South Jersey woman on mission to preserve the heritage of her Lenape ancestors
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – November is Native American Heritage Month. A South Jersey woman is on a mission to revive the language of her Lenape ancestors.
It's been said that language is the gateway to culture. In the Lower Cape Branch of the Cape May County Library, the door to Lenape culture is wide open.
"Culture is a living, growing thing and it's always changing, but it's good to try to reclaim it and language is the first step," Teri Hislop, the Clan Mother of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, said.
Hislop teaches other members of the tribe conversational Lenape, considered a dormant language with no native speakers. She also leads a free class every Friday that's open to everyone.
"I found out about it through the library system and said this is very interesting. I've never seen anything like it offered anywhere else," Kacey Buroojy, of Sea Isle City, said.
Students learn basic greetings like "Hello" and "How are you?"
They practice numbers and animal names through a game of "Go Fish."
They even learn how to make pine needle baskets, a form of indigenous-style art.
"She's full of knowledge, easy to talk to. Fun teaching. And she's got access to a lot of the history," Buroojy said.
Reviving Lenape is a form of social justice. Hislop says it's an effort to right the wrongs of the past.
Below is a picture from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Central Pennsylvania. It was among 408 Indian boarding schools the federal government ran in 37 states between 1819 and 1969.
Last year, the government released a report acknowledging indigenous students were treated violently at these schools. Some students died at Carlisle and were buried there.
When children first arrived at the school, they were separated from their families, required to cut their hair and forced to convert to Christianity.
"The first thing they did in the residential schools was forbid the children from speaking their language, forbid them from singing their songs and when you take away a language, you take away a culture," Hislop said.
And that's the importance of giving back the language.
"What we're doing is we're honoring the generations before that had things taken away and hopefully we're going to enrich the generations to follow," Hislop said.
Creating a vibrant future by keeping traditions alive.