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(Excerpt from The
Lenape/Delaware Indian Heritage - 10,000 BC to AD 2000 by Herbert
C. Kraft)
In their
traditional eastern homeland, where few Lenape presently reside,
the cultural revival has also taken hold. The late James
"Lone Bear" Revey, descendant of the Sand Hill Delaware,
presided for decades over the New Jersey Indian Office in Orange,
which housed the records and genealogies of his people. The
foremost Lenape spokesman, craftsman, and educator in the East,
Revey strove to keep alive the Lenape heritage. In
Additional to James Revey's group of Delaware and Cherokee
descendants, there are also several other groups claiming
Amerindian ancestry that have been recognized by the State of New
Jersey. Some of these however, have origins shrouded in
controversy.
The "Powhatan-Renape
Nation" is one such group. On its website the
Nation states that the tribe's "forefathers were mostly
Rappahan-nocks from Virginia and Nanticokes from Delaware"
descended from members of Powhatan's ancient confederacy (Johnson,
"Powhatan History" 1995-2000.) Although obviously
descended also from various non-Indian ethnic groups, members of
the tribe regard themselves solely as Indians.
While the
Powhatan and Nanticoke are members of the Algonquian Language
family, as are the Lenape, the Powhatan and Nanticoke are not
Lenape, did not speak languages mutually intelligible with Lenape
and were not native to New Jersey. The migration of some
Nanticoke into New Jersey during the 19th century is
known; however, the migration of the "Powhatan-Renape
Nation" into the region has not been documented.
In April, 1996
the Powhatan-Renape Nation filed a letter of intent to petition
for federal recognition as an Indian Tribe with the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. Recognition, however, would ultimately be
denied.
A group whose
origins are documented more fully is the "Nanticoke-Lenni
Lenape" (Kraft 1986a: 242-243; Weslager 1983:
250-260). The Nanticoke originally lived on the Eastern
Shore of Maryland, and some later moved into Delaware.
Around the time of the Civil War, they entered New Jersey.
Life was often precarious for the Indians during the slavery
period because some Euro-Americans considered them to be
"colored" and hence, they were sometimes in danger of
enslavement. To escape these problems and to find more
promising opportunities for education and work, many Nanticoke
Indians began moving to New Jersey. Around the turn of the
20th century, a disastrous blight known as the
"peach yellows" struck in Delaware and the Indians
usually hired to raise, pick, and ship peaches found their
livelihood imperiled. Many more Nanticokes moved into New
Jersey as a result, settling principally in Salem and Cumberland
counties where they worked as farm hands, sharecroppers, and
tenant farmers. They tended to marry among themselves or
with other local people, thereby maintaining a sense of identity.
Like most other
Indian groups in New Jersey, the Nanticokes have lost or forgotten
most of their lore because of acculturation, migration,
intermarriage with non-Indians, and the deaths of knowledgeable
elders with the passage of time. Their language is no longer
spoken but there is a strong connection with Indian origins.
In 1974 a group with Nanticoke and Delaware backgrounds resolved
to rekindle an interest in their Native American heritage, and on
August 7, 1978, they incorporated as the Nanticoke-Lenni Lenape
Indians of New Jersey. In December, 1982, this organization
was recognized as a tribe in a resolution passed by the New Jersey
legislature.
In January, 1992,
the Nanticoke-Lenni Lenape filed with the BIA a letter of intent
to petition for federal recognition as an Indian Tribe. The
matter is still awaiting resolution.
A poignant story
in the quest for cultural identity and recognition is that of the Ramapo
Mountain People. Straddling the New York/New Jersey
border in the region encompassing the towns of Suffern, Mahwah,
Ringwood, and Hillburn, this group has been characterized by
anthropologists as "triracial isolates", a
"marginal group", and mestizos; folk tradition has
presented them as the mixed-blood descendants of Hessian Soldiers,
freed blacks, white prostitutes, and any number of possible Indian
ancestors including Tuscarora, Creek, Lenape (generically) and
more specifically, Munsee, Minisink and Hackensack (Berry 1978:
290-291; BAR 1996a29, Cohen 1974: 1-24). Many scholars,
journalists and other observers have long argued that the Ramapo
Mountain People have some Indian ancestry, as some members of the
group appeared to have Amerindian physical characteristics - that
is, coppery colored skin and high cheek bones.
It should be
noted, however, that not all the Ramapo people are members of the
Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc., identify with the Lenape, or
even regard themselves as Indians (BAR 1996a: 10; Cohen 1974:
111-113). Those who do were gratified in 1980 when the
States of New Jersey and New York recognized the Ramapo Mountain
People as the Ramapough Mountain Indians. Aside from a sense
of tribal identity, this recognition entitled them to certain
state government benefits, including federal monies for Indian education
(Title IV).
The quest for
federal recognition, however, proved far more difficult. It
its final determination, issued January 8, 1996, and in a
subsequent confirmation of that decision, which became effective
January 7, 1998, the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Branch of Acknowledgement
and Research (BAR) denied recognition to the Ramapo on the grounds
that they had not resented sufficient evidence to prove that the
members as a group were descendants of an historical American
Indian tribe, genealogically, socially, and politically (BAR
1996b: 1). The Ramapos, however, continue to press their
claims, and only the future will determine how the issue will be
resolved.
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The Lenape
Enthusiasts
It is not only
the Lenape themselves, or persons or groups with possible Delaware
ancestry, who have been attempting to reclaim Lenape
heritage. Coinciding with the public's increasing interest
in Indians has been the appearance of numerous individuals whom
the late traditionalist Nora Thompson Dean referred to as
"Instant Indians" - individuals typically of
Euro-American or African-American descent now claiming the mantle
of the Lenape and other tribes. A host of such dubious
groups has arisen throughout the region, buttressed by a
proliferation of related websites, literature and paraphernalia.
To be sure, at
least a few individuals may actually have had a Lenape ancestor or
ancestors at some point in the past. However it is
questionable whether having, say, a great-great-grandfather of
Lenape background is in itself tantamount to being Lenape, or that
one can simply discard the overwhelming preponderance of his or
her non-Indian ancestry. Moreover, many individuals making
these claims have no documentation whatsoever to support them, nor
have they demonstrated knowledge of Lenape culture other than what
they have read in books or learned from lectures (often delivered
by other non-Indians. From their own testimony, many such
persons frequently claim to be Lenape because they
"feel" in their hearts that they are indeed so, or
because they have been "adopted" by other individuals
who regard themselves as Lenape (but who themselves are of
questionable background.)
Armed with Lenape
words and phrases derived from various published and unpublished
but available language sources, with makeshift ghost dances,
home-made "adoption" ceremonies, "sacred"
pictographs of the fraudulent Walam-Olum, traditional
stories published by Nora Thompson Dean and other sources, these
self-styled "Lenape" have at times apparently fooled not
only themselves but the government, and frequently lecture for
schools and other organization throughout the traditional homeland
of the Delaware.
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