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PASTPORTS
Rajie Cook
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For more than a hundred years there has been a regular flow of immigration to the USA by
Ramallah citizens, where they now form one of the most sizable communities amongst Arab
immigrant groups in North America. This work prepared by artist Rajie Cook is a tale of the
poignant hardships of immigration and estrangement.
“Pastports is a documentary about my father›s first journey from Ramallah to America in 1906.
My father Najeeb Esa Cook, was born in Palestine in 1886. The video takes the viewer on the
thirteen years of this journey working as a peddler in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, restaurateur
in Chicago, Illinois, miner in Bonne Terra, Missouri, department store stock room worker in
Chicago, laying railroad track and building railroad freight cars in Aurora, Illinois. He returns
to Ramallah with his brother Boulos in 1919 and marries Jaleela (Totah) Cook. Najeeb and
Jaleela came to America in 1927 and raised their family and five children: Lillian, Rajie, Julia,
Wadie and Edward. Najeeb died at 94 on September 9, 1980.”
Na’im Esa Cook, Year: not found. Photo: Rajie Cook
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Location : Ramallah
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Date of work : 2010
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