SURE Voices

September 23, 2026

Disclaimer: When it comes to history, I am not smarter than a 5th grader. What I'm about to say is based on notes I took from a truly enlightening presentation I attended on Monday, September 21st, at Madison County SURE -Standing Up for Racial Equity. If there's anything in here I may have missed or misinterpreted my apologies. I am open to corrections.

Jeremy Johnson, descendant and Cultural Education Director of the Lenape people (Delaware Tribe of Indians), was the guest speaker. I never really understood the difference between the Lenape people and the "Delawares" nor really understood the history of the Lenape peoples' connection to Anderson Indiana. Furthermore, when I would hear the word Muncie, I would always think we were talking about the city of Muncie and somehow the tribe originated in both Anderson and Muncie. Actually, we are hearing "Munsee", which refers to one of the three Lenape divisions and dialects mostly spoken by tribes in the northern areas. The Lenape people origins our primarily from Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Albany NY, and even Massachusetts area. After several battles and massacres and forced migrations the Lenape came to settle in this area along the White River beginning in 1795 after the Treaty of Greenville. They resided here for almost 30 years, which during the forced migration, was one of the longer stays. This suggests our local attachment to their history. 

It's amazing how much we forget or choose to filter from history so that our souls and minds can rest. I can't say that I really have ever spent much time with anyone from the native nations, nor did my fourth and fifth grade brain absorb much when we were first exposed to Indiana history. Getting the history from a direct descendant of those who inhabited this continent more than 18,000 years ago was so rich and engaging it's hard to put into words. It was also overwhelming. The first thing I realized is that indigenous people to the Americas, or as Mr. Johnson preferred, people of native nations, who were forced to fight, negotiate, barter, and ultimately migrate into prescribed areas dictated by the French and the Dutch and the British tell their stories in a rich and recent way. It was as if he knew his ancestors from the 1700s personally. He also helped us realize that the true nature of his native people were to trust handshakes, and therefore people, and could not imagine that other men believed that land could be truly owned. You could truly feel the pain. What also struck me is Mr. Johnson appeared to be an "average" man who held all this knowledge and yes, my European brain kept expecting him to resemble some version of the Indian caricatures out of those old 4th grade history books. Yes I am embarrassed to say that, but it's the truth.

He went on to tell us there are currently 14,000 living Delaware Tribe members in six different clan communities, three in the US and three in Canada. I learned this is one man of approximately just eight families living in Bartlesville, Oklahoma who dedicates his life to preserving the Lenape people heritage. These preservation efforts include much more than practicing ceremonies, making blankets and jewelry, or holding historical celebrations, it's also traveling all over the northeast curating museum artifacts, ensuring the remains of their descendents are properly protected, consulting on land use projects, and educating when and wherever possible. Even though our community came to know Mr. Johnson through a challenging, yet enlightening time at ACS schools, we are truly fortunate to have him as our local historian. Thanks goes to Dr. Cronk and Brad Meadows for establishing this relationship on behalf of our community.

I was reminded that when you stop and listen and ask questions, you learn how much knowledge and reverence a person can have for their people and culture, and how important it is to all of us. It affected me much more than I thought it would. I needed this reminder. If you'd like to learn more about the Lenape people (Delaware tribe of Indians) and their efforts to educate and preserve their culture and language please visit delawaretribe.org/culture-and-language.