A Tribute to the Lenape People
This November, IMPACCT Brooklyn honors the land we’re on—the ancestral homeland of the Lenape people, known as Lenapehoking. Spanning present-day New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, Lenapehoking was home to the Lenape for thousands of years until European colonization led to their forced displacement.
The Lenape people, whose name means “the true people,” cultivated crops, fished in local rivers, and forged pathways that later became some of Brooklyn’s main roads, including Atlantic, Flatbush, and Fulton. Today, we see remnants of their heritage all around us, from paths to parks like Van Voorhees, based on the historic park Sassians.
Some Brooklyn organizations, like the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Nature Days, honor the Lenape with land acknowledgments and initiatives to keep their history alive. This month, we join them in recognizing the Lenape and their enduring legacy in our community.
