The History of the Lenape Tribe

Chief Dennis Coker

On Saturday, November 9, at 1:00 p.m. the Milford Museum will commemorate Native American Heritage month with a presentation at the Milford Public Library by Dennis J. Coker, Principal Chief of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware. Representing the ‘First People of the First State,’ the Lenape Indian Tribe is located in northern Kent County in and around the town of Cheswold.

“The Lenape people, who are ethnically distinct, have been known historically as the Delaware Moors,” Tom Summers, Director of the Milford Museum, said. “For hundreds of years the Cheswold Lenape community has coexisted with their neighbors of European and African descent largely through attending separate churches and schools. Their separate schools closed in the mid-1960s as a result of Delaware’s desegregation efforts.”

During the early 1990s, in response to a resurgence of Native awareness and pressures from the outside, elders of the Cheswold Lenape community decided to celebrate their unique history and formed the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware. On August 3, 2016, Delaware’s Governor Jack Markell signed legislation officially recognizing the Lenape Community in Cheswold as a Sovereign Indigenous Nation.

A lifelong resident of Kent County, Delaware, Dennis J. Coker has been honored to serve as the elected Principal Chief of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware since 1996. During his term, Chief Coker has established successful collaborations with the Delaware State Historic Preservation Office and the Federal Census Bureau.

The mission of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware is to protect the cultural identity of the Lenape people through educational, social and cultural programs. They also promote the physical and economic health of their citizens through specialized health and economic development programs tailored to their needs. The tribe also acts as advocates for the civil and human rights of the Lenape.

Chief Dennis Coker (in red) joins former Governor Jack Markell as he displays the legislation he signed on August 3, 2016 officially recognizing the Lenape Community as a Sovereign Indigenous Nation.

The Delaware tribe is a member of the Confederation of Sovereign Nentego-Lenape Tribes which is an intertribal union between the Delaware Lenape and the Nanticoke-Lenni Lenape Indian Tribe, which is headquartered in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The tribes are historically and genealogically related.

Sponsored by the Milford Museum, these monthly programs focus on a variety of topics concerning local, state, and national history. These presentations are held on the second Saturday of each month, at 1:00 p.m., in the Milford Public Library. The library is located at 11 S.E. Front Street in Milford, Delaware. For more information, please contact the Museum at (302) 424-1080, [email protected]. This month’s program is offered through a generous donation from The Delaware Heritage Commission.