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A group of 30 or so Black Hebrews leave Chicago for Africa, specifically Liberia, the destination for freed American slaves in the 1830's and later.

After 18 disastrous months in the jungle, those who remain push on to Israel. They call themselves Jews and are permitted to enter under the country's Law of Return, which allows any Jew to gain immediate entry to Israel.

Israel cracks down on the Black Hebrews. Members are treated as illegal immigrants and are not allowed to work. Their leader, Ben-Ammi Ben-Yisrael, the former Ben Carter of Chicago, rejects a compromise proposed by the Israeli government that they convert to Judaism, saying this would deny their heritage.

Israel's Chief Rabbinate rules that the Black Hebrews indeed are not Jewish and therefore have no claim under the Law of Return.

Israel maps
In October, the Yom Kippur War, between Israel and its Arab neighbors, nearly results in the destruction of Israel.

A "second wave" of immigrants arrives in the country. Among those who came to Israel in these years were Aviel Ben-Yisrael, the former Arthur Holley from Detroit, who sells juices in the desert town Mitzpeh Ramon, and Ooriah Ben-Yisrael, the former Alvin Ferguson II of Cleveland.

Ben-Ammi steps up his rhetoric against Israel, claiming that his community is harassed because they are black. He says that his group's goal is to install the "real Jews" in Israel and establish a new government there. Members renounce their United States citizenship.

Visit by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Israel's Parliament establishes a committee, headed by David Glass, a Labor member of Parliament, to study the Black Hebrews' status. The Glass committee concludes that Israel should reach an accommodation with the Black Hebrews. The government rejects the committee's suggestions.

Black Hebrews move to current home, an abandoned absorption center on the outskirts of Dimona.

African-American labor leader Bayard Rustin leads a delegation to Israel to study the living conditions for the Black Hebrews. His report calls for the Israeli government to issue temporary working visas to all Black Hebrew members and for the Black Hebrews to pledge not to increase their membership other than by childbirth.

Police arrest 50 Black Hebrews in Rehovot packing shed; 37 are deported to America.

A meeting with interior minister in 1989 leads to a settlement along the lines Rustin suggested: Members in Israel were given work permits and limited benefits, including education for their children. The community agreed that members outside the country would not try to enter. The American government agreed to give a million dollars to the community - about $300,000 going to pay the community's debts to Israeli utilities, the rest going to build a new school.

Rock star Stevie Wonder comes to Dimona and gives a live concert.

Controversy erupts over the Eurovision Song Contest, when the official Israeli entry includes two Black Hebrews as part of Eden, a four-man pop band.

The local council allows the Black Hebrews to be buried in the city cemetery for non-Jews, following a report in Ha'Aretz that they had been forced to bury their dead at the city dump.

Aharon Ben-Yisrael Ellis, the first son born to the Black Hebrews in Israel, is the first member to be killed by an act of terrorism. Aharon was killed while singing at a bat mitzvah in the northern city Hadera. The death resulted in an outpouring of sentiment from the public and prompted speculation that the Black Hebrews would be granted long-awaited citizenship.

Whitney Houston and Bobby BrownÊvisitÊDimona and declare upon arriving, "It's home. It's home."

70 young people from the community born in Israel receive draft letters from the Israeli Defense Forces. They are set to enlist sometime at the end of the year.

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