This first volume in the new Stories of the Susquehanna Valley series describes the Native American presence in the Susquehanna River Valley, a key crossroads of the old Eastern Woodlands between the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay in northern Appalachia. Combining archaeology, history, cultural anthropology, and the study of contemporary Native American issues, contributors describe what is known about the Native Americans from their earliest known presence in the valley to the contact era with Europeans. They also explore the subsequent consequences of that contact for Native peoples, including the removal, forced or voluntary, of many from the valley, in what became a chilling prototype for attempted genocide across the continent. Euro-American history asserted that there were no native people left in Pennsylvania (the center of the Susquehanna watershed) after the American Revolution. But with revived Native American cultural consciousness in the late twentieth century, Pennsylvanians of native ancestry began to take pride in and reclaim their heritage. This book also tells their stories, including efforts to revive Native cultures in the watershed, and Native perspectives on its ecological restoration. While focused on the Susquehanna River Valley, this collection also discusses topics of national significance for Native Americans and those interested in their cultures.
David J. Minderhout is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania. In addition to his work with Native Americans in Pennsylvania, he has conducted research on creole languages in the southern Caribbean, African American English in the Washington, D.C., public schools, and Pennsylvania German traditional medicine. He is the coauthor of Invisible Indians: Native Americans in Pennsylvania and numerous scholarly articles.
Contents Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction David J. Minderhout One: Native American Prehistory in the Susquehanna River Valley David J. Minderhout Two: History Timeline David J. Minderhout Three: A Story in Stone: The Susquehanna's Rock Art Legacy Paul A. Nevin Four: Native Americans in the Susquehanna River Region: 1550 to Today David J. Minderhout Five: "Blood Quantum" and Lenape Tradition Donald R. Repsher Six: Our Stories, Ourselves: Oral Histories of Contemporary Native Americans . David J. Minderhout, Andrea T. Frantz and Jessica D. Dowsett Seven: Oral Tradition of One Family of Pennsylvania Seneca Descendants Gerald E. Dietz Eight: Kiiloona Ktaaptoonehna: Munsee Language Revitalization on the Susquehanna's North Branch Susan M. Taffe Reed Nine: Lenapeyok neki: Those Are Lenapes Kenneth R. Hayden Ten: Native Lands County Park David J. Minderhout Afterword Ann N. Dapice Bibliography Index
Native Americans in the Susquehanna River Valley, Past and Present differs from earlier published works about the Native Americans of Pennsylvania. It is about projectile points and petroglyphs, but it is also about family histories, the ongoing efforts to reintroduce native languages into Pennsylvania and the spiritual values many contemporary Native Americans embrace. Its authors thus appropriately come from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, including anthropologists, historians, psychologists, enthomusicologists, and community leaders, many of whom have native heritage with roots in the Susquehanna country. * Sir Read Alot Book Review *
