Post by blackcrowheart on Nov 5, 2007 8:48:32 GMT -5
Faces of Delaware: American Indians
The region's tribes still preserve their culture, memories and hopes
By ALAN J. McCOMBS, The News Journal
dick “Quiet Thunder” Gilbert, a Lenni-Lenape who was once a tribal chief, speaks about enivronmental issues and the ongoing loss of knowledge of Indian tribes and their heritage during the Blackbird Creek Fall Festival in Townsend on Oct. 14. (Buy photo)
Special to The News Journal/EMILY VARISCO
Artifacts on display at the Iron Hill Museum include this mortar and pestle made by Lenape who lived in what is now Delaware.
(Buy photo)
The News Journal/CARLA VARISCO-WILLIAMS
Odette Wright (left) purifies Bruce K. Morris of Dover with smoke from burning sage and cedar in a smudging ritual during the Nanticoke Powwow in September.
News Journal file/SCOTT NATHAN
John Norwood remembers being told in elementary school that he did not exist.
"When I was young and in school, the standard thought [was] Indians were gone and not here," said Norwood, 43, a member of the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape tribe in southern New Jersey, which traces its ancestry to Delaware's Nanticoke and Lenape tribes. "It left me feeling quite delegitimized and wondering if it were something that I could actually claim."
Today, schools might be better informed, but ignorance still is prevalent about the thousands of people of Nanticoke and Lenape descent now living in the region, Norwood said. He and others are working to write the history of the region's indigenous people.
In October, Norwood, of Moorestown, N.J., released a 51-page document about the related indigenous tribes known as the Nanticoke and Lenape people in Delaware, and the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape in southern New Jersey. Norwood said the online report, "We Are Still Here," will form the basis for a book he intends to publish by early next year, alongside a new biography of Chief Marion "Strong Medicine" Gould of the Lenape people of Delaware.
For American Indians, that history has never been dead or lost, Norwood said.
"It was something you talked about quietly with members of the family," he said. "You didn't spend much time proclaiming [it] because of fear of persecution."
At powwows and other community events, that history was discussed more freely. At the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro, housed in what was formerly a segregated schoolhouse for American Indian children, that history stands on display for visitors.
Certainly, there is a deep and twisting history of American Indians in the region. When European explorers came to Delaware and New Jersey in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, they remarked that the region was heavily populated.
When the Swedes and the Dutch built permanent outposts in the region in the 1600s, relations between the Europeans and the natives ranged from cordial to outright hostile. By the 1700s, disease, discrimination and conflict with the European settlers forced many Nanticoke and Lenape people to leave.
"A lot of our people are not in Delaware," said Assistant Chief of the Nanticoke Larry Jackson, 49, of Milton.." Many moved up into Canada [and] the Ohio area."
Today, the Nanticoke population in Delaware numbers about 1,000, while Chief Dennis Coker of the Lenape people counts about 700 to 800 members.
Some of those who remained in Delaware and southern New Jersey, Norwood said, found themselves in a society in which prejudice refused to acknowledge their presence in the region's history. "I remember my aunts when I was young saying don't ever forget who you are," Norwood said, "but they would say it in hushed tones."
Both the Delaware and New Jersey state governments have acknowledged the region's enduring American Indian population. Since the 1980s, New Jersey has officially recognized the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape people and, in 1903, the Delaware Legislature recognized the Nanticoke people.
However, Delaware does not officially recognize the Lenape people as an American Indian tribe. The Lenapes' last effort to gain official status fell apart in 1993, in part out of concern that the group would build casinos, Coker said.
"It was really an emotional blow to our community to have, in essence, our state not recognize us," Coker said.
None of the American Indians in Delaware and in southern New Jersey are recognized by the federal government, a fact that all three groups say they want to change. Receiving federal recognition is a more tedious and lengthy process than being recognized by state governments, they say.
"The federal government is making it more and more difficult to becoming federally recognized," Coker said.
