Chaldeans in Detroit

Download or read book Chaldeans in Detroit written by Jacob Bacall and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2014 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In greater Detroit, Chaldeans from present-day Iraq have established a strong presence and a thriving community. Chaldeans (pronounced Kal-de'an) are a distinct ethnic group from present-day Iraq with roots stretching back to Abraham, the biblical patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam who was from the Ur of the Chaldees. Chaldeans are Catholic, with their own patriarch, and they speak a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ. Chaldeans began immigrating to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, when Iraq was known as Mesopotamia (the Greek word meaning land between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates). Lured by Henry Ford's promise of $5 per day, many Chaldeans went to work in Detroit's automotive factories. They soon followed their entrepreneurial instincts to open their own businesses, typically grocery markets and corner stores. Religious persecution has caused tens of thousands of Chaldeans to relocate to Michigan. Today, the Greater Detroit area has the largest concentration of Chaldeans outside of Iraq: 150,000 people.