Rahme Haider

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Rahme Haider in a 1917 publication.

Rahme Haider or Rahme Haidar (1886 – died after 1935), sometimes billed as "Princess" Rahme Haider, was a Syrian-born educator and lecturer based in Los Angeles, California.

Early life[]

Rahme Haider was said to be from Baalbek, in the Mount Lebanon region. She attended a Presbyterian mission school in Sidon, and then Denison University in Ohio.[1][2] Other accounts gave her hometown as Damascus.[3] She was assigned as a missionary to Syrians in Los Angeles in 1909, by the Northern Baptist Convention.[4]

Career[]

Haider started a school for the children of Arabic speakers in Los Angeles.[5] She also ran a Baptist Sunday school for children, and an evening school for young men and women, in the Syrian community there.[6] With some backing from a local Syrian businessman, Phares Behanessey, she raised funds with a 1909 gala event in which Los Angeles society women, dressed in their "picturesque" interpretations of Middle Eastern attire, performed in a pageant.[7]

After her mission commitment ended, Haider toured from the mid-1910s to the mid-1930s as "Princess Rahme" (a self-created royal),[8] in the United States and Canada,[9] giving lectures about Syrian history and culture to church and community groups.[10] For many of her travels,[11][12] she traveled with a Miss H. Lucille Burgess, who joined her in dramatic and musical portions of her presentation.[9][3] Later in her career, she added a slide show and short film to her presentation. Haider and Burgess sometimes offered acting classes too, and directed local children in Biblical pageants while they were visiting a town for an extended run.[13]

Rahme Haider's autobiography and travelogue, Under Syrian Stars, was published in 1929.[14][15] One of her last publicized appearances was in Cortland, New York in January 1936.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ Annual Catalog, Denison University (1905): 125.
  2. ^ "Syrian Woman to Address Club" San Bernardino County Sun (November 2, 1913): 10. via Newspapers.comopen access
  3. ^ a b "Charming Talk by Princess" Corsicana Daily Sun (June 24, 1918): 11. via Newspapers.comopen access
  4. ^ Annual of the Northern Baptist Convention (1910): 13.
  5. ^ "Syrian Woman's Work" Los Angeles Times (November 25, 1909): 25. via Newspapers.comopen access
  6. ^ Rahme Haider, "Among the Syrians" in Frances M. Schuyler, ed., A Record of the Work of the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society (Chicago 1912-1913): 169-170.
  7. ^ "Syrian Folk Illustrated; Local Ladies Shine in Oriental Togs" Los Angeles Times (December 5, 1909): II15.
  8. ^ "Real Princess is Coming Here" Pittsburg Sun (November 11, 1921): 6. via Newspapers.comopen access
  9. ^ a b "Syrian Princess Royal Again a Winnipeg Visitor" Winnipeg Tribune (May 24, 1924): 14. via Newspapers.comopen access
  10. ^ "Native of Holy Land to Speak" Great Falls Tribune (June 3, 1917): 8. via Newspapers.comopen access
  11. ^ "Princess Gives Lectures Here" Arkansas Democrat (June 7, 1920): 5. via Newspapers.comopen access
  12. ^ "Princess Rahme is Adept at Portrayal of Biblical Stories" New Castle News (February 7, 1930): 21. via Newspapers.comopen access
  13. ^ Amanda Eads, "Rahme Haidar – The Performer" World Lebanese Cultural Union (March 26, 2016).
  14. ^ Amanda Eads, "Rahme Haidar – The Writer" World Lebanese Cultural Union (March 30, 2016).
  15. ^ Rahme Haidar, Under Syrian Stars (Fleming H. Revell Company 1929).
  16. ^ "Arab Princess to Speak Here" Cortland Standard (January 17, 1936): 5.
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