On paper, receiving federal recognition looks like a two-year process, said Federal Office of Indian Affairs spokesperson Gary Garrison. The government requires groups petitioning for federal recognition to fill out multiple forms proving the continuous existence of the community dating back to at least 1900, as well as other forms detailing the governance of the group, he said. Gathering proof of a group's existence can often extend the process for decades, Garrison said.
"They're just getting around to making decisions on ones that were submitted in 1980," Garrison said.
With a process that lengthy, area tribes say they can wait on getting federal recognition.
"It's something that would be nice to have, but we definitely don't have to have it," Coker said. "We know we exist."
"We have always been here and we will always be here."
TIMELINE: Historical highlights
1608: The Nanticoke encounter Capt. John Smith and his men during Smith's exploration of the Nanticoke River.
1642: The Nanticoke and other tribes are declared enemies of the Maryland colony.
1668: A series of treaties are signed between American Indians and the Maryland colony which describe the Nanticoke as the head of a confederation of tribes on the Delmarva.
1682: The Lenape sign a peace treaty with William Penn.
1711: 1,000 acres are set aside for the people called Indian River Indians by Colonial authorities; by 1742, 400 acres remained in Indian hands.
1748: European encroachment and hostilities force many Nanticoke to flee north from Maryland into New Jersey and Delaware, west into Oklahoma and into Canada.
1816-1820: The Gouldtown Church community of Nanticoke and Lenape people is officially established in Cumberland County, N.J.
1877: A school exclusively for "Moor" children is built at Moore's Corner, west of Cheswold on Kenton Road. A second school is also built later in Cheswold and a third at Fork Branch.
1881: The Delaware Legislature lists a representative of the Indian River community in a school tax exemption act due to the "special" status of the racial group.
1892: May 19 article entitled "Kent County Moors" appears in the The Times of Philadelphia, and John Sanders of the Cheswold Community is interviewed. In the article, he indicates that the commonly used term "Moor" is misleading. Sanders states, "We are Indians, and we belong to a branch of the great Delaware Nation, which used to hold all the country from New York to Cape Charles."
1896: Smyrna Press publishes an article that was either a reprint or based upon an 1895 article in the Philadelphia Press. It identifies the Cheswold community and suggests that the most reasonable reason for the "Moor" designation is due to the former name of the area in which they lived being "Moortown."
1921: As the state of Delaware upholds school segregation between whites and blacks, Delaware recognizes Moors and authorizes the creation of separate schools for them.
1930: Original Delaware Census records in which the census field worker identified Sussex County tribal families as "Nanticoke," "Mixed, or "Indian" are crossed out and replaced with the classification "African" or "Negro" when they are filed with the field office.
1946: Writer William H. Gilbert identifies Bridgeton, Cheswold, and Millsboro communities as "mixed blood" Indian isolated groups, describes social dynamics and lists family names from Delaware.
1959: The Journal-Every Evening of Wilmington publishes an article in which a man identified as a "Delaware Moor" cites that his people started the "Big Thursday" picnic celebration, recalling a gathering of 1,500 "Moors" from Bridgeton and Cheswold in 1934. "
1967: The Morning News of Wilmington publishes an article which muses on the history of Cheswold and the belief that the Cheswold "Moors" are of Delaware Indian descent.
1972: Delaware Today's January issue includes an article entitled "Delaware's Forgotten Minority -- The Moors." The article indicates that the Cheswold community members had a "M" for "Moor" on their driver's licenses from the 1950s through to the 1970s, when many were changed by the state to "Other."
1994: Forks Branch area near Cheswold is studied by Delaware historians and archaeologists and determined to have been an Indian enclave related to the current day Cheswold community.
2000: The U.S. Census Bureau lists Cumberland County, N.J., as a Nanticoke Lenni Lenape American Indian Statistical Area.
2006: The National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, publishes "We Have a Story to Tell: The Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region," a guide for high school teachers that includes the history of the Indian River Community.
2007: The Bridgeton, Cheswold, and Indian River communities were invited guests to the opening reception celebration of the People of the Chesapeake permanent display at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Information courtesy of the report "We Are Still Here" by John Norwood.
