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Ramapough Mountain Indians

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(Redirected from Ramapo Indians)

Ramapough Mountain Indians[1]
Ramapough Lunaape Nation Inc.[2]
Named afterRamapo Mountains, Lenape people
Formation1980, incorporated[2]
Typenonprofit, state-recognized tribe
Tax ID no. EIN 22-2226221[2][1]
PurposeEthnic/Immigrant Services (P84)[2]
Location
Members5,000[3] (1992)
Official language
English
Executive Director
Vince Morgan[1]
Key people
Vincent Mann[1][4]
Revenue$217,243[1] (2024)
Expenses$203,864[1] (2024)
Staff0[1]
Websiteramapomunsee.net

The Ramapough Mountain Indians (also spelled Ramapo), also known as the Ramapough Lenape Nation, Ramapough Lunaape Munsee Delaware Nation, or Ramapo Mountain people, are a New Jersey state-recognized tribe based in Mahwah. They have approximately 5,000 members[3] living in and around the Ramapo Mountains of Bergen and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey and Rockland County in southern New York, about 25 miles (40 km) from New York City.

They were recognized in 1980 by the state of New Jersey as the Ramapough Lenape Nation but are not recognized federally or by the state of New York.[1]

The Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation claims a line of descent from the Lenape, whose regional bands included the Hackensack, Tappan, Rumachenanck/Haverstroo, Munsee/Minisink, and Ramapo people. They have been alleged to have Tuscarora, African, and Dutch ancestries.[5] The Lenape language in this area was Munsee. After relations with European colonists began, ancestors of the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation also spoke Jersey Dutch and English. Presently, they speak English.[6][7] The Ramapough are working to restore the Munsee language among their members.[8]

Governance

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The Ramapough Mountain Indians organized in 1978. That year, they filed a petition with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs of intent to gain federal recognition as a tribe. They have a chief and council form of government.[9]

Nonprofit organization

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The Ramapough Mountain Indians,[1] or the Ramapough Lunaape Nation Inc.,[2] incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1980.[1]

Government

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The Ramapough are organized into clans for self-government: the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Deer, related to their three main settlements of Mahwah and Ringwood, New Jersey, and Hillburn, New York.[9]

As of 2023, their executive director is Vince Morgan.[10] Vincent Mann is the current chief.[11][12] He created the Three Sisters Farm, and has spoken at universities on the effects of toxic waste dumping, and advocated against dumping by Ford at the Ringwood site.[11][13][4][14]

The tribe has required members to be descended directly from an identified Ramapough parent listed in tribal records. Applicants must provide certified birth certificates and documentation of at least three generations to a listed ancestor.[15]

Petitions for recognition

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Recognition in New Jersey

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The Ramapough and two other tribes were recognized as Indian tribes in 1980 by the state of New Jersey by Resolution 3031. The New Jersey citation stated:

Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring): 1. That the Ramapough Mountain People of the Ramapough Mountains of Bergen and Passaic counties, descendants of the Iroquois and Algonquin nations, are hereby designated by the State of New Jersey as the Ramapough Indians.[16]

The tribe asked its New Jersey Assembly member, W. Cary Edwards, to seek state recognition. After several months of research, Edwards and Assemblyman Kern introduced Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 3031 (ACR3031) on May 21, 1979. It passed the Assembly and was passed by the Senate on January 7, 1980.

Edwards said later that debate in the assembly related to a book written by historian David Cohen; he noted that he and other endorsers of recognition had to demonstrate the historical basis of the Ramapough. At the time, the state had not developed its own criteria or regulations related to tribal recognition. The state resolution also requested federal recognition of the Ramapough but is non-binding in that regard.[17] The state of New Jersey has also recognized the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, who it says share Lenape ancestry with the Ramapough.[18]

Commission on Native American Affairs

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Because of increased issues related to Native Americans, the state of New Jersey created the Commission on Native American Affairs by P.L.1134, c. 295, and it was signed into law on December 22, 1995, by Governor Christine Todd Whitman.[19]

Attempts for recognition in New York

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The Ramapough Indians claim to have been recognized by the state of New York by Legislative Resolution 86 in 1979.[20] According to Alexa Koenig and Jonathan Stein, who have reviewed state recognition processes, New York does not have an official, separate process of recognition of Indian tribes and never recognized the Ramapough. It recognized the Shinnecock and one other tribe using independent criteria.[21]

The Ramapough has been recognized by New Jersey but not by New York, which does not recognize tribes as policy.[21][22] In 2009, the New York legislature had a bill pending to recognize the Ramapough people as Native Americans.[23] It was never passed.[needs update]

Petition for federal recognition

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In August 1978, the Ramapough Mountain Indians (RMI) filed a letter of intent to petition for federal recognition as a tribe. They did not submit a documented petition until April 23, 1990. On June 15, 1990, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) responded with a letter outlining the deficiencies in the petition.[24][25] During the process, it repeatedly offered to have representatives meet with the tribe to review topics of research, specifically court records and land deeds, for the period between 1750 and 1820, in which records are scarce. The RMI submitted a partial response on January 28, 1991.[24] A fully revised petition was determined to be ready for active consideration on March 5, 1992. The petition had active consideration status on July 14, 1992.[26][27][24] In December 1993, the BIA issued its proposed finding, rejecting the tribe's petition. The finding said the documented petition did not satisfy all the regulatory criteria, and identified areas of weakness. The BIA granted the tribe an opportunity to respond, including extensions requested by the tribe.[26][27][24]

Final Determination against Federal Acknowledgment of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc.

