Whenever entering the city of Dearborn the sign that says "Welcome to Dearborn" it says the area was first settled in 1786. During this time in American history, the Government had just ended the war with Britain for independence. A brief history of the area itself was the area that would become Dearborn was first laid claim to by the French in 1603. However, before the Europeans have arrived Native Americans has canoed up the Rogue River for centuries. The Native American tribes that roamed the area were the Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Saux-Fox and Chippewa. These tribes never lived permanently in the area but rather hunted and camped along the Rouge River. Towards the end of the French and Indian, the British had taken the area as they were driving out the French. When America had gained independence they took control of the Great Lakes Region in 1786. The First settler to establish roots in Dearborn was Pierre Dumais. In 1786 Pierre Dumais and his family had set up a farm on the banks of the of what the french called Rogue River. The next settler to arrive into the area was years later in 1795. James Cissne, like Dumais, had French Ancestry when he arrived in what would become West Dearborn. One of the main reason why farmers had set up on the banks of the Rouge River was because the river was the main way of travailing to the interior of the land. By travailing by the land, early French settlers would take the Great Saulk Trail, an Indian trail. This trail was used by French explorers, missionaries, and fur traders. Even though Michigan had made into a Territory in 1805 it still had a low population. One the reasons were the harsh journey it would get to Michigan. But the state experienced a growth in population in 1825 with the completion of the Erie Canal. Even though the Erie Canal had made traveling to Michigan easier life in the settlement was still challenging. William Nowlin and his family had arrived at Dearbornville in 1834 via Erie Canal. Life in this time period was extremely harsh for new settlers. Nowlin in a chronicle of his time first arriving in Dearborn said " no man unless he has experienced it himself, can have an adequate idea of the danger and labor of clearing a farm in a heavy and timbered land.
Arguably the biggest and most important change that would happen to Dearborn, would take place in the early 20th century. When Henry Ford would set up his plant on the same river that native Americans would camp along the Rouge River. The Detroit's Metropolitan area had experienced major changes with suburbanization led mostly by Henry Ford when he relocated to Dearborn. The suburbanization Dearborn was spurred by moving creation automobiles and the mobility of automobile users both of which Ford was involved with. Many credit Henry Ford as a welfare capitalist, Ford was a revolutionary on many fronts- he was the first to raise wages, increase the leisure time for employees and making his employees not just that but also into consumers. Henry Ford's relocation to Dearborn was the second and final step in his pilgrimage, following his 1910 from his Detroit Factory at Piquette Avenue to the Highland Park site. Ford had moved his company to the suburbs for numerous advantages. Ford felt that the neighborhoods in Detroit had a tax rate that was too high for his workers to thrive as opposed to the suburbs with lower tax rates. The suburbs would also give Ford's workers better-living conditions along decent commuting distance to work. Also moving workers to the suburbs would make them less likely to unionize since they were dependent on single employees. Finally, Ford felt that moving the suburbs would provide him the autonomy he wanted so running his company would be easier. The kind autonomy he could not get in the big city. Ford knew that once he arrived in the suburbs he would the local council in his back pocket. Ford was sick of the city's urban politics, taxation, labor and logistics and in turn that drove to Dearborn. While moving to Dearborn had its share of advantages Ford felt the suburbs were "quieter, cleaner, sunnier, airier and in ever way more healthful for children and adults the whole year round". By moving his company Ford helped break one of the oldest stigmas in history. That only those were well-to-do could escape the city but after moving to Dearborn not only did the working escape the city but found it to beneficial. Over the decade of the 1920's the Suburb of Dearborn experienced huge growth. The actual size doubled and the population grew times over from 5000 to 50000. Ultimately Dearborn would become the model that would be repeated throughout the 1920's. Newly affordable automobiles enable people of all classes to relocate to suburbs. This would cause a major shift in demographics that took place away from central cities.
