Avuncular American

The Chickasaw Princess of Tangier

This is a story with, as they say in French films, a "Appy End."  It could have been otherwise.

But before we go any further, let us wish Laurie "Dougie" Harbach, who lived for a number of years as an American expatriate in Tangier, a very happy 100th birthday.  Today she's safely back home in Oklahoma, thanks to the help of two Swiss gentlemen who came to her aid.

"Dougie," as she is known to her friends in Tangier, was a "Powers Girl" model with the John Roberts Powers agency in the mid-Twentieth century.  She graced the covers of Vogue, Modern Photography, Modern Romances, and other magazines, many of which have disappeared from circulation.  Fashion photographer George Platt Lynes featured the beautiful model along with his male nudes, and Dougie was quoted as saying that their affair was complicated: "He didn't want his boyfriend making passes at his girlfriend."

Dougie, who later married TV producer William Harbach, traveled in privileged circles in her early life.  Her photo albums show Gatsby-like mansions on Long Island, skiing in the French Alps, and cover-girl spreads in exotic locations.  She modelled for legendary couturier Charles James.

On the back of a faded picture of then-US Navy Lt. John F. Kennedy, she writes "Florida, 1944, JFK, 27 yrs., I took picture."

But our point here is not to dwell on the glamorous young Dougie, who appears to have had a relatively sybaritic existence.  Later, when she settled in Tangier, the good life continued in the International Zone's expat community, with Dougie appearing at American School of Tangier theatre productions by Headmaster Joe McPhillips; longtime Tangier American resident Blanca Hamri remembers Dougie as "always elegant, never a snob, and never a negative word said about anyone."

In recent years Dougie, by then in her late nineties and beset with health and financial problems, got out less, and visitors were less frequent; her downtown Tangier apartment had scores of steps and no elevator.  Sometime last year, Swiss residents of Tangier, philanthropists Jean-Marc Maillard, Honorary Consul General of Morocco in Switzerland, and his partner Jean-Daniel Polier, took action.  They spent time with Dougie, got to know her story.  Looked for help in the obvious places - family members, US Embassy, even seeing if her previous marriage to someone who was Jewish might qualify her for admission to Tangier's retirement home (the answer was no).

And then, the miraculous: paging through her star-studded photo albums, Jean-Marc Maillard marvelled, "you were a princess."  Dougie's rejoinder; "I am a Princess."  A Chickasaw princess, as it happens, granddaughter of Douglas Johnston, the first Governor of the Chickasaw Nation after Indian Territory became the state of Oklahoma.  Among her books in Tangier: "A Chickasaw Dictionary," published by the Chickasaw Nation and compiled by her grandfather's friend.

Now, you can be an American citizen, living overseas, and get into medical and/or financial trouble, and good luck to you.  Without family resources back home, and with things like Medicare stopping at the border, there is not a lot that the US Government can do beyond ensuring that your Social Security check is paid.  Even if a destitute overseas American retiree were to return back to the States, then what?  Medicaid?  That would depend on their state, and many have been cutting that aid for the neediest.

But not the Chickasaw Nation, which

considers its elders “living treasures” and works hard to provide for them the best service and care possible. The tribe remains devoted to the health and well-being of its elders by offering programs and services which are focused on all aspects of their lives.

So, here's to a "living treasure," Laurie "Dougie" Harbach, back in the Chickasaw Nation on her 100th birthday.  We raise our glasses to you,  Dougie Harbach.

Pisa chukma - her Chickasaw dictionary says it means "beautiful."

Gerald Loftus
 

Los Hispanojudíos

When is an exhibit at a Spanish cultural center, illustrating the history of Jews in Morocco, the object of controversy?

When the exhibit - Los Hispanojudíos en Marruecos y sus diásporas, currently at the Tangier Cervantes Institute - is mounted by a Spanish institution with "Israel" in its name.

In cooperation with Instituto Cervantes and the wonderfully-named Fundación Premio Convivencia (a reference to that time when Al-Andalus was home to the three monotheistic religions, living in harmony), the Spanish cultural organization Centro Sefarad-Israel has mounted a serious, thoughtful, and well-documented exhibit tracing the history of Jews in Morocco.

The Centro Sefarad-Israel is a Spanish, not an Israeli, institution.  Part of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation public diplomacy effort.

Spain has a number of these cultural institutions dedicated to certain key regions of the world (Casa Árabe, Casa Asia, etc.).  But you guessed it: the word "Israel" in its title triggered a demonstration on the eve of the exhibit opening last week.  Police prevented things from getting out of hand; press reports indicate that the protest was organized by Islamist parties and pro-Palestinian organizations.