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The Final Determination against Federal Acknowledgment of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc. was issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in December 1995. It concluded that the Ramapough Mountain Indians had failed to meet three of seven criteria for recognition; namely, that it did not provide adequate proof of descent from a historical tribe, nor of genealogical, social, and political continuity since 1950. The latter two issues were of concern since 1950, when the Office of Federal Acknowledgment felt that the tribe had not demonstrated a distinct Indian culture different from its neighbors.[24][27] They concluded:

In conclusion, the origins and parentage of the earliest genealogically proven ancestors of the petitioner are not known. The petitioner has not demonstrated that their earliest documented ancestors were members of a historical North American Indian tribe, nor has the petitioner documented that their earliest proven progenitors descended from any known historical tribe of North American Indians. Without documentation, the BIA cannot make an assumption, on the basis of late 19th-century and early 20th-century ascriptions, that these unknown RMI ancestors were members of a historical North American Indian tribe. The petitioner has not presented acceptable evidence that the RMI descend from a historical Indian tribe, or from tribes that amalgamated and functioned as a single unit, either as individuals or as a group.[24]

This Final Determination survived an internal BIA appeal in 1997, and a federal court appeal in 2001.[26]

D.C. Court of Appeals judgement

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The Ramapough Mountain Indians appealed the BIA's decision. In November 2001, the Ramapough presented their case to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The Court upheld the judgement, stating that they could not conclude the Secretary had made an arbitrary judgement or error on the Ramapough by requiring documentation, as the regulations require documentation of tribal descent.[28]

External commentary

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In April 1993, Donald Trump (then a casino owner) and two Bergen County United States Representatives said that "the Ramapo would bring in Indian gaming associated with organized crime".[29] U.S. Representative Marge Roukema testified to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Native American Affairs on October 5, 1993, about the Ramapough Lenape Indian efforts to gain recognition. She said that, since tribal representatives had approached her during the 1980s seeking a private federal bill for recognition, their "sole interest" appeared to be to establish casino gambling in Bergen County.[30] She said she feared that Indian gaming in New Jersey would bring organized crime with it.[30]

Roger D. Joslyn, a certified genealogist and one of the consultants to the tribe in their petition, wrote he had traced Ramapough members to people in the 18th century. He said that tribal members were descended from the historical Munsee tribe.[31][failed verification]

After rejection

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John "Bud" Shapard was the former chief of the Bureau of Research at the BIA from 1978 to 1987, when the regulations were written. Asked to examine the Ramapough's case after the BIA declined their petition, in 1999 he said, "It's pretty clear they've got an Indian community as strong as some that have been recognized. There's no question about that."[32]

Alexa Koenig and Jonathan Stein wrote an article published in 2007 in which they reviewed the process of federal and state recognition, and factors affecting both. They wrote that the political environment slowed recognition of tribes due to fears of casino establishments, and that this was sometimes financed by competing Native American casinos. They said this prevented non-casino benefits, such as federal grants and immunities from being conferred to tribes.[33] They also wrote that states had initiated their own processes of recognition of tribes and were building new relationships with them.[22]

History

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William Bond recorded Ramapo longhouses at the mouth of the Ramapo Pass.[citation needed]
Schuyler Patent by William Bond in 1710 of Mahwah[citation needed]

Ramapough Mountain Indians currently live in Rockland County, especially in Hillburn, New York.[9]

Historic Ramapo

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In 1986 archeologist Herbert C. Kraft said that some Ramapough lived in the mountains by the mid- to late seventeenth century and theorized they were joined by remnants of the Esopus and possibly Wappinger bands after wars with the Dutch. He later stated in the 1990s that he had limited knowledge on the Ramapough.[34][6]

Wynant Van Gelder, the first European landowner in what became Sloatsburg in Rockland County, New York, was noted as having bought land from the Ramapough in 1738.[35]

Archaeologist Edward J. Lenik wrote in his book about the Ramapough that the archaeological record indicated a continuous presence of Native bands in the northern Highlands province in the 18th century, and historical accounts from the 19th-20th centuries had accounts of Natives in the highlands. He proposed all residents of the Ramapo Mountains had Native American progenitors, rather than just the Ramapough Mountain Indians.[36]

Settlers in the Tappan Patent

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The historian David Cohen found that early settlers in the Hackensack Valley included "free Black landowners in New York City and mulattoes with some Dutch ancestry who were among the first pioneers to settle in the Hackensack River Valley of New Jersey."[37] Among these was Augustine Van Donck, who bought land in the Tappan Patent in 1687. As the border between New York and New Jersey divided the area of the patent in 1798, Cohen theorized that some of these early free people of color relocated west into the mountains. (The surname Van Dunk is common among the Ramapough, as are DeGroat, DeFreese, and Mann.)[37] Cohen wrote that while some free Black people may have married Lenape remnant peoples in the area, the residents of the mountains developed not primarily with Indian culture but as multiracial people with European-American culture and rural traditions.[38]

