BLOG POST #9

My project focused around the role of women in Lenape culture connects to the long-term Native American fight for acknowledgment and education of their culture. As a marginalized community, Native Americans have always been silenced throughout American history and thought of as people of the past rather than the present. My project engages with the concept of reengaging with Native American culture. Growing up, education surrounding Native Americans was very limited as Natives usually played a supporting role in the story of British settlers’ success. I imagine my audience to be other individuals my age who didn’t get a proper education on Native American history as our understanding of American history excluded the indigenous people who lived here before our ancestors ever walked this land. Through this project coupled with other courses I’ve taken over the years, I’ve realized how white-washed American history is despite our multicultural base and clear influence from non-white Americans in our general U.S. society. I hope to share my findings and spread a greater understanding of Lenape tradition and society with the hope that it would encourage my audience to challenge their own understanding of U.S. history and perceptions of gender.