There are two other reasons Perelman is interested in Sint Eustatius: It had a large Jewish population, and it was the first foreign entity to recognize American independence.\n<\/p>\n
About 40% of the island\u2019s free population of roughly 1,000 people was Jewish, mostly of Spanish and Portuguese descent. The island was also home to about 1,500 enslaved people, according to Perelman.\n<\/p>\n
British forces were well aware of Sint Eustatius\u2019 strategic position, and then they went on the attack. British Admiral George Rodney captured and occupied the island in 1781. His first order of business was to immediately imprison all of its Jewish men \u2014 about 101 people.\n<\/p>\n
It was accepted at the time for British naval officers to keep any spoils of war for themselves. When Rodney saw the wealth of an island at the center of international trade, he was not going to pass up a payday. He targeted Jewish people.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever material wealth was on their bodies, he stripped them of it,\u201d Perelman said. \u201cHe also corralled Jewish men and women and looted their homes. He even digs up graves in search of wealth.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Rodney\u2019s antisemitic greed was likely his undoing. He spent months systematically harvesting wealth from Eustatius, which drew his attention away from the military objective of blocking trade routes to America.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cRodney makes a fateful error. He misses the French fleet coming through the Caribbean,\u201d Perelman said. \u201cThis is the fleet that lands at Chesapeake Bay and provides support to George Washington in the Battle of Yorktown.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The exhibition \u201cThe First Salute\u201d gets its name from a key event that happened in 1776. One of the first U.S. Navy ships, the Andrew Doria, sailed to Sint Eustatius in November of that year. The Declaration of Independence had been signed by that time, but had never officially been tested on the international stage.\n<\/p>\n
The Andrew Doria arrived at Sint Eustatius as the first U.S. warship to enter a foreign port. The governor at the time, Johannes de Graaf, chose to recognize the sovereignty of the new United States by firing an 11-gun salute. It was the first time the new nation was officially greeted by another.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe island has this magnificent appreciation for their history. The first salute looms large in their own identity,\u201d Perelman said. \u201cOne of the reasons I\u2019m here in November is November 16th, Stasia Day, the day of the first salute. It has become a day of cultural celebration of the islands\u2019 past and present.\u201d\n<\/p>\n