Cohen wrote in 1974 that, as the federal censuses of 1790–1830 were missing for this area, it prevented "establishing positively the exact relationship between many of these colored families in the mountains, and the earlier colored families of the Hackensack River Valley".[37]Cohen also said there "There is no genealogical proof of early Indian ancestry. Some Indian mixture is possible, however, because Indian and colored interracial matings [sic] probably were not recorded in the Dutch Reformed Churches."[39]

Edward J. Lenik, a self-taught private archaeologist,[40] disagrees with Cohen's findings about African-European ancestry; he says, "While the Ramapough's origins are controversial, most historians and anthropologists agree that they (Ramapough) are the descendants from local Munsee-speaking Lenape (Delaware) Indians who fled to the mountains in the late seventeenth century to escape Dutch and English settlers. It is a well known fact that displacement of Indian tribes followed European Incursions in the region which resulted in the forced movement and resettlement of Indian peoples."[41]

Pejorative classification as Jackson Whites

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The Ramapo people were often referred to historically as the Jackson Whites, a term that they regard as being derogatory.[42] The etymology of the name is uncertain with sources stating the name was either from the Jackson White heirloom potato[43] or a distortion of Jacks and Whites, referring to their multiracial ancestry.[44] Another historical pejorative was "Buckos", which is of unknown origins.[45] During the twentieth century, some anthropologists classified such isolated mixed-race groups, who tended to be historically endogamous, as racial isolates or simply as mixed bloods.[46]

Partly because of the people's multiracial ancestry, some assumed they were descendants of runaway or freed slaves ("Jacks" in slang) and Caucasians.[47]: 263-264  Over time, the latter were believed to have included Dutch slaves and Hessian soldiers.[9] The people supposedly fled to frontier areas of the mountains after the end of the Revolutionary War. Thousands of escaped slaves had gone to British-occupied New York City on the promise of freedom, and some left the city for more isolated areas to escape capture after the war. There is no documentation of slaves, freed or runaway, nor of Hessian soldiers' marrying into the tribe.[44]

The group rejects this name and its associated legends as pejorative.[44][9][48] On July 30, 1880, The Bergen Democrat was the first newspaper to print the term Jackson Whites. A 1911 article noted it was used as a title of contempt.[48]

The New Jersey historian David S. Cohen wrote wrote that legends of origin given for the "Jackson Whites" were untrue, and his statements were then repeated by local news outlets. He said locals were happy with his refutations.[49]

Identification as Ramapo Mountain People

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Ramapo Mountain People
The Mountain People[50]
Painting of the Ramapo Mountains by Arthur Bowen Davies.
Ramapo Mountains by Arthur Bowen Davies.
Total population
1913 (est.)2,611[51]
1950 (census)1,280[52]
1974 (est.)1,500[53]
Regions with significant populations
 New Jersey,  New York[54]
Languages
English, formerly Jersey Dutch[55]
Religion
Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal[56][a]
Related ethnic groups
Melungeons, Lumbee, Wesorts, Redbones, Delaware Moors, Brass Ankles[58]
Not all Ramapo Mountain people are members of the Ramapough Mountain Indians.[59]

David Cohen used the term Ramapo Mountain People for the group previously described as "Jackson Whites".[50] He writes that some of the group's ancestors were multiracial, free Afro-Dutch pioneers who had migrated from lower Manhattan to the frontier and become landowners in the Tappan Patent during the seventeenth century.[37][45] Fuchs wrote that their migration to the Ramapo Mountains was due to laws in New Jersey restricting movement across county lines.[45]

Not all Ramapo Mountain people identify as Lenape or Native American, and not all of them went on to become members of the Ramapough Mountain Indians.[59]

Modern discussion of origins

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With increasing interest and research in Native American history, a symposium was held during 1984 on the Lenape. James Revey (Lone Bear), then chairman of the New Jersey Indian Office, said that "Mountain Indians" were descendants of Lenape who had retreated into the mountains of western and northeastern New Jersey and southwestern New York during the colonial era.[60] Other scholars, such as Herbert C. Kraft, have documented that some Munsee-speaking Lenape relocated into the Ramapo Mountains to escape colonial encroachment.[6]

In 1988, scholar Lawrence Fuchs gave the Ramapough as an example of self-designated change in order to improve status. He wrote that Cohen found that they descended from free Black pioneers, but they instead chose to identify as Indian and incorporate as a tribe. He said school officials were sympathetic as they brought funds to the Mahwah school district for teaching for teaching a Native American curriculum.[45]

Kraft wrote, as did Cohen, that the ancestors of the Ramapough Mountain Indians have the same surnames as 1670s free African-Americans from the Hackensack valley, but that there is a genealogical gap from 1790–1830 which prevented exact individual family lines from being constructed. Kraft writes that Cohen was able to document the emigration of one Ramapough ancestor from the Hackensack valley, and that the Hackensack landowners were selling their lands at the same time as people with the same names began settling in the Ramapo Mountains.[61] In an opinion column for northjersey.com, Catalano and Planche, legal counsel for the Ramapough Mountain Indians, said that Cohen lacked genealogical credentials, and claimed the BIA found his genealogical work lacking.[62][63]