The region's tribes still preserve their culture, memories and hopes
By ALAN J. McCOMBS, The News Journal
dick “Quiet Thunder” Gilbert, a Lenni-Lenape who was once a tribal chief, speaks about enivronmental issues and the ongoing loss of knowledge of Indian tribes and their heritage during the Blackbird Creek Fall Festival in Townsend on Oct. 14. (Buy photo)
Special to The News Journal/EMILY VARISCO
Artifacts on display at the Iron Hill Museum include this mortar and pestle made by Lenape who lived in what is now Delaware.
(Buy photo)
The News Journal/CARLA VARISCO-WILLIAMS
Odette Wright (left) purifies Bruce K. Morris of Dover with smoke from burning sage and cedar in a smudging ritual during the Nanticoke Powwow in September.
News Journal file/SCOTT NATHAN
John Norwood remembers being told in elementary school that he did not exist.
"When I was young and in school, the standard thought [was] Indians were gone and not here," said Norwood, 43, a member of the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape tribe in southern New Jersey, which traces its ancestry to Delaware's Nanticoke and Lenape tribes. "It left me feeling quite delegitimized and wondering if it were something that I could actually claim."
Today, schools might be better informed, but ignorance still is prevalent about the thousands of people of Nanticoke and Lenape descent now living in the region, Norwood said. He and others are working to write the history of the region's indigenous people.
In October, Norwood, of Moorestown, N.J., released a 51-page document about the related indigenous tribes known as the Nanticoke and Lenape people in Delaware, and the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape in southern New Jersey. Norwood said the online report, "We Are Still Here," will form the basis for a book he intends to publish by early next year, alongside a new biography of Chief Marion "Strong Medicine" Gould of the Lenape people of Delaware.
For American Indians, that history has never been dead or lost, Norwood said.
"It was something you talked about quietly with members of the family," he said. "You didn't spend much time proclaiming [it] because of fear of persecution."
At powwows and other community events, that history was discussed more freely. At the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro, housed in what was formerly a segregated schoolhouse for American Indian children, that history stands on display for visitors.
Certainly, there is a deep and twisting history of American Indians in the region. When European explorers came to Delaware and New Jersey in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, they remarked that the region was heavily populated.
When the Swedes and the Dutch built permanent outposts in the region in the 1600s, relations between the Europeans and the natives ranged from cordial to outright hostile. By the 1700s, disease, discrimination and conflict with the European settlers forced many Nanticoke and Lenape people to leave.
"A lot of our people are not in Delaware," said Assistant Chief of the Nanticoke Larry Jackson, 49, of Milton.." Many moved up into Canada [and] the Ohio area."
Today, the Nanticoke population in Delaware numbers about 1,000, while Chief Dennis Coker of the Lenape people counts about 700 to 800 members.
Some of those who remained in Delaware and southern New Jersey, Norwood said, found themselves in a society in which prejudice refused to acknowledge their presence in the region's history. "I remember my aunts when I was young saying don't ever forget who you are," Norwood said, "but they would say it in hushed tones."
Both the Delaware and New Jersey state governments have acknowledged the region's enduring American Indian population. Since the 1980s, New Jersey has officially recognized the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape people and, in 1903, the Delaware Legislature recognized the Nanticoke people.
However, Delaware does not officially recognize the Lenape people as an American Indian tribe. The Lenapes' last effort to gain official status fell apart in 1993, in part out of concern that the group would build casinos, Coker said.
"It was really an emotional blow to our community to have, in essence, our state not recognize us," Coker said.
None of the American Indians in Delaware and in southern New Jersey are recognized by the federal government, a fact that all three groups say they want to change. Receiving federal recognition is a more tedious and lengthy process than being recognized by state governments, they say.
"The federal government is making it more and more difficult to becoming federally recognized," Coker said.
