Crypto-Jews

A few weeks ago, we were researching Jewish history in the US for my other religion class and I came across this New York Times article that dealt with the "hidden legacy" of Jews in the US.  Basically, it was about people in New Mexico who were descendants of Spanish “conversos,” people who were practicing Catholicism yet still clung secretly to their Jewish roots. These Spanish Jews fled Spain after it issued the Edict of Expulsion in 1492 and many of them ended up in the American Southwest after much effort to avoid the reach of the Inquisition. Now, these people’s descendents are only now rediscovering their Jewish heritage, which is leading many of them in different directions- some are embracing their Jewish heritage whilst others desire to remain Catholic. Overall, I thought this article was very interesting and I had never before heard anything about these so-called “secret” Jews. It’s also interesting to me that these people continued to remain almost in hiding even when they were out of Spain’s reach in the U.S. Jewish history even in the U.S. is a lot more secretive and hidden than I had previously known.  Here's the link to the article if anyone wants to read it.  It's actually kind of fascinating!
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/11/us/scholars-and-descendants-uncover-hidden-legacy-of-jews-in-southwest.html