Anbara Salam Khalidi

Anbara Salam Khalidi
Born	1897 Beirut
Died	1986 (aged 88-89) Beirut
Occupation	Translator
Language	Arabic
Citizenship	Lebanese
Alma mater	American University of Beirut
Period	Late 1920s - 1980s
Genre	Translations of classics
Spouse	Ahmad Samih Al Khalidi
Relatives	Salim Ali Salam (father) Saeb Salam (brother)

Anbara Salam Khalidi (Arabic: عنبرة سلام الخالدي) (1897–1986) was a Lebanese feminist, translator and author, who significantly contributed to the emancipation of Arab women.

Early life and education

Khalidi was born into an eminent Sunni family in Beirut in 1897. She was the daughter of Salim Ali Salam, a deputy in the Ottoman parliament and a mercant, and the sister of former Lebanese prime minister Saeb Salam. Two of her brothers served as cabinet ministers of Lebanon.

She received modern education and learned French. She and her siblings attended the Anglican Syrian College in Ras Beirut, which is the predecessor of the American University of Beirut. From 1925 to 1927 she studied in the United Kingdom.

Salim Ali Salam with King Faisal I of Iraq in Richmond Park in London in 1925, along with Salim's son Saeb Salam and daughters Anbara and Rasha. Anbara can be seen wearing an elegant cloche hat and a mid-calf skirt, contrary to prevailing social conventions in Beirut at the time.

Activities

After returning to Beirut Khalidi joined women's movement in the country. She is the first Lebanese women, who publicly abandoned the veil in 1927 during a lecture at the American University of Beirut. She was the first person, who translated Homer's classical works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey into Arabic. She also translated Virgil’s Aeneid into Arabic for the first time. Her memoir was published in 1978 with the title of Jawalah fil Dhikrayat Baynah Lubnan Wa Filastin (A Tour of Memories of Lebanon and Palestine in English). It was translated into English in 2013 under the title of Memoirs of an Early Arab Feminist.

In her memoir, Khalidi emphasizes negative effects of Ottoman ruler of Syria Jamal Pasha's activities on her family and her childhood. A chapter in the book is about Jamal Pasha, titled Jamal Pasha and his Crimes.

Personal life and death

Anbara Salam married a Palestinian educator, Ahmad Samih Al Khalidi (died 1951) in 1929. It was his second marriage. He was the principal of the Arab College in Jerusalem in Mandatory Palestine. They settled in Jerusalem and then in Beirut. She died in Beirut in May 1986.