a better life. It is an oral record—sometimes a second-hand “remembering”—of their forbears' experiences of settling in a foreign land where they knew few people, did not speak the language, and had to create their own occupations. It is the collective story of struggles and successes, of maintaining an ethnic identity and assimilating into a new culture, and of creating a new culture that mirrors that experience. Heard together, these stories provide a picture of a people remembering where they came from and of the struggles of those who came before them. Their stories begin on a ship leaving harbor in Lebanon and continue today in towns and cities across Mississippi.