It was a busy Arab American Heritage Month for Edward Curtis, the Plater Chair in the School of Liberal Arts and a fourth-generation Arab American. He tweeted @EdwardECurtisIV every day of the month about Arab Americans in Indianapolis and other parts of the state. Among the highlights were two original maps charting the growth of Syrian-owned grocery stores from 1915 to 1940 designed by Jeffrey Wilson, professor of geography and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Liberal Arts. He also premiered an IUPUI student Ziad Hefni portrait that will appear in his 2022 Arab Indianapolis book from Belt Publishing.
WFYI Radio interviewed him about Arab Americans in Indiana (interview begins at 38:10 here) and he composed a blog post about Romanos the Fencer for the Indiana Historical Society. Curtis was also interviewed by the Middle East Policy Council about my personal connections to Arab American history.
The month ended with a call from Indiana Humanities that he has won an INCommon grant for $3,000 to called to help fund his documentary on Arab Indianapolis, which begins shooting in June.
Edward Curtis is Professor of Religious Studies, IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI
