Rahme Haider or Rahme Haidar (1880s – November 13, 1939), sometimes billed as "Princess" Rahme Haider, was an educator and lecturer based in Los Angeles, California.
Early life
editRahme 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, including her death certificate, gave her hometown as Damascus, and her parents as Joseph Abou Haidar and Younise Abou Haidar.[3][4] She was assigned as a missionary to Syrians in Los Angeles in 1909, by the Northern Baptist Convention.[5]
Career
editHaider started a school for the children of Arabic speakers in Los Angeles.[6] She also ran a Baptist Sunday school for children, and an evening school for young men and women, in the Syrian community there.[7] 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.[8]
After her mission commitment ended, Haider toured from the mid-1910s to the mid-1930s as "Princess Rahme" (a self-created royal),[9] in the United States and Canada,[10] giving lectures about Syrian history and culture to church and community groups.[11] For many of her travels,[12][13] she traveled with H. Lucille Burgess, who joined her in dramatic and musical portions of her presentation.[10][4] 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.[14]
Rahme Haider's autobiography and travelogue, Under Syrian Stars, was published in 1929.[15][16] In 1931 she declared her intention to seek American citizenship.[17] One of her last publicized appearances was in Cortland, New York in January 1936.[18]
Personal life
editHaidar and Burgess traveled and worked together for years;[19] Burgess was usually described as Haidar's secretary,[20] assistant, or companion.[21] Rahme Haidar died in 1939, in Philadelphia, in her fifties.[3]
References
edit- ^ Annual Catalog, Denison University (1905): 125.
- ^ "Syrian Woman to Address Club" San Bernardino County Sun (November 2, 1913): 10. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1968 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Death Certificate for Rahme Haidar, dated November 1939 in Philadelphia.
- ^ a b "Charming Talk by Princess" Corsicana Daily Sun (June 24, 1918): 11. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Annual of the Northern Baptist Convention (1910): 13.
- ^ "Syrian Woman's Work" Los Angeles Times (November 25, 1909): 25. via Newspapers.com
- ^ 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, Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, 1912-1913): 169-170.
- ^ "Syrian Folk Illustrated; Local Ladies Shine in Oriental Togs" Los Angeles Times (December 5, 1909): II15.
- ^ "Real Princess is Coming Here" Pittsburg Sun (November 11, 1921): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b "Syrian Princess Royal Again a Winnipeg Visitor" Winnipeg Tribune (May 24, 1924): 14. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Native of Holy Land to Speak" Great Falls Tribune (June 3, 1917): 8. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Princess Gives Lectures Here" Arkansas Democrat (June 7, 1920): 5. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Princess Rahme is Adept at Portrayal of Biblical Stories" New Castle News (February 7, 1930): 21. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Amanda Eads, "Rahme Haidar – The Performer" World Lebanese Cultural Union (March 26, 2016).
- ^ Amanda Eads, "Rahme Haidar – The Writer" World Lebanese Cultural Union (March 30, 2016).
- ^ Rahme Haidar, Under Syrian Stars (Fleming H. Revell Company 1929).
- ^ Pennsylvania, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1795-1931 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
- ^ "Arab Princess to Speak Here" Cortland Standard (January 17, 1936): 5.
- ^ Champagne, Matthew, "When the Queer East Met the American West: How the Same-Sex Relationship Between a Syrian 'Princess' and her 'Secretary' Destabilized Orientalism in the Early Twentieth Century" Madison Historical Review 19(1)(2022): 1-21.
- ^ "Ruth and Naomi Splendid Drama". The Morning Call. 1928-12-12. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-11-14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Princess Here to Lecture". San Pedro News Pilot. September 16, 1922. p. 3. Retrieved November 14, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
