Highlighting Decolonization: The Lenape Return To Pennsylvania

The belt of wampum delivered by the Indians to William Penn at the "Great Treaty" under the Elm Tree at Shackamoxon in 1682. "Not Sworn to and never Broken." : Presented by Granville John Penn Esq. of England / F. Bourquin & Co., lith.

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As we Westerners in the United States prepare for another election cycle, I reflect on how we have treated the original stewards of this land.

My home state of Pennsylvania does not recognize any nation of Native American people. We know the Lenape were displaced from Pennsylvania during the colonial period and westward expansion. We teach that in our elementary schools.

Still, as I sit here writing this today, Pennsylvania is one of the few states that neither has any reservations nor recognizes any indigenous tribes.

State policies have not prioritized recognition or the establishment of reservations. Indigenous populations have been significantly diminished and their culture erased over time, making their presence and contributions all but invisible in contemporary state affairs

The Lenape Nation

The Lenape inhabited Lenapehoking, including present-day Manhattan, southern New York, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and northern Delaware, sustaining themselves through trade, agriculture, hunting, fishing, and crafts in a decentralized society characterized by egalitarianism and matrilineal structure.

With Dutch and Swedish settlers in the 17th century, southern New Jersey saw a blend of cultures. William Penn's arrival in 1682 initiated treaties resulting in the Lenape relinquishing lands, including present-day Philadelphia. By the 18th century, remaining Lenape territories in Pennsylvania extended from Bucks County to the Poconos, facing illegal settlement and the fraudulent Walking Purchase of 1737.

Forced westward by the Iroquois in 1741, the Lenape aligned with the French during the French and Indian War but experienced division during the Revolutionary War. Many relocated, establishing federally recognized Lenape communities in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.

Eastern Lenape retained autonomy.

A History of Violence Designed to Erase Lenape

As our nation expanded, the Lenape, like all Indigenous communities, were mislabeled or pressured to assimilate into white society. Unlike neighboring New York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania's efforts to assimilate its native populations were especially effective.

Now the Lenape living in PA have an uphill battle to validate their identity. As part of its mission to uphold the “inherent tribal sovereignty” of its members, the Alliance of Colonial Era Tribes, which includes two state-recognized Lenape tribes from New Jersey and Delaware, issued guidance in 2013 for state governments on establishing recognition criteria.

One problem the Lenape of PA face is that a group must have “maintained tribal identity in some manner that can be documented to have continued from at least the 19th century or earlier.”

The 200-year gap between the departure of the main Lenape population to the West in the late 18th century and the founding of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania in 1998 in some people's eyes invalidates the group. Despite whether Lenape people remained covertly in Pennsylvania, it is clear there was no continuous tribal entity in the area.

This is the violent reality of colonization.

“If you stayed, you disowned every aspect of your Lenape heritage publicly,” says Adam Waterbear DePaul, a member of the LNPA’s tribal council and the organization’s story keeper. “We couldn’t speak the language, hold ceremonies. We couldn’t dress traditionally. We dressed like colonists; we spoke like colonists.”

It wasn't until the 1950s that descendants began to organize and appoint an informal chief. It took nearly 50 more years for the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania to officially form in 1998. That does not stop

The Lenape Nation of PA, with a few hundred members in Eastern Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area, is revitalizing the Lenape language, Unami. They collaborate with local colleges for classes and cultural events and organize environmental activities with nonprofit groups.

Their main public event is the Rising Nation River Journey every four years, culminating in a treaty signing. They also host festivals and annual powwows.

Importance of Recognition

Currently, 574 groups are recognized as sovereign nations by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These groups can create laws, set taxes, and receive funding for social, economic, medical, educational, cultural, and other supports. The government can protect their reservation lands by putting them in a trust.

However, Federal acknowledgment standards require proof of tribal existence since 1900 and political influence over members. For these reasons, nations facing barriers to stringent Federal recognition often instead seek state recognition. This is the route the Lenape of PA has chosen to pursue.

“If we get state recognition, it’s going to bring more attention to what we do,” says Ken Macaulay, now 71 and the organization’s cultural chief. “We don’t want casinos or anything like that,” he says. “We just want people to realize there are people here who are Native American descendants who do their best to try to take care of the homelands.”

While Lenape tribes are recognized in neighboring states like New Jersey, Delaware, and the Midwest, Pennsylvania has yet to grant state or federal recognition to any Indigenous tribe.

The Lenape of PA's Current Efforts and Advocacy

If you want to support the group in these efforts, there are some steps you can take to amplify their voices.

Tell Pennsylvania lawmakers that they

must give State Recognition to the

Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania! 

Step 1: Click here to sign the petition

Step 2: Write your local & state legislators.

Click here for a downloadable sample

letter with important talking points.

Click here for a QR code flyer to print and hang

Highlighting Decolonization: The Lenape in Pennsylvania

I noticed when researching this story that the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania faces some of the criticisms that those attempting to reclaim Baltic neo-paganism in Eastern Europe encounter.

Both movements are modern efforts to revitalize cultural identities that were suppressed by colonial or external powers. Both are striving to revive traditions, languages, and practices that were marginalized or eradicated.

Both groups have experienced significant historical violence and suppression. The Lenape faced displacement and cultural erasure due to colonial expansion, while Baltic neo-pagans suffered under various regimes that sought to suppress indigenous religious practices in favor of dominant religions or ideologies.

There is a need for new laws and protections to support these groups in their efforts to reclaim their cultures. Current legal frameworks often do not adequately protect the rights of groups affected by historical injustices.

Establishing legal recognition and protection for cultural practices can help ensure their survival and growth.

• Recognition of Historical Injustices: Official acknowledgment of the historical wrongs inflicted upon these communities.

• Cultural Preservation Laws: Legislation that supports the protection and revitalization of languages, traditions, and practices.

• Restorative Justice: Initiatives to compensate and support communities in reclaiming their heritage, including land rights and cultural resources.

As we look around and wonder what can be done with modern government, I suggest we start by calling for conscious decolonization laws.

Right now we throw money at our indigenous nations and get them a little land on a reservation and maybe let them run a casino.

We must continue to support these cultural repatriation efforts that recognize the sovereignty of the original stewards of the stolen land on which we reside.

It's time we stop treating America's native nations like a side piece and offer them a meaningful seat at the table.

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Speak kindly to yourselves, it gets better.

Nicole