The fact that Morocco has a long, proud history of providing refuge to Jews - those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition or expelled by the Catholic monarchy, as well as in the mid-20th century, when Sultan Mohammed V stood in the way of Vichy French authorities bent on persecuting Jews - all that was apparently for nought with the protestors.

For the rallying cry was anti-normalization with Israel.  Deputies in the Moroccan parliament have drafted laws proposing to criminalize such things as travel to Israel or calling for anything seen as "normalization."  This, at a time when in Israel, numbers of young Sephardic Jews want to renew links with the Morocco of their parents' and grandparents' memory.

There is another aspect, that of Spanish moves to grant descendants of the expelled Jews Spanish citizenship.  Many Muslim Moroccans ask, "why not us too?"  Their ancestors were, after all, victims of the same xenophobic Reconquista.

None of this serves to reassure the country's dwindling Jewish population, which has, as Ralph Toledano described in his recent book Un Prince à Casablanca, sometimes suffered jolts to its traditional sense of security in Morocco, often brought on by outside, unrelated circumstances.

The exhibit runs through 14 March.

Gerald Loftus 

Tangier to Tinseltown: Sanaa Hamri

Tipped off by proud Mom (Blanca Hamri), I watched her daughter Sanaa on CNN, and then sent the following flash message ("Must-See: Tanjawia-American on CNN") last Sunday morning to the more than 400 people on the TALIM mailing list:

 

I'll be brief: Moroccan - American film director Sanaa Hamri, daughter of Blanca Hamri (formerly of the American School of Tangier) and artist Mohammed Hamri, has made a successful career in New York and Hollywood as a director of music videos, TV programs, and films.

She's profiled on CNN's weekly "African Voices," which is shown at the following times.  If you miss seeing it today Sunday or tomorrow Monday, you can probably watch the episode on the program's website.  The program is shown at the following times (deleted, as it's now online).

 

Check this out, no kidding.  It's a full 30 minutes of Tangier & a great Moroccan-American.  Sanaa is highly intelligent, successful-but-not-a-braggart, an example of what this rich multicultural city and a pair of spunky and talented parents can produce.

I then sent the announcement with this addendum to the members of the American School of Tangier (AST) board of trustees (of which I am a member):

 

"African Voices" appears to be only be broadcast on CNN International, therefore only outside the US.  But if you wait a couple of days, you will be able to see it on the CNN website at this link; look for "Watch Previous Shows."

 

Sanaa (and Blanca) provide some great lines, including "AST was the ticket... education was a great gift..."

What's most impressive is Hamri's evolution.  Starting out as a receptionist at a NY studio, she not only "answers the phones well," as she puts it, but also teaches herself how to use the editing equipment.  Music videos (her clients include the biggest names in pop) come next, which evolve into TV sitcom episodes, which then morph into film directing.

 

But not just any old MTV spot or film.  Sanaa Hamri says that she turns down proposals "if they lack meaning," or sometimes because of their lyrical content: "They're saying nothing."  This woman knows where she's heading.

 

Okay, "local girl does well in Hollywood" - the Tinseltown story has been told before in places like Peoria, and maybe in Tallahassee, but not in Tangier.  Sanaa is a Big Deal, and is obviously a young woman who thinks big, too.  With a map of Morocco and Tangier spotlighted on the TV screen, she tells us that she hopes to establish a film studio in her home town, to rival the majors in Hollywood.

 

With someone of her level of determination - mother Blanca recalls that Sanaa's favorite cartoon character as a little girl was "Mighty Mouse" - who can doubt that she'll give it a shot?

 

Photo: cover story of Urbain Magazine (Tangier, Morocco)

 

Gerald Loftus 

Lobby for the Legation Day

Future sign outside our door (come while it's still free!).

 

Actually, today's campaign is officially called Museums Advocacy Day, and it's an annual effort on the part of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), of which, thanks to TALIM Fellow Dr. Carol Malt, we are now members.

 

Last year, we provided friends of the Legation with a "Lobby-For-the-Legation" grab bag of ideas, some of which were acted upon (our microfilm reader/scanner).  So while you're considering the AAM's list of actions below, don't forget those Legation-specific needs.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Now, from the American Alliance of Museums:

Advocate from Anywhere

This year, wherever you are, you can use our updated tools and materials to join the nationwide effort to make the case for museums.