The historian Evan T. Pritchard wrote that the Ramapough, who he calls the "Mountaineer Munsee", did not disappear from the Ramapo Mountains like the Haverstraw. He says that whites refer to them as Dutch, Black, Tuscarora, Roma, and Hessian in origin, but they are instead of local origin. He lists Hillburn, Johnsontown, Furmanville, Sherwoodville, Bulsontown, Willowgrove, Sandyfields, Hillburn, Stagg Hill, Ringwood, and Ladentown as Ramapough Lenape settlements.[64]

Scholar Renate Bartl writes the Ramapough Mountain Indians are an example of a multi-ethnic group claiming Native American identity, with a created ethnohistory, rather than a multi-ethnic Native American nation.[65]

Statements by tribes

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Flag and seal of the Delaware Tribe of Indians.

The federally recognized Delaware Nation regards the Ramapough Mountain Indians as a fraudulent organization, as they have stated that they "do not acknowledge or work with any non-federally recognized groups that claim Lenape identity or nationhood, which includes “state recognized” groups as we do not agree with state recognition."[66] In a 2023 report, the Delaware Nation referred to the Ramapough Mountain Indians as a CPAIN (Corporation Posing as an Indigenous Nation).[67]

The federally recognized Delaware Tribe of Indians has issued a resolution which "denounces fabricated Delaware groups and commits to exposing and assisting state and federal authorities in eradicating any group which attempts or claims to operate as a government of the Delaware people". The resolution refers to Lenape heritage groups and state-recognized tribes in Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as CPAINs.[68]

Recent events

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In 1995, New Jersey established a Commission on American Indian Affairs (then termed the Commission on Native American Affairs) with two seats each for the recognized tribes of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, and the Powhatan Renape (the latter two groups are located in southern New Jersey). In addition, two seats were reserved for Inter-Tribal Members, persons who belonged to other tribes but lived in New Jersey. The commission has been placed in the Department of State.[19]

Killing of Emil Mann

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Ringwood State Park.

During the spring of 2006, Emil Mann, a Ramapough Lenape man, was killed by gunshots from a New Jersey State Parks Police ranger in a confrontation with people on all-terrain vehicles in Ringwood State Park. His family filed a civil suit against the state. Governor Jon Corzine's staff met with the Ramapough Lenape and other Native Americans in the state to identify problem areas and improve relations. The state investigated the shooting, and a grand jury indicted one of the rangers.[9]

State initiatives

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During August 2006, Governor Corzine formed the New Jersey Committee on Native American Community Affairs to investigate issues of civil rights, education, employment, fair housing, environmental protection, health care, infrastructure, and equal opportunity confronting members of New Jersey's three indigenous Native American tribes and other New Jersey residents of Native American descent.[69][70] The committee's report was delivered on December 17, 2007, and cited "lingering discrimination, ignorance of state history and culture, and cynicism in the treatment of Indian people".[71]

State and federal officials have worked with the tribes on other issues related to their people. In preparation for the 2010 census, state and federal officials consulted with the recognized tribes on means to get accurate counts of their people. The Census Bureau has created local partnerships. It recognizes State Designated Tribal Statistical Areas, which are established by state consultation with local tribes to identify significant areas of American Indian populations outside reservations (these had not been examined during the twentieth century). In New Jersey, these are identified as Passaic and Bergen counties for the Ramapough Mountain Tribe and Cumberland County for the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape.[72]

Environmental concerns

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Toxic dumping by the Ford Motor Company (Mann v. Ford)

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Members of the community have participated in litigation (Mann v. Ford) against the Ford Motor Company regarding poisoning from a former toxic waste landfill. Portions of this site were used during the 1970s as sites for affordable housing where many Ramapough people lived.[73]

During the 1980s, the Environmental Protection Agency designated the Ringwood Mines landfill site as a Superfund site for cleanup. Ford had operated an automobile assembly plant in Mahwah, and its contractors dumped industrial paints and other hazardous wastes in a landfill owned by the company in an area where many Ramapough Mountain Indians live. The EPA identified further remediation three more times as additional sludge sites were found. Following further investigation, the EPA returned the community to the Superfund list, the only site to be so treated.

During late winter 2006, some 600 Ramapough Lenape Indians, led by Turtle Clan chief Wayne Mann, filed a mass tort suit (Mann v. Ford) against the "Ford Motor Company and its contractors, as well as the borough of Ringwood, for the dumping of toxic waste."[9] They were represented by Vicki Gilliam of The Cochran Group, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s law firm.[74] The suit was filed about the time of publication of Toxic Legacy, a five-part investigative series by The Record, which had found lead and antimony levels in excess of 100 times the safety limit near some Ramapough residences.[9]

The paint sludge has been linked to contamination of food and water sources with lead and benzene. The contamination has been linked to nosebleeds, leukemia, and other ailments among the community.[75] EPA confirmed the area was still contaminated with industrial and hazardous waste after four cleanups and placed the site back on the Superfund priority list.[76] From 2006 to 2011, the EPA has directed the removal of an additional 47,000 tonnes (104,000,000 lb) of contaminated earth and sludge from the site, more than five times what was cleaned up in the first efforts. [9][77]

