A new exhibition, "Halumii Ktapihna: Lenape Legacies and Futures," has opened at the Museum of the City of New York, celebrating the modern culture of the Lenape people. The exhibit includes visual art, traditional dress, and music, alongside efforts to revitalise Lenape words and phrases.
The exhibition features a hymnal published in 1874, which translated Christian worship songs into Munsee, a Lenape language. This hymnal, originally part of state-led attempts to assimilate Indigenous children, now serves as a primary source for Lenape people working to revitalise their language.
Historically, the US government funded over 500 "Indian boarding schools" in the 19th century, aiming to forcibly assimilate Native American children. Students, including some Lenape, were taken from their families, stripped of their names, and subjected to severe physical punishment. Former president Joe Biden described this system in 2024 as "one of the most horrific chapters in American history."
The exhibit also challenges the apocryphal story of Manhattan's sale to the Dutch, noting that scholars largely agree New York sits on stolen, unceded Lenape territory. Curator Angel "Monxo" López observed that the exhibit addresses historical wounds without resentment, focusing instead on the tribe's continuing vitality.
Brent Stonefish, a curatorial adviser for the project, noted that while much of the Lenape culture and language was lost, some has remained. He attended the exhibit's opening with his daughter, Emma, who is coordinating an upcoming Lenape/Lunáapeew Nations Pow Wow in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, a tradition that resumed last year after a 53-year break.