El - Bakaurat ed-Dirziyat
The first Druze immigrants landed on the shores of the North American Continent in the late 19th century, and as the numbers of these immigrants rose, there was a strong desire and need for brotherhood, fellowship, kinship, and camaraderie among them. In 1907, a group of those immigrant Druzes who had settled in and near Seattle, Washington, and who were known for their sincerity and enlightenment, organized the first fraternal organization which they called “El-Bakaurat Ed-Dirziyat.’ ( El-Bakaurat) is an Arabic word and means the first fruit. It was properly used to indicate the first fraternal-Druze society in the United States. There is on record that Mr. Assaad Cramery from Ain Zahalta, Lebanon, along with Dr. Nasseem Saleem from Jubieh, Lebanon was among the original founders of the “El-Bakaurat Ed-Dirziyat.’ Mr. Henry Flehan, ADS historian, has on record an emblem of the Seattle organization dated February 8, 1908. Mr. Abbass Dakdouk from Cleveland, Ohio gave Mr. Flehan the emblem in trust.
(El-Bakaurat Ed-Dirziyat will be used throughout this work for the spelling of the Society regardless of the manner in which it was written in any of the accounts researched to produce this work. This spelling was taken from the badge of Branch #2 El-Bakaurat Ed-Dirziyat in Detroit, Michigan).
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Al Bakoorat's banquet, Detroit Leland Hotel,
May 19, 1940, Julia Makarem photographs
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The El – Bakaurat ed-Dirziyat a fraternal organization in Seattle, Washington under the name of El-Bakaurat Ed-Dirziyat was dully and legally registered under the laws of that State. On Sunday, February 1, 1908 and in the city of Seattle, Washington On July 25, 1911, an Agreement to Incorporate was drawn up, and on the 3rd day of August, 1911, The Duruz Society was incorporated as AL BAKOURAT ALDERZIET in Seattle, Washington. The document of the ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION OF AL BAKOURAT ALDERZIET is in the National Office of the American Druze Society archives.
The El – Bakaurat ed-Dirziyat was founded on the 3rd day of August, A.D., 1911 at the hour of 4:00 p.m., on the said day in New York Block, situated in the City of Seattle, County of King, State of Washington.
“THIS AGREEMENT to incorporate made this the 25th day of July, A.D. 1911. The officers were : S.A. Cramery, President, Thomas Jaber, Vice President, Salamon Hamad, Secretary, D.M. Jaber, Assistant Secretary, and C. Albert, Treasurer.”
Branches of the El Bakaurat Ed Dirziyat
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