The year 2004 marked 350 years since the first communal settlement of Jews in North America. To mark this milestone, JWA created a set of resources that would ensure that women's stories would find a prominent role in the narratives of American Jewish history that emerged during the national 350th Anniversary celebrations.



## [Who Knew?](/350years/history)

In early September 1654 a small group of Jewish travelers, fleeing Portuguese persecution in northern Brazil, disembarked in New Amsterdam (present-day New York). Although these refugees were not the first Jews to arrive in North America and only a few of them remained on the continent for very long, twentieth and twenty-first century American Jews have adopted them as the founding pioneers of their community.



 

 



## [Fact Sheet on 1654](/350years/factsheet1654)

This fact sheet chronicles the beginning of Jewish communal life in North America, which began in 1654.



 

 



## [Timeline: 1654 to 2004](/350years/timeline)

This timeline marks Jewish women’s experience in North America from 1654 to 2004.



 

 



## [Film Series Guide](/350years/filmseries)

JWA's film discussion program provides groups with tools to explore cultural attitudes about American Jewish women through screening and discussion of five popular movies produced over the last fifty years.



 

 



## [Reading Series Guides](/350years/readingseries)

JWA's 350th book discussion series offer established book discussion groups and those seeking substantive 350th programming a compelling framework for thinking about our past and present in North America.



 

 



## [Honorary Committee for the 350th Celebration](/350years/honorary)

JWA’s Honorary Committee for the Celebration of 350 Years of Jewish Women in America gathered a distinguished array of accomplished American Jewish women including writer and poet Adrienne Rich, Rabbi Sally Priesand, singer Barbra Streisand, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and historian Gerda Lerner.