One of the most well-known ethnic groups in Michigan, particular in Dearborn is the Arab American population. A story has been passed down through the generations in the Arab community. This story is about Yemeni sailor from Aden, working as a merchant marine on the Great Lakes, who ran into Henry Ford, the famous automobile mogul, in the early 20th century. This meeting was said to spur the first Arab migration to Dearborn. This story has taken many forms over the years, in one version Ford actually sent a ship to Yemen and brought some workers to America. Of course, there is no record of a ship being sent Yemen. One of the closest versions to this is the story is that Henry Ford was looking for Manuel laborers for the Ford Rouge Plant. During this point in history, Ford was very concerned with labor unions. The Yemeni immigrants who first came to Dearborn were single men who had language and cultural barriers. Since Henry Ford was very concerned about the rise of labor unions, the Yemen workers were less likely to join unions. After a few decades, these workers brought their families with them and began planting roots for what to the largest Arab community in the country. The Palestinians were forced to come to Michigan with the occupation of the West Bank. Now stateless they were forced to accept exile and the Detroit metropolitan area offered a chance at a new life. A huge wave Lebanese arrived following the civil war, the Israeli invasion in 1983 and they mostly settled down in East Dearborn. These immigrants would create small businesses on Warren Avenue that give the area an economic rebirth. The most recent arrival Arabs took the form of Iraqi refugees following the Persian-Gulf war in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Dearborn's south end has been describing to have it's very own unique feel to it. The area itself is isolated in a heavy industrialized section completely cut off from highways and the rest of Dearborn. The area was originally designed to be a working class area for workers to live. As of today, the area is mostly made up of Yemen with some Lebanese, few Palestine, and new Iraqi refugees. Because Southend is in the shadow of the Ford Rouge Plant, the one highly economic area is now polluted, economically depressed and high-unemployment area of Dearborn. The layoffs that took place during the 1980's caused hardships for the area but during the 1990's signs of recovery began to show. However, these signs vanished with the economic troubles for the area is recent years. Despite all the struggles the families in the area have always managed to found a way to survive. The main commercial for the area is along Dix and Vernor Avenues. The area is lined with small Arab businesses, Arab coffeehouses, a couple of Arab restaurants and a Mosque. The owners of the businesses had to redesign the exterior of the building on the strip where the shops are. The idea was to create an Arab town atmosphere that draws in consumers from the Detroit metropolitan area and tourists. One of the biggest issues that community faces is a high concentration of pollution. Since Southend is the shadow of Ford's plant the area is heavily polluted. So much that a sample study of three hundred Arabs concluded that children in Southend are more likely to develop chronic respiratory problems. Since most of the immigrants come from a Mediterranean climate. The cold winters are hard enough to deal with let alone pollution into the mix. The communities themselves that grew from the arrival of immigrants have generations of children who have to face the struggle of balancing out what they learn from their families from what they learn from the outside world. Loukia K. Sarroub, an anthropologist had spent two years living a Yemeni community in Dearborn. During her time in Dearborn Sarroub interviewed four Yemeni high school girls. One of the girls Layla had opened up about the struggle she faces every day at home and how she uses school as an oasis. Layla explained that since she does not enjoy in performing household tasks that are expected of a Yemeni girl like cooking and cleaning. She used school as an escape and focused a lot of her energies in time into school. One of the reasons Layla excelled at school was to prove to her parents she could survive on her own and avoid being married off right after high school like her older sister. While she was performing research at the school the students would sometimes refer to her as the "White Woman" despite that most of Arabs have the color skin as her. Another anthropologist Linda S. Walbridge had arrived in Dearborn in early 1990's to conduct research on Lebanese community. While gathering information on the community Walbridge had been received with open arms in East Dearborn. Within a matter of months her two sons and become friends with other children, those children would refer to her as an aunt. Even her neighbors would go to her for help with many tasks like babysitting and wash a newborn baby. In a recent study done on the two waves of Iraqi immigrants that came to Dearborn in two waves. These study showed that immigrants of the second from 2003-2011 were less likely to attend Friday prayer, donate more money to the Masque and go to different Mosques instead of just one. This due to the fact these Iraqis have assimilated into the middle class. Also, this rift on religious attendance can be attributed to the fact the second wave of immigrants is more interested in going to other Mosques in order to gain a broader understanding.
Bibliography
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