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1492
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Luis de Torres, a Spanish converso, accompanied Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to America.
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1654
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Twenty-three Jews from Brazil land in New Amsterdam, establishing the first Jewish community in North America.
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1658
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Jews settle in Newport, Rhode Island.
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1678
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South Carolina Governor John Archdale uses a Jewish interpreter to interrogate Indian prisoners captured in Florida. Jews in Rhode Island purchase land for cemetery.
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1697
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Four Jews become citizens of the English colony of South Carolina.
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1730
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Sephardic Congregation Shearith Israel establishes a synagogue in New York.
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1733
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Forty-one Jews from London arrive in Savannah and establish the first Jewish
community in the South.
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1735
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Savannah dedicates its synagogue, Mickveh Israel, and a cemetery.
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1740
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Act of Parliament enables Jews in all the English colonies to become citizens. Congregation Mikveh Israel established in Philadelphia.
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1749
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Congregation Beth Elohim formed in Charleston, South Carolina.
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1763
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Congregation Jeshuat Israel dedicates a synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. Later it is named Touro Synagogue.
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1776
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Francis Salvador of South Carolina dies fighting for the American cause as Revolutionary War begins. British occupy New York. Many Jews leave in support of the colonies.
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1782
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Haym Salomon provides financial assistance to the American Revolution.
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1790
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Letters of congratulations sent from the six Jewish congregations in the United States to George Washington on his election as our first president.
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1794
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Charleston, South Carolina has the largest Jewish population in the United States. Congregation Beth Elohim of Charleston dedicates its synagogue, which will become the first Reform congregation in U.S.
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1820
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Jewish population estimated at 3,000.
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1826
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Maryland legislation permits Jews to hold public office and to practice law.
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1833
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Monticello, the estate of Thomas Jefferson, is purchased by Uriah P. Levy, first
Jewish commodore in the U.S.Navy. Levy saves Monticello for the American people.
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1840
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Jewish population in the United States estimated at 15,000.
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1843
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B'nai Brith organized.
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1850
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Ernestine Rose, daughter of a rabbi, helps organize the first National Women's Rights Convention. Levi Strauss opens dry-goods business in Sacramento, California.
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1860
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Jewish population estimated at 200,000.
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1862
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U.S. Senator Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana serves as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and later Secretary of State for the Confederacy. He is a trusted advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
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1863
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President Lincoln orders General Ulysses Grant to withdraw his order expelling Jews from Tennessee.
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1871
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First Yiddish and Hebrew newspaper in America is published.
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1880
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Jewish population estimated at 230,000
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1883
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Emma Lazarus writes the poem that will be placed on pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
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1891
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Philanthropist Baron Maurice DeHirsch establishes fund to help settle Jewish immigrants throughout the U.S.
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1892
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Ellis Island Immigration Station opens (closes 1954). American Jewish Historical Society established.
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1893
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National Council of Jewish Women founded in Chicago.
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1895
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National Jewish Federation movement begins.
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1897
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Jewish Daily Forward, a Yiddish newspaper, established.
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1900
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Jewish population estiminated at 1,000,000.
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1907
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Rabbi Stephen S. Wise begins career as a Zionist. Louis Mayer and other Jewish immigrants begin the motion picture industry.
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1912
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Zionist organization Hadassah founded by Henrietta Szold.
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1913
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Trial and lynching of Leo Frank in Atlanta leads to founding of Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. Henryn Morgenthau appointed ambassador to Turkey.
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1916
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Louis D. Brandeis becomes the first Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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1917
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Jewish Welfare Board organized.
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1924
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National Origins Act goes into effect, placing restrictive quotas on immigration into the U.S.
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1926
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Synagogue Council of America, representing Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Jewish movements in the U.S., founded.
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1933
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Albert Einstein arrives in the U.S. as a refugee from Nazi oppression.
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1941
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America enters World War II on December 7th after Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Approximately 550,000 Jews will serve in the Armed Forces; over 300 chaplains will serve.
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1947
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Jewish population in the U.S. estimated at 5,000,000 (3.66% of total). Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island designated a National Shrine.
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1948
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Brandeis, the first non-sectarian Jewish-sponsored university, is founded.
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1972
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Hebrew Union College ordains Sally J. Priesand as the first woman rabbi.
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1978
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Renowned Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer receives Nobel Prize for Literature.
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1983
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Reform movement passes resolution of patrilineal descent.
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1985
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Conservative movement ordains Jewish women.
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1987
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Mobilization for Soviet Jewish emigration results in Operation Exodus (to Israel) and Passage to Freedom (to United States); Jonathan Pollard convicted of selling U.S. classified documents to Israel.
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1992
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U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum opens on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
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1994
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Steven Spielberg awarded Oscars for Schindler's List, a film depicting
the Holocaust.
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