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Delaware Tribe of Indians

The Delaware Tribe of Indians, formerly known as the Cherokee Delaware or the Eastern Delaware, based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Lenape people in the United States. The others are the Delaware Nation based in Anadarko, Oklahoma,[1] and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community of Wisconsin. More Lenape or Delaware people live in Canada.

Government and economic development[edit]

The Principal Chief is Brad KillsCrow. The Assistant Chief is Tonya Anna.[2] They are headquartered in Bartlesville and have no tribal jurisdictional area. Their housing program covers Washington, Nowata, Rogers, Craig, and part of Tulsa counties. Their annual tribal economic impact is $2 million.[3]

Enrollment[edit]

Tribal membership is limited exclusively to descendants of Delaware people on the 1906 tribal rolls from Indian Territory.[4] Enrollment is based on lineal descent,[3] that is, there are no minimum blood quantum requirements.

Culture[edit]

The Council of Lenape Elders works to sustain traditional dances, culture, and the tribal language, and works with the Delaware Gourd Society. The tribe maintains a Delaware Center, on an 80-acre (320,000 m2) parcel of land in Bartlesville.[5] Delaware artists are known for their wood carving and ribbon work skills.

History[edit]

The historically Algonquian-speaking Delaware refer to themselves as Lenni Lenape. At first European contact in the early 17th century, the tribe lived along the Delaware River, named for Lord de la Warr,[4] territory in lower present-day New York state and eastern New Jersey, and western Long Island, New York.


The Delaware nation was the first to sign a treaty with the new United States. They signed the treaty on the September 17, 1778. Despite the treaty, the Delaware were forced to cede their Eastern lands and moved first to Ohio and later to Indiana (Plainfield), Missouri, Kansas, and Indian Territory. The ancestors of the Delaware Nation, following a different migration route, settled in Anadarko. Other Delaware bands moved north with the Iroquois after the American Revolutionary War to form two reserves in Ontario, Canada.[4]


Traditionally the Delaware were divided into the Munsee, Unami, and Unalachtigo, three social divisions determined by language and location.[6]

(Touching Leaves Woman, 1907–1984), traditionalist, herbalist, and language instructor

Nora Thompson Dean

(Ne-Sha-Pa-Na-Cumin, December 16, 1817 - January 3, 1894) - In 1861, Journeycake became the principal Chief of the Delaware tribe.

Charles Journeycake

professor, author

Joanne Barker

official website

Delaware Tribe of Indians

Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Eastern Delaware