A History of Misrepresentation

New Jersey today has three state-recognized tribes: the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, the Powhatan Renape Nation, and the Ramapough Lenape Nation. The Ramapough live in three communities in northern New Jersey and southern New York state. They have long had a presence in this region, although their story is a complicated and contested one. It involves a history of colonial violence, migration, and adaptation; and it is one that has been subject to multiple interpretations.

They decided to incorporate as the Ramapough Mountain Indians in 1978 as they began to push back against being defined by others. Their official New Jersey state recognition as the Ramapough Lenape Nation was reaffirmed in 2019. The State then acknowledged that it has officially recognized the Ramapough Lenape as an American Indian Tribe since 1980, and revoked any past denials of recognition.

Watch part of Chief Vincent Mann's presentation at the 2021 New Jersey History Conference Panel What the Evidence Reveals - "We constantly seem to be fighting for our identity..."

Two books in particular have heavily influenced how others perceive the Ramapough: John C. Storm’s 1936 Origins of the Jackson Whites of the Ramapo Mountains and David Cohen’s 1974 book The Ramapo Mountain People. Those imposed narratives have been given the benefits of authority, while the Ramapough’s community knowledge has often been discounted.  It is important to note that these two books are part of a much longer history of misrepresentations and outside characterizations that have often supplanted Ramapough self-identification and community history.