On paper, receiving federal recognition looks like a two-year process, said Federal Office of Indian Affairs spokesperson Gary Garrison. The government requires groups petitioning for federal recognition to fill out multiple forms proving the continuous existence of the community dating back to at least 1900, as well as other forms detailing the governance of the group, he said. Gathering proof of a group's existence can often extend the process for decades, Garrison said.
"They're just getting around to making decisions on ones that were submitted in 1980," Garrison said.
With a process that lengthy, area tribes say they can wait on getting federal recognition.
"It's something that would be nice to have, but we definitely don't have to have it," Coker said. "We know we exist."
"We have always been here and we will always be here."
TIMELINE: Historical highlights
1608: The Nanticoke encounter Capt. John Smith and his men during Smith's exploration of the Nanticoke River.
1642: The Nanticoke and other tribes are declared enemies of the Maryland colony.
1668: A series of treaties are signed between American Indians and the Maryland colony which describe the Nanticoke as the head of a confederation of tribes on the Delmarva.
1682: The Lenape sign a peace treaty with William Penn.
1711: 1,000 acres are set aside for the people called Indian River Indians by Colonial authorities; by 1742, 400 acres remained in Indian hands.
1748: European encroachment and hostilities force many Nanticoke to flee north from Maryland into New Jersey and Delaware, west into Oklahoma and into Canada.
1816-1820: The Gouldtown Church community of Nanticoke and Lenape people is officially established in Cumberland County, N.J.
1877: A school exclusively for "Moor" children is built at Moore's Corner, west of Cheswold on Kenton Road. A second school is also built later in Cheswold and a third at Fork Branch.
1881: The Delaware Legislature lists a representative of the Indian River community in a school tax exemption act due to the "special" status of the racial group.
1892: May 19 article entitled "Kent County Moors" appears in the The Times of Philadelphia, and John Sanders of the Cheswold Community is interviewed. In the article, he indicates that the commonly used term "Moor" is misleading. Sanders states, "We are Indians, and we belong to a branch of the great Delaware Nation, which used to hold all the country from New York to Cape Charles."
1896: Smyrna Press publishes an article that was either a reprint or based upon an 1895 article in the Philadelphia Press. It identifies the Cheswold community and suggests that the most reasonable reason for the "Moor" designation is due to the former name of the area in which they lived being "Moortown."
1921: As the state of Delaware upholds school segregation between whites and blacks, Delaware recognizes Moors and authorizes the creation of separate schools for them.
1930: Original Delaware Census records in which the census field worker identified Sussex County tribal families as "Nanticoke," "Mixed, or "Indian" are crossed out and replaced with the classification "African" or "Negro" when they are filed with the field office.
1946: Writer William H. Gilbert identifies Bridgeton, Cheswold, and Millsboro communities as "mixed blood" Indian isolated groups, describes social dynamics and lists family names from Delaware.
1959: The Journal-Every Evening of Wilmington publishes an article in which a man identified as a "Delaware Moor" cites that his people started the "Big Thursday" picnic celebration, recalling a gathering of 1,500 "Moors" from Bridgeton and Cheswold in 1934. "
1967: The Morning News of Wilmington publishes an article which muses on the history of Cheswold and the belief that the Cheswold "Moors" are of Delaware Indian descent.
1972: Delaware Today's January issue includes an article entitled "Delaware's Forgotten Minority -- The Moors." The article indicates that the Cheswold community members had a "M" for "Moor" on their driver's licenses from the 1950s through to the 1970s, when many were changed by the state to "Other."
1994: Forks Branch area near Cheswold is studied by Delaware historians and archaeologists and determined to have been an Indian enclave related to the current day Cheswold community.
2000: The U.S. Census Bureau lists Cumberland County, N.J., as a Nanticoke Lenni Lenape American Indian Statistical Area.
2006: The National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, publishes "We Have a Story to Tell: The Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region," a guide for high school teachers that includes the history of the Indian River Community.
2007: The Bridgeton, Cheswold, and Indian River communities were invited guests to the opening reception celebration of the People of the Chesapeake permanent display at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Information courtesy of the report "We Are Still Here" by John Norwood.