Sumayeh Attiyeh
Sumayeh Attiyeh (March 21, 1890 — September 1978) was a Syrian-born American lecturer and writer who toured North America on the Chautauqua circuit.
Early life[edit]
Sumayeh Attiyeh was born into a prominent Christian family in Tripoli (in present-day Lebanon). Attiyeh's mother Frieda Attiyeh was a translator and writer, and her father was Mathew Attiyeh, a government official; her grandfather was Rev. Joseph Attiyeh.[1] Her sister Sameera Sleyman was a poet and artist in Brooklyn. Sumayeh Attiyeh attended an American Protestant girls' school in Syria before moving to the United States for further studies.[2]
Career[edit]
Attiyeh toured the United States and Canada from about 1916[3] to 1927,[4] much of that time on the Chautauqua and lyceum circuits, lecturing on the Middle East; She was billed as "the youngest woman lecturer on the continent of America today".[5]
Attiyeh also wrote for newspapers and magazines, including a story collection "Tales and Legends of Araby" (1925-1926).[6] "There is a big hell at the gate of our great country. It is Ellis Island," she started a 1922 essay in the New York Times, after working for weeks, successfully, to prevent her aunt from being deported.[7]
By 1932 she was a social worker in the United States, and known to be interested in Indian independence movement.[2] She gave her talks to women's clubs, schools, churches, and other groups during the 1930s,[8][9] still dressing in the costume of "a genuine Arabian princess."[10] In 1939 she was on the program at a spiritualist summer camp at Lily Dale, New York.[11]
Personal life[edit]
Sumayeh Attiyeh died in 1978, aged 88 years, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
References[edit]
- ^ "Why Fatima is Sorry the Harem Doors are Opened" New York Herald (March 19, 1922): 84. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b Margaret Mara, "Syrian Poet Praises Bay Ridge as Ideal Home Site for Her Family" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 9, 1932): 41. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Good Entertainment" The Republic (December 7, 1916): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Syrian Woman Will Lecture" Decatur Evening Herald (October 19, 1927): 11. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Sumayeh Attiyeh" Lyceum Magazine (September 1919): 63.
- ^ Sumayeh Attiyeh, "Tales and Legends of Araby" Complete Novel Magazine (serialized across seven issues, 1925 through 1926).
- ^ Sumayeh Attiyeh, "Ellis Island Called New Inferno" New York Times (November 19, 1922): 105.
- ^ "Turkey and Its Women Subject of Interesting Talk at St. Katherine's" Quad-City Times (October 4, 1931): 14. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Chicago Woman's Ideal Club" Chicago Tribune (November 29, 1936): 66. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Arabian Lecturer Speaks on Ethiopia and Near East" Chicago Defender (June 6, 1936): 6. via ProQuest
- ^ "Lily Dale Program Provides Prominent Lecturers, Mediums" Dunkirk Evening Observer (July 1, 1939): 7. via Newspapers.com
External links[edit]
- A promotional brochure about Sumayeh Attiyeh, from "Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century", Redpath Chautauqua Collection, University of Illinois Libraries Special Collections Department.
- Another promotional brochure about Sumayeh Attiyeh, also from "Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century", Redpath Chautauqua Collection, University of Illinois Libraries Special Collections Department.