The HBO documentary Mann v. Ford (2011) examines the lawsuit.[78] During the 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis, at a time when it appeared that Ford might be in danger of going bankrupt, the Ramapough feared that the company might not be around much longer. Ford used this to their advantage in settlement negotiations. The tribe accepted a settlement in September 2009 of $11 million from Ford and its contractors, plus $1.5 million from the town of Ringwood, for an average payout of $8,000 per Ramapough resident after attorney fees. [79]

Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation marching at one of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in Philadelphia, PA on July 24, 2016

Pipeline protests and opposition

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As of 2017, the tribe is fighting against the Pilgrim Pipeline.[80] Pilgrim Pipelines Holdings, LLC, plans to run a dual pipeline through the tribe's land that would carry refined products like gasoline, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuel, and home heating oil north and Bakken formation crude oil south between Albany, New York, and the Bayway Refinery on the Chemical Coast in Linden, New Jersey.[81]

The line would also pass through the Ramapo Mountains and Ramapo Pass. In solidarity with Standing Rock, tribal members founded the Split Rock Sweetwater protest encampment in Mahwah, New Jersey, in 2016 near the New York border to protest the Pilgrim Pipeline.[82][83]

Leadership disputes

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Two former chiefs of the Ramapough Mountain Indians have been ousted from the tribe, Anthony Jay Van Dunk and Dwaine Perry.[84][14][85]

Barring of Anthony Jay Van Dunk

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While he was chief in 2017, Dwaine Perry said former chief Jay Van Dunk had been banished from the tribe after a vote. Perry had previously been voted in as chief instead of Van Dunk. Perry criticized Van Dunk's handling of the tribe's finances, referring to him as a "confidence man".[84][14][85]

The 6 Weehawken Street building from the south. Bourgeois later reneged on his offer.[86][85]

After millionaire Jean-Louis Bourgeois expressed his intent to donate the 6 Weehawken Street building to Van Dunk for a prayer center, Perry requested it be given to the tribe instead as an embassy. He received no response. Van Dunk referred to his being barred from the tribe as a political vendetta by Perry. Bourgeois said he considered Anthony to be the chief.[14][84][85]

Ousting of Dwaine Perry

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In 2025, former chief Dwaine Perry said he was ousted by rival members in an illegal takeover. He was arrested on July 22, 2025 at the Ramapough tribal headquarters under charge of criminal trespass. He claimed this occurred due to rival members falsely informing police he was not allowed on tribal property.[1][4][14]

Perry filed a lawsuit against rival members. His attorney Lydia Cotz stated the suit was for defamation, and that she believed he would be reinstated. The suit alleged members, some possibly unenrolled, were permitted to vote him out as chief and voted in Vincent Mann, which occurred while he was not present. The suit sought to reinstate Perry and others to their previous positions, award damages to Perry, and prevent tribal members from controlling the official nonprofit.[1][4][14]

The case was dismissed in 2026. A lawyer for the tribe says the court decided the dispute should be solved through the tribal process itself, not courts. Cotz says her firm is appealing the judgement, and that the defamation case is not dismissed, and still in the discovery phase.[14]

Representation in media

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Movies

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  • Mann v. Ford (2011) is a documentary about the lawsuit filed by the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation against Ford. Directed by Maro Chermayeff and Mica Fink, it features Paul Mann of the Ramapough and Vicki Gilliam of The Cochran Firm, which represented the tribe. It portrays the five years of the Ramapough pursuing the suit and how they reached a settlement with the company.[78]
  • American Native (2013) is a documentary that details the Ramapough Lenape Nation's efforts to gain federal recognition as a Native American nation and the difficulties it has encountered due to loss of lands and records and alleged racism.[87]
  • The movie Out of the Furnace (2013) is a fictional drama dealing partly with communities living in the Ramapough Mountains, featuring Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, and Willem Dafoe.[88] Tribal leaders and town officials from Mahwah urged a boycott of the movie due to negative depictions of the Ramapough Lenape Nation,[89] which was termed a hate crime.[90] Relativity Media responded that the movie "is not based on any one person or group" and is "entirely fictional".[91] Nine members of the group, eight of whom have the surname DeGroat, which is given to the movie's antagonist, filed suit against the makers and other involved parties. They claimed that Out of the Furnace portrays a gang of criminals living in the Ramapo Mountains who are "lawless, drug-addicted, impoverished and violent".[92][93] On May 16, 2014, U.S. District Court Judge William Walls, in Newark, New Jersey, dismissed the lawsuit, saying that the movie did not refer directly to any of the plaintiffs.[94]
  • The Way of the Ramapough (2022), a 30-minute documentary by Elliott Ruga, produced by the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, based on an interview with Turtle Clan Chief Vincent Mann discussing tribal history from first contact through contemporary times and the effects of colonialism. The documentary includes the dispossession of Native lands and the resulting diaspora, massacres, rejection of native identity, the attempt at federal recognition, and the ongoing federal and state failures to address the toxic contamination by the Ford Motor Company.[95]

