Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writing

Originally published in 1905, this collection of twenty-two Delaware Indian stories has long been sought out both by scholars and individuals. Beyond the lessons, the book introduces the richness of the original Delaware language to an English-speaking audience: four of these legends have been retranslated into the Delaware language by native Delaware speakers. Readers will find line-by-line translations that reveal the eventual transformation of a transliterated Delaware text into an English-language story.

Richard C. Adams (1864-1921) was a Delaware (Lenape) Indian who devoted twenty-five years of his life to being a champion of Delaware causes. He acted as their legal representative in Washington, D.C., helping to direct the tribe's fierce legal battle with the Cherokee Nation over land rights during the era of the Dawes Commission. He advocated the rights of individual land holders against large oil companies seeking blanket leases on Indian lands. He was an activist for Native American rights, and founder of the Brotherhood of the North American Indians. In addition to numerous memorials to Congress, Adams wrote five books about Delaware legends, history, religion, and traditions. At a time when young Native people were pressured to abandon their traditions, Richard Adams sought to record and preserve them, and to promote their understanding in the white community Deborah Nichols is a Delaware tribal member who contributes historic articles to the Delaware Indian News, including a series on the work of Richard C. Adams. James Rementer is a scholar of Delaware language and traditions Nora Thompson Dean (1907-84) was a respected elder of the Delaware Tribe, who, as a traditionalist and a native speaker of the Lenape language, served as a language teacher and as a resource person for linguists, anthropologists, ethnologists, ethnobotanists, and historians. Lucy Parks Blalock is another respected elder of the Delaware Tribe, who has served as a teacher for the Delaware language classes and as a resource person for linguists, anthropologists, and ethnologists.