Syrian Ark

The Syrian Ark was the only 20th-century Arab American periodical published in Indianapolis. Attorney Ibrahim Farah Zainey founded and edited the monthly magazine which served as the official publication of the Midwest Federation of Syrian American Clubs. The paper had a national circulation in the thousands.  

Zainey operated the publication from his law office at the Fidelity Trust Building and later from his home. The periodical featured generic jokes, human interest stories, and advertisements for U.S. savings bonds. It contained the original stories of Syrian and Lebanese fiction and non-fiction writers, and a wealth of information about the national community of Syrian-Lebanese people. Reports of accomplishments, obituaries, marriage announcements, and club election results populated the magazine’s pages. Zainey maintained a network of male and female correspondents, often members of local Syrian or Lebanese clubs, that provided such information. 

Like other ethnic newspapers in Indianapolis and the Midwest, the Syrian Ark celebrated the multiple identities of its readers and contributors and communicated loyalty to the United States. Articles avoided criticism of U.S. government policies through its support of U.S. participation in World War II. It also ignored the legal and extra-legal discrimination that Arabic-speaking immigrants and their American-born children faced in Indianapolis and other locales at the time. Instead, the paper focused on the positive civic contributions of Arab Americans to their Midwestern hometowns. To encourage ethnic unity across the many different religious groups of which Arab Americans were a part, the Syrian Ark intentionally took an ecumenical approach by covering Christian and Muslim traditions in its articles.   

Reflecting the political orientations of its contributors and readers, the Syrian Ark supported the establishment of sovereign Arab nation-states in the Middle East. It supported all independent states in the region, whether monarchies or republics and criticized the French occupation of Syria and Lebanon. Without voicing its criticism of the U.S. stance on the establishment of a Jewish state, articles appeared in opposition to Zionism, the movement to establish a Jewish nation in Palestine, arguing that Zionism deprived innocent Palestinians of their rights to life and liberty. The newspaper held firm to this position even after 1948, when Israel declared its independence.   

Because the Syrian Ark connected local Indianapolis residents to news from around the Midwest and the Middle East, it made a significant contribution to Indianapolis history. Contradicting stereotypes about Indianapolis as culturally homogenous, the Syrian Ark nurtured a vision of a city that was connected to diverse economies, cultures, and politics across the Midwest and around the world. It illustrated how Arab Americans have long been contributors to public life in Indianapolis.

Further Reading