Television

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ David Cohen writes the ancestors of the Ramapo Mountain people were affiliated with Dutch Reformed churches.[57]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Ramapough Mountain Indians". Cause IQ. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ramapough Lunaape Nation Inc". GuideStar. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 Kelly, Tina (11 April 2006). "New Jersey Tribe Member Dies After Police Shooting at a Back-Roads Party". New York Times.
  4. 1 2 3 4 G. Attrino, Anthony (14 August 2025). "Ramapough Lenape chief unseated, arrested in illegal coup, lawsuit says". NJ Advance Media. Advance Local Media LLC. Retrieved 10 August 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ Pritchard, Evan T. (2002), Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York, Council Oak Books, pp. 265–271, ISBN 978-1-57178-135-2
  6. 1 2 3 Kraft, Herbert C. (1986), The Lenape: Archaeology, History, and Ethnography, New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ. p. 241, ISBN 978-0-911020-14-4
  7. ↑ New Jersey Committee on Native American Community Affairs (17 December 2007). "Report to Governor Jon S. Corzine". Scribd: 15. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Lehren, Marilyn Joyce (11 April 2023). "Students Plant Seeds to Revive a Native American Language". Montclair State University. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 McGrath, Ben (1 March 2010). "Strangers on the Mountain". The New Yorker. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "About Us". rmlncc.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  11. 1 2 "Chief Vincent Mann". Rutgers SASN. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  12. ↑ "Seeding a Native Future Despite a Toxic Past: Chief Vincent Mann of the Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan". NESAWG. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "Chief Vincent Mann – The Public History Project". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 G. Attrino, Anthony (24 February 2026). "Ramapough Lenape chief loses one court battle over his ouster, but the fight isn't over". NJ Advance Media. Advance Local Media LLC. Retrieved 10 August 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "Tribal Enrollment", Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation website
  16. ↑ Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 3031, State of New Jersey, filed January 8, 1980.
  17. ↑ Ramapough Mountain Indian Final Determination, CD-2, file 2_4_Part01.pdf pp.138-141 AR005026 through AR005029 (available from the BIA under the Freedom of Information Act)
  18. ↑ New Jersey Department of State web page. Retrieved January 22, 2006. Archived June 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  19. 1 2 "New Jersey Commission on American Indian Affairs - About the Commission". New Jersey Department of State. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  20. ↑ Ramapough Mountain Indian Final Determination, CD-6, file 6_4.pdf p. AR029381 (available as a matter of public record from the BIA by the Freedom of Information Act)
  21. 1 2 Alexa Koenig and Jonathan Stein, "Federalism and the State Recognition of Native American Tribes: A Survey of State-Recognized Tribes and State Recognition Processes across the United States", Santa Clara Law Review, Vol. 48, 2007, p 101. Retrieved February 21, 2011. Note: On page 129, they note that the Ramapough Mountain Indians had not been recognized by the state of New York; only the Shinnecock and one other tribe have been.
  22. 1 2 Koenig and Stein (2007), "Federalism and State Recognition", p. 129. Note: The Ramapough Mountain Indians had not been recognized by the state of New York, which does not have a formal process for recognizing tribes. It has only recognized the Shinnecock and one other tribe due to longstanding historical relationships with the state.
  23. ↑ Incalcaterra, Laura (September 6, 2009), "Ramapough Lenape seek state recognition, get boost from Rockland", The Journal News
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Summary under the criteria and evidence for final determination against federal acknowledgement of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc" (PDF). Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  25. ↑ Kraft, Herbert C., 2001. The Lenape-Delaware Indian Heritage, Lenape Books, pp. 564–66
  26. 1 2 3 "Federal Register, Volume 63 Issue 4 (Wednesday, January 7, 1998)". GovInfo. 7 January 1998. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  27. 1 2 3 "31 IBIA 61 In re Federal acknowledgement of Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc" (PDF). Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  28. ↑ Ramapough Mountain Indians and Silent Wolf, Chief, Ramapough Mountain Indians v. Gale A. Norton, Secretary, United States Department of the Interior, et al., 00-5464 (D.C. App. 2001) ("Because the regulations require some documentation of tribal descent and RMI has provided none, this court cannot conclude that the Secretary was arbitrary and capricious in requiring documentation or clearly erred in refusing to make the inference urged by RMI where the evidence was as limited as it was."), archived from the original.
  29. ↑ "Calculated Gamble; Trump cries foul over Indian casino", Newsday, May 4, 1993, p. 41
  30. 1 2 "Implementation of Indian Gaming Regulatory Act: oversight hearing before the Subcommittee on Native American Affairs, Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, first session, on implementation of Public Law 100-497, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988". 1993. pp. 77, 86.
