DETROIT — On Monday, April 2 Detroit Public Television (DPTV) premiered the new television documentary series “Arab American Stories” in collaboration with the PBS network. The 13 episode series documents the lives of 39 selected Arab Americans who work in different professions throughout the country and have made an impact on their communities.

The show will focus on three individuals per episode who were selected to be a part of the series after Detroit Public Television formed a committee of over 20 people to help narrow down a list of potential candidates. The project, which has been in the works since 2010, was able to find support on a national level, including major contributions from Michigan based organizations. 

Alicia Sams, the producer of the series says she hopes the show will breakaway from the stereotypes portrayed in the media after the events of 9/11. 

“Ever since 9/11 there has been so much misinformation about Arab Americans. We narrowed it down to include regional diversity, religious diversity and professional diversity. I just wanted to show how incredibly diverse the population was to do it justice,” Sams stated. 

Living in Chicago and being Lebanese herself, Sams also wanted to tackle more projects that would explore her heritage. She has worked in the film industry for over 20 years and was an Executive Producer of the 2009 film “Amreeka,” a story about an immigrant single mother living with her teenage son in Illinois. 

“After the positive reception of that project, I wanted more opportunities to learn about my heritage. It was very interesting to see all these stories of Arab Americans around the country,” Sams added.

Hoda Succar, former president of the American Syrian Arab Cultural Association, was the chairwoman of the Arab American Stories Committee, which was also responsible for raising funds for the series. 

“The goal is to tell stories of Arab Americans doing extraordinary things with their lives. The people who are on the series work in the media, they own businesses, they are artists, policemen, teachers…it was an opportunity to open the window on the lives of Arab Americans,” Succar stated.

A special premiere was held for the show at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn on March 31st, where locals and community leaders were able to screen the premiere episode before it aired. According to Succar, they have been receiving plenty of positive feedback.

“The reception has been extremely well. The comments we’ve been receiving have been wonderful,” Succar added.

Sams says there are both similarities and differences with “Arab American Stories” and TLC’s now canceled “All-American Muslim,” the Dearborn based reality show. 

“I think fundamentally there is the same impulse, to normalize how a group of people are looked at. But our approach is broader and doesn’t focus on just one community. This isn’t a reality show. I went to independent filmmakers to make character driven films about people.”

Individuals featured on the show include Diane Rehm, a radio show host from Washington D.C, Adnan Charara, a popular artist, Maha Freij, the Director and CFO of ACCESS and Linda Sarsour, the Director of the Arab American Association of New York.

Sams also hopes the documentary can be used as an educational tool and wants other Arab-Americans to follow suit and upload their own personal stories on the show’s website, where the episodes will be available to view on demand. She’s also hoping to do another season of the show if it does well. 

“There’s this kind of universal immigrant story in America. Everybody wants their kids to have a better future. We have so many more stories we could have told, but ultimately we felt the individuals we narrowed it down to were the most diverse. It would really be naive to say I hope it would change the minds of the naysayers, but I just hope it breaks down the stereotype.” 

Also involved in the show is National Public Radio’s Neda Ulaby, a Jordanian born reporter who will serve as the host of the program. The show will air locally in Detroit on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. on DPTV. The show can also be viewed online at www.arabamericanstories.org. 

The PBS network plans to launch the series on a national level this summer.