Rahme Haider
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
[edit]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, 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
[edit]Haider 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
[edit]Haidar 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.