  31. ↑ Joslyn, Roger (21 July 1993). "Letters to the Editor: Ramapough Indians tribal rights". Rockland Journal News.
  32. ↑ Greene, David L. (July 17, 1999), "Tribe fights for place in history", The Baltimore Sun
  33. ↑ Alexa Koenig and Jonathan Stein, "Federalism and the State Recognition of Native American Tribes: A Survey of State-Recognized Tribes and State Recognition Processes across the United States", Santa Clara Law Review, Vol. 48, 2007, p 101. Retrieved February 21, 2011
  34. ↑ Office of Federal Acknowledgment 1996, pp. 63–64.
  35. ↑ Cornelia F. Bedell (November 1992). Bedell, Cornelia F. (ed.). Now and Then and Long Ago in Rockland County, New York. Historical Society of Rockland County. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-911183-40-5. The original deed, with the names of the five Indian chiefs - Manis, Wactau, Sonees, Ayco, Nakam - is still in the possession of the Sloat family.
  36. ↑ Lenik, Edward J., 1999. Indians in the Ramapos, The North Jersey Highlands Historical Society ISBN 0-9675706-0-3 pp. 1-2
  37. 1 2 3 4 Cohen 1974, pp. 74, 197.
  38. ↑ Cohen, David Steven, 1995. Folk Legacies Revisited, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp. 18-19
  39. ↑ Cohen (1974) p. 110
  40. ↑ Mantel, Barbara (12 October 2003). "In Person; A Rocky Career Path". The New York Times.
  41. ↑ Lenik, Edward J., 2011. Ramapough Mountain Indians: People, Places and Cultural Traditions, Ringwood, NJ: North Jersey Highlands Historical Society, pp. 1-4
  42. ↑ Brecher, Jeremy (2015). Save the Humans?: Common Preservation in Action. Routledge. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-1-317-25253-5.
  43. ↑ "Race of Real Mountaineers Living Near New York City". The Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, NY. 18 August 1907. Archived from the original on 17 December 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  44. 1 2 3 "Ramapough Mountain People drawn into their own", St. Petersburg Times, March 18, 1976, p. 50.
  45. 1 2 3 4 Fuchs, Lawrence (1988). "Assimilation in the U.S.: Identities and Boundaries". The Tocqueville Review. 9. University of Toronto Press: 181–200. doi:10.3138/ttr.9.181. ISSN 1918-6649. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
  46. ↑ William Harlen Gilbert, Jr, 1948. Surviving Indian Groups of the Eastern United States, (D. C., 1949), United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
  47. ↑ Cohen, David Steven (1972). "The Origin of the". The Journal of American Folklore. 85 (337). University of Illinois Press: 260–266. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 539500. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  48. 1 2 Bischoff, Henry & Kahn, Mitchell (1979), From Pioneer Settlement to Suburb, a History of Mahwah, New Jersey 1700-1976, A. S. Barnes & Co., p. 210 ISBN 978-0-498-02218-0
  49. ↑ Cohen 1974, pp. 74, 197–199.
  50. 1 2 Bartl 2021, p. 75.
  51. ↑ Office of Federal Acknowledgment 1993, p. 162.
  52. ↑ Office of Federal Acknowledgment 1993, p. 161.
  53. ↑ Cohen 1974, p. xi.
  54. ↑ Bartl 2021, p. 81.
  55. ↑ Office of Federal Acknowledgment 1993, pp. 146, 149.
  56. ↑ Cohen 1974, p. 161–162.
  57. ↑ Cohen 1974, p. 161.
  58. ↑ Cohen 1974, p. xii.
  59. 1 2 Kraft 2001, p. 545
    "It should be noted, however, that not all the Ramapo people are members of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc., identify with the Lenape, or even regard themselves as Indians..."
    Office of Federal Acknowledgment 1993, pp. 144, 174
    p. 144
    "Not all of the RMP are on the RMI membership list, nor do they all claim to be Indian, even though they share the same ancestry."
    Office of Federal Acknowledgment 1996, p. 12
    "Not all of the RMP are members of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc., even though they share a common ancestry. Also, not all of the RMP claim to be Indian. As used in this final determination, RMP is not synonymous with 'Jackson Whites,' the latter being much broader in meaning, and less well-defined (see definition of 'Jackson Whites,' above)."
  60. ↑ Revey, James (1984). "The Delaware Indians of New Jersey, from Colonial Times to the Present". In Kraft, Herbert C.; Becker, Marshall Joseph (eds.). The Lenape Indian: A Symposium. Seton Hall University: Archaeological Research Center. ASIN B00116FOLC. The Mountain Indians included those Delaware Indians [Lenape] who in Colonial times retreated into the Pohacong and Schooley Mountains in northwestern New Jersey, and those Minisink, Pompton (Wappingers), Hackensack and Tappan Indians who remained in the mountains of the northeastern part of the state.
  61. ↑ Kraft, Herbert C., 2001. The Lenape-Delaware Indian Heritage, Lenape Books p. 562:58
  62. ↑ Catalano, Albert J.; Plache, Matthew J. (30 April 2006). "Opinion: The case for Ramapough tribal status". North Jersey Media Group. Archived from the original on 21 May 2006.
  63. ↑ Final Determination against Federal Acknowledgment of the Ramapough Mountain Indians Inc. - United States Department of the Interior, Office of Federal Acknowledgment p. 62
    "The BIA continues to agree with Cohen's conclusion regarding the lack of primary source evidence for Indian ancestry among the RMI."
  64. ↑ Pritchard, Evan T. (2002). Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York. San Francisco: Council Oak Books. pp. 265–66, 270–71. ISBN 978-1-57178-107-9.
  65. ↑ Bartl 2021, pp. 75–76.
  66. ↑ "The History of the Delaware Nation". Delaware Nation. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
