Why is a northern Iowa town named for an Arab/Muslim hero?
There are almost 20,000 cities incorporated in the United States. Elkader, Iowa, may be the only city in America named after an Arab Muslim.
Emir Abdelkader was a young Algerian hero who fought French settlers for almost 20 years in the mid-19th century. How did a small town in the northeast corner of Iowa get a name like Elkader, a name that in the post-9/11, post-Trump era could get you kicked off a flight? I have a friend who, after 9/11, changed his name from El-Kader to Randy to avoid trouble at the airport and the hassle of spelling it out every time he orders coffee at Starbucks.
The tale of Elkader, the farm town, started in 1845 when a British settler, Timothy Davis, was looking for a site for a new settlement along the Turkey River. Davis had learned the story of Emir Abdelkader in an American newspaper, which was sympathetic to the Algerian revolt against colonial rule. So Davis named his new town Elkader.
More than 170 years later (last month), Art in the Park, an annual art festival in Elkader, revealed for the first time Emir Abdelkader’s sculpture. While some Americans tear down old historical statues for their dark, criminal, racist histories, here in Elkader, Iowa, they’ve just erected a statue of a Muslim hero for his humanity and tolerance.
Continue reading WHY IS A NORTHERN IOWA TOWN NAMED FOR AN ARAB/MUSLIM HERO?
