Did you know that our Mount Laurel Campus is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape, called “Lenapehoking”?
It's true! In fact, the Lenape people lived in harmony with one another upon this territory for thousands of years. During the colonial era and early federal period, many were removed west and north, but some also remain among the continuing historical tribal communities of the region: The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation; the Ramapough Lenape Nation; and the Powhatan Renape Nation, The Nanticoke of Millsboro Delaware and the Lenape of Cheswold Delaware.
We acknowledge the Lenni-Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory. In our acknowledgment of the continued presence of Lenape people in their homeland, we affirm the aspiration of the great Lenape Chief Tamanend, that there be harmony between the indigenous people of this land and the descendants of the immigrants to this land, “as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine.
Fast Fact: In 2002, RCBC published "Morrisville: A Native Hidden Community" about how two groups of Native Americans (from Virginia and Delaware) endured centuries of persecution before coming together, family by family, and founding a new community in New Jersey at the turn of the last century.