• Take Action: Contact Congress: Urge Support for the IMLS Office of Museum Services

• Invite: Meet Your Legislators Locally

• Maximize Your Advocacy Efforts: Use the Alliance Publicity Toolkit

• Improve Your Advocacy Skills: Access our Online Advocacy Programs

• Get the App: Download and share the free Museums Advocacy Day mobile app

• Speak Up for Museums: Use #museumsadvocacy on Facebook and Twitter and "Like" and "Follow" your legislators

 Gerald Loftus

Happy Birthday, IB!

Tim Mackintosh-Smith, author of the erudite and entertaining Travels With a Tangerine, knew Ibn Battuta so well that he took to calling him "IB" throughout his 2000 update of the 14th century traveler's work.

Today, 25 February, is the birthday of Ibn Battuta, Tangier's most famous son, but one who most 21st century Tangerines would be hard-put to define.  He was born here, that much is for sure.  Whether his tomb, hidden away in a particularly difficult-to-find corner of Tangier's medina, is really his burial place - that is less certain.

But no matter.  Tangier's airport is named after him, he's graced postage stamps, and he continues to give that other late medieval traveler, Marco Polo of Venice, a run for his money.  In fact, IB's travels far outstripped those of his Venetian counterpart, who was mostly content with getting to, and safely back from, China.

IB did that, and much more, and wrote about it in his Rihla, or Journey.  You can get a sense of his writing and the amazing extent of his travels from this Saudi Aramco World article, or in this Fordham University "Medieval Sourcebook."

We want to, in a sense, "bring IB back" to Tangier, and hope to do so by showing Journey to Mecca, a sterling docudrama, shot in Morocco and using dialogue from the Rihla.  Subtitled In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta, the screenplay was written by veteran travel writer Tahir Shah, who knows the Legation.

We've been working on this since I saw the film when it first was released in IMAX in 2010, and we're getting close.  Stay tuned.

Gerald Loftus 

Moroccans In Belgium: 50 Year Love Story

When I picked up Belgium's leading French-language daily "Le Soir" last week in Brussels, with its pull-out section marking the 50th anniversary of the treaty which allowed large-scale immigration from Morocco, little did I know that by the end of the week in Tangier, the Legation would host a Belgian delegation of elected officials from that very immigrant community.  Unlike Les Barons, the fictional heroes of a Moroccan-Belgian community who flaunt their status by chipping in to rent a luxury car to impress girls, these officials represent a growing electoral barony - in the heart of Belgium's political institutions.

Actually, Belgium celebrated not only the anniversary of Moroccan immigration, with its close to half a million first, second, and third generations, but also the story of Turkish immigration, which also started in 1964.  Today both communities thrive in several Belgian cities, but especially in the capital Brussels.

The delegation of elected officials - they were on our flight back to Tangier, as it happened - was headed by Emir Kir, Bourgmestre or mayor of the Brussels commune of Saint-Josse.  Emir Kir, one of the rising stars of the Belgian French community's Parti Socialiste, was seconded during the visit to the Legation by Mohamed Azzouzi and a number of the echevins or members of the Saint-Josse city council.  Azzouzi (right), born in Tangier and an architect when he's not involved in electoral affairs, was particularly interested in the museum's painting of the former Belgian Legation, where US Marines deployed to protect during the 1904 Perdicaris affair.

This week's focus on a good news story - 50 years of largely positive impact, with Belgium's already rich linguistic mix (or is it a mess?) getting Anatolian and Maghrebi admixtures - this good news story contrasts with the often morbid media fixation with the recurrent "foreign fighter" story.  That hasn't gone away, and it is an important story, when handled seriously.  But to equate a minority of misguided Islamist jihadists going off to Syria or elsewhere from the 'hoods of Molenbeek or Anderlecht is to get it way wrong: most Moroccan (and Turkish) immigrants and their offspring are hard-working, striving-to-get-ahead model citizens.  Just check the multicultural credentials of the Saint-Josse delegation, seen below at the Legation's Perdicaris exhibit.

There's much more that could be said about the half-century of Moroccan immigration to Belgium.  Its roots in the Rif and Tangier, in the years after Moroccan independence, when unrest and unemployment made the safety valve of jobs in Belgian mines attractive to the Rabat authorities.  About how people from the Moroccan community have "made it" in Belgium, and not just in politics: on radio and TV, there are a number of household names and recognizable faces hosting daily programs.  About how a former Moroccan Ambassador in Brussels considered himself, after the Belgian Prime Minister, as the person with the greatest number of "constituents" (and there's no doubt about how important these Moroccans living abroad - "M.R.E.s" and their remittances - are to the country's economy).

