Native Acts
Abstract
Introductionsw hen I was born in Southern California in 1962, my paternal grandparents, then living in Los Angeles, initiated the process for my enrollment with the Lenape nation (the Delaware Tribe of Indians).At the time, the tribe possessed federal recognition status, reflecting its historic relations with the colonies dating back to the early 1600s, and with the United States dating back to 1778.But in 1979, ten years after my grandparents returned to live in Oklahoma and a decade after President Nixon suspended tribal termination as a policy goal, the Delaware Tribe was terminated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Bia) at the political behest of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.In 1996, the Delaware successfully appealed the decision and were reinstated.Within two years, the tribe built a basic infrastructure through federal grants for an elder-care program, child care, language revitalization, and housing.