Recommendable!
"In November 1776, a small Caribbean island fired a cannon at an American ship — and in doing so, made history. The exchange, known as the “First Salute,” marked the first international recognition of the United States. Now, a new exhibition at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia is bringing that moment, and the often-overlooked role of Jewish merchants and Caribbean trade networks in the American Revolution, back into view.
The exhibition, “The First Salute,” which will run until April 2027, traces how the American fight for independence extended far beyond the colonies, relying on global trade networks and unlikely allies. Drawing on newly displayed artifacts — from a 250-year-old cannon recovered from St. Eustatius to letters tied to the movement of revolutionary supplies — it tells the story of how Jewish merchants, many with ties across the Atlantic, helped funnel goods, information, and support to the Patriot cause. ...
At the center of that network was the small Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, then one of the busiest ports in the Atlantic. By the late 18th century, its harbor had become a critical waypoint for goods moving between Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and the American colonies, including weapons and gunpowder, often disguised as ordinary trade goods, that the Continental Army desperately needed.
Because Jews had often been pushed into finance, trade, and mercantile work in Europe ... they developed the Atlantic-world connections that later made them valuable to the Patriot cause. By the time revolutionaries needed weapons, gunpowder, and supplies, “history placed Jews exactly in the right places, with the right skills, the right connections.”
Jewish merchants, who made up 30% of the European population on St. Eustatius at the time, played an outsized role in that system. Many had roots in the Iberian Peninsula, having fled persecution in Spain and Portugal during the Spanish Inquisition, and later built extensive commercial ties across the Atlantic. As a Dutch colony, St. Eustatius offered Jews more religious freedom than in most of Europe. The population grew, and by 1739 had become established enough to build a synagogue, Honen Dalim. By the time of the Revolution, that community was deeply embedded in the commercial networks that made St. Eustatius so valuable to the American cause. ..."
"... For centuries, the story of how a small community of Jews living in America and on a tiny Caribbean island helped tip the scales of the Revolutionary War was largely forgotten — it’s the story of swashbuckling, patriot Jewish pirates who smuggled gunpowder into America.
The Jewish merchants on the lush, windswept island of St. Eustatius, who supplied Washington’s army with the critical contraband, were members of the first international entity to recognize the United States. Their allegiance to the American cause cost them dearly. Targeted for abuse by the British, they were stripped of their homes and wealth, torn from their families and exiled, and had their graves plundered. ..."
The First Salute exhibition "The First Salute: An Untold Story of the American Revolution is the first-ever major museum exhibition to explore the little-known story of a small group of Jewish merchants in the Caribbean whose outsized contributions to the cause of American Liberty tipped the scales in the fight for American Independence."
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