Moroccan immigration in Belgium has remade the image of Europe's capital.  When we return there from our four years in Tangier, we'll know where to go to reconnect with Morocco.

Image "C'est du Belge" from the 50th anniversary website.

Text Gerald Loftus; photos Mohammed Jadidi

Monument Man

Over the past almost four years, one historic building has been an obsession: the Tangier American Legation.  My wife and I live there, and spend our working days and weekends there. Even during trips away from Morocco, like now, I find myself writing about it.

Its story is one that I never tire of telling: America's first diplomatic property, which happens to be on the African continent, at the Western edge of the Arab world, and in a country which practices a tolerant interpretation of Islam.  It's a big story, and it began in 1777.  And it's why the Tangier American Legation is the only US National Historic Landmark located in a foreign country.

Yesterday I received a message in my email inbox from the Washington-based private American heritage group, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, about another endangered edifice:

Last week, we shared the great news that the Astrodome was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The designation speaks volumes about the Dome’s significance — but it does not protect it from demolition.

We need your help to keep the iconic stadium standing. So, we’re asking [readers to contact local authorities in Houston].  It’s one click, one minute, one action that can make a world of difference for this striking part of America’s cultural history.

I have nothing against football, and I don't begrudge adding to the National Register of Historic Places a 1965 building that gave the world Astroturf® and other icons of commercial culture.

But in the struggle to keep historic buildings not only standing but thriving, we need perhaps a bit of prioritization.  I have no dog in the fight over the Astrodome.  But I do know this: the Legation, with its door open to showcase more than two centuries of American engagement with Morocco, is a powerful symbol at a time when American diplomacy is increasingly required to wall itself behind security barriers.

The Tangier American Legation deserves preservation, yes.  Public money for a government-owned building, yes, and private philanthropy too.

But it also deserves publicity, getting coverage for a story that begins with an 18th century Sultan reaching out to a new country fighting its Revolution.  And a Sultan who gives the US a building in the twisting streets of Tangier's medina, when American diplomacy was still exclusively in temporary rental quarters everywhere else.

And now, permit me a brief digression into the world of film review.

In Washington for meetings (and my ceaseless lobbying-for-the-Legation), we took a break to see George Clooney's directorial effort, The Monuments Men.  Having read Robert Edsel's excellent book about Allied soldiers and civilians who risked their lives to save and retrieve European art stolen on a massive scale by the Nazis, I looked forward to seeing the film treatment.  Luckily, I hadn't read Philip Kennicott's Washington Post review, or I might have stayed home.  The film does have some redeeming qualities, and the rough outlines of the historical story are there.  Roughly.

Unfortunately, I have to report that the film is to World War II art rescue what The Wind and the Lion is to the 1904 Perdicaris kidnapping in Tangier that triggered Teddy Roosevelt's gunboat diplomacy.  In other words: history, mangled.  Both cases involve Hollywood casting a beautiful blond actress where none existed in the historical incident: Cate Blanchett's "Claire Simone," despite the little wire-rim glasses, is still a glamorous Parisienne.  The real-life Rose Valland, who didn't look much like Cate Blanchett but whose efforts to save the masterpieces led her to join the French army and made her France's most decorated woman, is reduced to trying to vamp the Matt Damon character...

Back to our endangered monument, the Tangier American Legation.  Endangered?  Just check out the structural cracks in the above photo.  We're resting on rickety foundations, and though help appears to be on the way to shore up the structure, we will need resources to restore the Maghrebi artisanry that has suffered from years of exposure to shifting foundations, leaking roofs, and extreme humidity.

Want to help?  Contributions are always welcome (Download TALIM Fundraiser sheet), and our US-based 501(c)(3) charitable foundation will provide an IRS tax-deduction letter.

Speaking of letters, writing to your Congressional representatives or even to the National Trust would be helpful.  We need the recognition in historic preservation circles.

And those of you who are writers and perhaps already know the Legation and its unique place in American history might try your hand at getting our story in the media.  No American visitor to Morocco (or for that matter, to southern Spain) should miss seeing the Legation.

We can all be Monuments Men - and women. 

Gerald Loftus

The Return of the Legation Lions

Paraphrasing comic Dave Barry, Legation Lions would be a good name for a football team...

No, the "Legation Lions" refers to the rather cumbersome gifts that Presidents used to given by Moroccan Sultans back in the 1800s.  And the poor Tangier consuls who had to deal with the furry beasts.

