Happy Arab-American Heritage Month! Did you know that members of the Arab ethnic group began immigrating to Mississippi in the 1870s? These people were mainly Christians from Lebanon and Syria and settled in Jackson, Meridian, railroad towns, and along the Mississippi River. According to the US Census, nearly 2,000 Arabs and people of Arab descent lived in Mississippi by the year 1930. Yalla Vote, a part of the Arab American Institute, estimates that over 11,000 Arab-Americans currently live in our state.
