Starting from the late 1800’s the Off Reservation Indian Boarding School system sought to erase various Native American cultural and linguistic traditions by focusing on the indoctrination of young children from various tribes indigenous to North American. This policy was successful to a degree bringing different languages of Native Peoples to near extinction, but pockets of traditional indigenous peoples carried on with their culture and language. Many people think that all the Lenape who once populated New Jersey have moved either north to Canada, or places out west including Oklahoma. But did you know that some of the Lenape descendants live right here in Sussex County, New Jersey? This month at the Sussex-Wantage Library branch there is a display featuring the language that Lenape people have spoken for thousands of years. You are invited to view the display and learn some of the language and history of the Lenape people. The Lenape/Munsee people are still here, and their legacy and heritage live on. Come visit us and be a part of that heritage.