From the US State Department Office of the Historian:

In 1834, the Sultan presented Tangier US Consul James Leib with a lion and two Arabian horses as gifts for the President.  He had to house the lion until he could persuade his superiors to transport it and the horses to the United States.  After much debate, Congress passed a resolution calling for the animals to be sold at auction.  The “Numidian Lion” fetched $3,350, with the proceeds being divided between two Washington orphanages.

His successor Thomas Carr was faced with a similar quandary:

The Sultan of Morocco presented Carr with two lions and two horses.  Congress passed another resolution authorizing the President to “dispose in such time and manner as he shall see fit of all such of the presents as cannot conveniently be deposited or kept in the Department of State, and cause the proceeds to be placed in the Treasury of the United States.”  The animals were duly sold when they arrived in Philadelphia in 1840.

For years, the scanned letter where Carr plaintively writes of lions eating him out of house and home on his meager Consul's salary has enchanted Legation museum visitors.  Especially amusing is the "gift you can't refuse' aspect: giving the lions back would result in the messenger's decapitation.  Not an option for a Consul with a conscience.

The previous scans' sickly green hue (maybe it was the early scan technology) finally became an eyesore, and we vowed to put up more presentable images.

Enter Kristen Kouttab and the Moroccan American Cultural Center in Washington.  With her colleague Dave Bloom, they went to the US National Archives in College Park Maryland and, with the help of friendly NARA archivist David Langbart, located the original letter and took these stunning photographs.  We only regret that we don't have an action photo of Dave Bloom climbing on tables and chairs to get the right shot in challenging lighting conditions.

The National Archives contain the "lion letter" and other treasures of American history that are there waiting for other Legation friends to exploit.  There's even an exhibit (sans lions) of famous gifts to US Presidents.  We greatly appreciate Kristen, Dave, and MACC help on getting this piece of American history in Morocco.

Now, we'll get the five sheets of the letter properly framed, as well as the beautiful but slow-to-read 19th century cursive handwriting transcribed for museum visitors.

Perhaps it was the pressure of dealing with successive sets of lions, but Leib and Carr later succumbed to Demon Rum and exhibited rather odd behavior on Zankat Amrika, recounted in our previous blog post on Crazy Consuls.  The Legation's tales never cease to fascinate.

Gerald Loftus

Calling All QR Readers

I have the QR app, but I don't have a smart phone to test it.  Maybe you do.

Okay, here it is: Mozilla Firefox offered a nice "add-on" in the form of a gizmo to generate those neat little QR codes from selected text or URLs.  I've been wanting to do this, so that we could link our museum exhibits to related articles on TALIMblog.  All those visitors with smartphones, zapping away at our static displays.  21st century technology in the cause of 18th century history.

Who knows? There might even be a "crowd-sourcing" way to generate mini-donations using this thing.  Don't have a spare $5.00 bill in your pocket or a 50 dirham note handy, but you want to help our worthy cause?  Zap that QR code on our "poor box."  You'll be making more exhibits possible, funding further book acquisitions for our research library, or helping us teach Arabic literacy to the women of Tangier's medina.

So here's my experiment: those of you out there who do have the smartphone ability to scan QR codes, please stick your phone against the screen and ID this QR.  Does it work?  And then write me a Comment on the blog.  You might even want to read the entire post that this - hopefully - will link you to.  Thanks in advance.

Gerald Loftus

Al Jazeera: the Legation "Min Washington"

TALIM Director Gerald Loftus (left) and Abderrahim Foukara (right)

"Min Washington," the Al Jazeera Arabic weekly news magazine hosted by Washington Bureau Chief (and Moroccan-American) Abderrahim Foukara, aired yesterday worldwide (it will be repeated throughout this week; see local listings).

The Tangier American Legation was featured, a full 10 minutes of interviews, exhibits, and lots of history.  Moroccans are proud of Foukara, whose clear style and serious interviews cover the gamut of current events, but also touch on cultural subjects like ours.  Here, the focus was on the longevity of US-Moroccan relations, and the accent on the fact that the American diplomatic post in Tangier was the pioneer permanent presence of the newly independent United States on African soil.

Abderrahim Foukara was moved by his visit to the Legation, and we have former Tanjawi Said Temsamani, now in the United States and a guest on the same "Min Washington" show, to thank for putting us in touch.  Here's Foukara on the Legation:

Visiting the American Legation in the heart of Tangier, a city where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, I could not help seeing, with my mind's eye, both Spain and America. To me, the bridges of co-existence and friendship often begin at the crossings of the future, the present and the past.

You can see the Legation segment on this link, approximately at minutes 35 through 45 (there's also a short soundbite "tease" at the outset).

Text: Gerald Loftus; photos courtesy of Al Jazeera