Delaware Tribe of Indians, Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Their ancestors once called the rivers and forests of Lenapehoking home. Today, more than 12,000 enrolled citizens carry that extraordinary inheritance forward, preserving the identity of a people whose history reaches back thousands of years.
Headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, the federally recognized Delaware Tribe of Indians is among the largest surviving Lenape communities. Under the leadership of Chief Brad KillsCrow and an elected Tribal Council, the tribe is strengthening its government, investing in its people, and reclaiming an increasingly visible place in the American story. Its greatest achievement is not simply that it survived, but that it continues to grow, govern, and determine its own future.
That commitment reaches into nearly every aspect of community life. The tribe operates early childhood education and Head Start programs, supports families through housing assistance, scholarships, food assistance, and elder nutrition, and addresses challenges such as substance abuse through prevention and recovery initiatives. Its environmental programs promote recycling, native plants, and responsible stewardship of the land. At the same time, its Cultural Education Department is working to strengthen Lenape language learning, preserve traditional knowledge, and reconnect younger generations with their heritage. Perhaps most significantly, the tribe has announced plans for a new cultural center in Bartlesville, designed to preserve ancestral objects, expand cultural education, and help bring important pieces of Delaware history home.
The Delaware Tribe is not merely preserving its past. It is reclaiming its place in the future. Its historic preservation efforts protect ancestral sites and burial grounds, while repatriation work has helped return human remains and thousands of funerary objects to appropriate care. Its citizens continue to celebrate their heritage through language, storytelling, traditional gatherings, education, and the everyday work of building a stronger community. Across the generations and the distance separating Oklahoma from the Raritan Valley, the connection to Lenapehoking endures. The Delaware people have already demonstrated that their identity cannot be erased. Today, they are demonstrating something equally powerful: that a nation rooted in an ancient homeland can continue to build an extraordinary future.
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