  67. ↑ "2023 Annual Report" (PDF). Delaware Nation. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  68. ↑ "RESOLUTION 2021-11" (PDF). delawaretribe.org. Delaware Tribe of Indians. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  69. ↑ Corzine, Jon S. (4 August 2006). "Executive Order #24". State of New Jersey. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  70. ↑ Corzine, Jon S. (1 October 2008). "Executive Order #122". State of New Jersey. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  71. ↑ New Jersey Committee on Native American Community Affairs (17 December 2007). "Report to Governor Jon S. Corzine". Scribd. p. 1. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  72. ↑ Lutz, Philip. "2010 Census and Local Partnerships". lwd.dol.state.nj. Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  73. ↑ "Mann v. Ford". Hbo.com. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  74. ↑ "RFK Jr. made big promises to pollution victims. Some say he didn't keep them". Washington Post. 7 September 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  75. ↑ Aileen Brown. The Intercept. Feb. 19, 2017. As construction near Standing Rock restarts, pipeline fights flare across the U.S. https://interc.pt/2l9kRma
  76. ↑ "Site Description" (PDF). Ringwood Mines/Landfill. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 12, 2003. Retrieved 2025-11-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20030412072923/http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0200663c.pdf
  77. ↑ Layton, Mary Jo (December 12, 2010). "No end in sight for Ford cleanup in Ringwood". The Record. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  78. 1 2 "Synopsis". Mann v. Ford. HBO. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  79. ↑ Maro Chermayeff and Micah Fink (producers-directors) (2015). Mann v. Ford (Documentary Film). A Show of Force Production. Event occurs at 1:34 to 1:41.
  80. ↑ Pilgrim could be NJ's oil pipeline to nowhere. NorthJersey.com-Feb 3, 2017
  81. ↑ Remnick, Noah (14 April 2017). "The Ramapoughs vs. the World". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  82. ↑ Native American Tribe Fights Pilgrim Pipeline Plan in New Jersey http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NJ-Native-American-Lunaape-Tribe-Fights-Pilgrim-Pipeline-Plan-408359755.html via @nbcnewyork
  83. ↑ Proposed Pilgrim Pipeline sparks further debate. Union News Daily-Feb 19, 2017. http://unionnewsdaily.com/headline-news/29405
  84. 1 2 3 Kilgannon, Corey (10 January 2017). "Giving Back a 'Stolen' Property to the Original Manhattanites". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
  85. 1 2 3 4 TRD Staff (26 December 2016). "Native American chiefs spar over $4M West Village house". The Real Deal. New York, NY: Korangy Publishing Inc. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
  86. ↑ "Millionaire reneges on promise to give West Village property back to American Indian tribe". 2 November 2019.
  87. ↑ Bobker, Corey; Ogins, Matt; Orritt, Steven (2013). American Native. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  88. ↑ Anderson, John (13 November 2019). "Out of the Furnace and into the reality of Ramapo crime families". Indiewire. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  89. ↑ Duffy, Christie (4 December 2013). "'Out of the Furnace' under fire in Mahwah". FiOS1. Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  90. ↑ Ivers, Dan (5 December 2013). "Ramapough Indians, Mahwah officials decry depiction in new movie as 'hate crime'". NJ.com. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  91. ↑ Incalcaterra, Laura (6 December 2013). "Ramapough chief denounces Christian Bale movie as 'hate crime'". The Journal News. Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  92. ↑ Ma, Miles (23 December 2013). "Members of Ramapough seek $50 million from makers of 'Out of the Furnace' A lawsuit says 'Out of the Furnace,' starring Christian Bale and Zoe Saldana, misrepresents members of the Ramapough Mountain Indians. (Relativity Media)". NJ.com. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  93. ↑ "Wilbur C. DeGroat, III, Arlitta DeGroat, Leon DeGroat, Diane DeGroat, Pia DeGroat Dennison, Marie DeGroat Mann, Rodney van Dunk, Eunice DeGroat, Gilbert DeGroat, Rosemarie Mann, Amanda Mann, Dawn Mann, Santana Peterson, Rachael Mann, Daniel W. Dennison, Jr and Jon van Dunk, Plaintiffs, v Scott Cooper; Brad Inglesby; Relativity Media, LLC a California limited liability company; Appian Way, LLC, a California limited liability company; Energy Entertainment, Inc., a California corporation; Scott Free Productions, Inc., a California corporation; Red Granite Pictures, INC. a California corporation; and John Does 1 to 5, Defendants" (PDF). NJ.com. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  94. ↑ "Judge tosses out Ramapough Mountain Indians' lawsuit over Out of the Furnace". The Star Ledger. New Jersey. 16 May 2014. p. 17.
  95. ↑ Ruga, Elliott (1 June 2021). The Way of the Ramapough (Video). Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  96. ↑ "The Red Road: Game of Thrones actor to star". TV Bizwire. July 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013.

Sources

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Further reading

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Collins, Daniel (1972). "The Racially-Mixed People of the Ramapos: Undoing the Jackson White Legends". American Anthropologist. 74 (5): 1276–1285. ISSN 0002-7294. Retrieved 17 December 2025.

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