B'nai B'rith International history

In 1851, Covenant Hall was erected in New York City as the first Jewish community center in the United States, and also what is widely considered to be the first Jewish public library in the United States.

In 1868, when a devastating flood crippled Baltimore, B'nai B'rith responded with a disaster relief campaign.

After 1881, with the mass immigration of Eastern European Jews to the United States, B'nai B'rith sponsored Americanization classes, trade schools and relief programs.

In 1897, when the organization's United States membership numbered slightly more than 18,000, B'nai B'rith formed a ladies' auxiliary chapter in San Francisco.

In 1923, Rabbi Benjamin Frankel of Illinois established Hillel - an organization on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to provide both Reform and Orthodox Sabbath services, classes in Judaism and social events for Jewish college students.

At virtually the same time as Hillel was being established, Sam Beber of Omaha, Neb., presented a plan in 1924 to B'nai B'rith for a fraternity for Jewish men in high school.

In 1925, AZA became the junior auxiliary of B'nai B'rith.

In 1938 B'nai B'rith established the Vocational Service Bureau to guide young people into careers.

In 1953, B'nai B'rith acquired a 300-acre camp in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.

In 1976, a second camp was added near Madison, Wis.

On March 9–11, 1977, three buildings in Washington, D.C. were seized by 12 African American Muslim gunmen, led by Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, who took 149 hostages and killed a radio journalist and a police officer.