Introducing IRANIANS IN CHICAGOLAND

Introducing IRANIANS IN CHICAGOLAND
August 9, 2007

Book Review by Ezzat Goushegir

The 128-page book, published by Arcadia Publisher (the leading publisher of regional and local history in the United States), illustrates America's heritage of people and places via black and white photographs.

Humans everywhere hunger for knowledge of the past in order to move forward. There are hidden stories behind every still photograph. This book pays homage to Iranians whose contributions to American society enriched our culture. The rich tapestry of Iran's history is made manifest by the largest Persian Library as well as the huge collection of Persian archeological tablets displayed and kept at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, which entices visitors from all over the world to do research on Iran.

Hamid Akbari and Azar Khounani the authors of the book introduced the Iranian immigrants by searching for the first group of Iranians who traveled to Chicago in 1893. In 1903 Mirza Mohammad Ali Moen-ol Saltaneh, who visited Chicago to attend the Columbian Exposition, published a memoir, which describes Chicago as a city with numerous "gigantic factories," "innumerable railroad tracks," "many houses and buildings" on one side and the Michigan Lake on the other side. Surprisingly, in his visit to Iran's Exhibition, he encounters a number of very young French women dancers, wearing Persian dresses and posing as Iranians dancing for visitors. Moen-ol Saltaneh further writes that "the Iranian men were offended by this 'barbaric' act of having French women pretend to be Iranian women and were planning to protest it by stopping work and closing down the palace." P16

The content of the book is divided into six categories: Iranian Roots and the Columbian Exposition, Historical, Cultural, and Artistic Heritage, Immigrant Profiles and Contributions, Social and Cultural Activities and Organizations, Well-Known Visitors and The Next Generation.

Throughout the book, there is an emphasis on those Iranians who made tremendous contributions in research, teaching, medicine, business, arts and public services to promote and enrich multiculturalism in American society. Iranians, according to the latest data, are considered the most educated immigrants among similar groups.

The last chapter of the book focuses on the generation of Iranians who were born and raised in the United States, a young and active generation who proclaim that in spite of their love for Iran, Chicago (and, in a larger sense, the United States) is their permanent home.