Portraits of Sam Hallick

Front Cover

Pages 6-7

Portraits of Sam Hallick: Modern Arab Presence in Early Twentieth Century North America

Salah D. Hassan

ECH's newest publication, Portraits of Sam Hallick: Modern Arab Presence in Twentieth-Century North America by Salah D. Hassan marks the Embassy Cultural House's seventh in-house publication, and the first publication to be written by a single ECH contributor.

This book examines photographs of Sam Hallick, an Arab immigrant who came to the United States during the early twentieth century—a period when photography was becoming more accessible to the general public. Arabic-speaking immigrants in the US had photographers take professional portraits in their shops, on the street, in offices, or in factories. Journalists and ethnographers also took photos documenting the presence of Arabic speakers in varied locations across the United States. The main focus is on photos of Sam Hallick, the author's maternal grandfather, who arrived in the US around 1900 and lived in South Dakota before returning to his home village in the Beqa'a Valley in 1920. Hassan pieces together the story of Sam Hallick from family photos and the public record, reading the family portraits in relation to modern forms of Arab self-representation.

To order a copy of this book, please contact [email protected].

Also available for purchase through Shop Museum London.

PRESS

Portraits of Sam Hallick offers its readers a corrective to narratives of immigration to the Great Plains as primarily white and Christian while examining and highlighting an equally important record of Arab-speaking immigrants and Muslims who were participants in the region’s history. In doing this work of historical restoration and reconstruction, Hassan’s book joins the slim but expanding ranks of similarly focused and important works.

—Katie Kane, Arab Studies Quarterly, 21 February 2025 (Full Review)

Publisher: Embassy Cultural House
Date: September 2023
Pages: 96 p.
Dimensions: 6” x 9”
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-7774921-4-4
Language: English
Edition Size: 500
Price: $20 CAD/USD

Our Partners

E M B A S S Y C U L T U R A L H O U S E . C A

The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and other treaties, colonized as London, Ontario. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial.