‘Cedar in the Pines’ Exhibit Tours North Carolina

Cedars in the Pines, the first exhibit to narrate the history of Lebanese immigrants who have made North Carolina their homes since the 1880s, made its debut at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh in 2014 before touring on the North Carolina museum circuit.

Cedars in the Pines features personal stories, family photographs, home movies, letters, artifacts, video and audio recordings that bring to life the story of Lebanese immigration in North Carolina. It introduces visitors to three facets of the immigration experience: journeys (how and why they immigrated), belonging (how they integrated to life in North Carolina), and being (how they maintained a sense of identity and heritage).

Funded by Lebanese-American Moise Khayrallah, the exhibit began as a collaborative oral history project directed by Dr. Akram Khater, NC State Professor of History and Director of the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies. Dr. Khater teamed up with Professor Judy Kertesz’s graduate-level material culture class and the N.C. Museum of History to bring the project to the North Carolina public.

Cedars in the Pines remained at the N.C. Museum of History until August 2014. It then moved on to the Tryon Palace in New Bern, followed by the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte.

For more information about Cedars in the Pines, including details about the Cedars in the Pines documentary and K-12 curriculum, visit the Khayrallah Center’s projects page.