Arab American Heritage Month 2025
The achievements of Arab Americans are celebrated during the National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM) in April. Arab America and the Arab America Foundation launched the National Arab American Heritage Month initiative in 2017, with just a handful of states recognizing the initiative. In 2021, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, recognized the month of April as National Arab American Heritage Month with a special commemorative letter. In 2022, Congress, the U.S. Department of State, and 45 state governors issued proclamations commemorating the initiative. Additionally, the following states have passed permanent legislation designating the month of April as NAAHM: Illinois; Oregon; Virginia; Indiana (Senate), and California.
During this time, we celebrate Arab Americans throughout the past and present, and recognize their invaluable contributions to our country. It also serves as a time to combat Anti-Arab bigotry and to challenge stereotypes and prejudices.
- Zoom Backgrounds for Arab American Heritage Month can be downloaded here: UCSF
- Additional AAHM info and events at the UCSF Multicultural Resource Center
UCSF EVENTS
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ARABIC CULTURE
Arabic Language
Arabic has one unique thing and which makes it hard to learn. The writing system of the language is not based on alphabets. It is based on an abjad system. In this system, the letters represent constants, but not vowels. A speaker reads vowels and mark to pronounce vowels.
- Arabic is among the popular family of languages called Afro-Asiatic. It is commonly spoken in the Mid East and some segments of Africa. The family is made of six branches that have 300 living languages or dialects. Arabic is the widely spoken language by 350 million speakers..
- Arabic is hundreds of years old language. It is classified as originating in the 6th century. Arabic has some old versions, such as an ancient Arabic dialect, the Safaitic dialect spoken by pre-Islamic nomads of Syro Arabian desert. The written version can be traced back even to the 1st century.
- Arabic is known as the fifth most spoken language. Arabic is well represented in the region of the Middle East and is one of the main languages. Other four most spoken languages are Spanish, English, Hindi, and Chinese.