Ironman Triathlon for Delaware Language

My Letter To You

Dear Friend,

"Ktaholi, Uma? (Do you love me, Grandmother?)," asked the little child, and her Grandmother replied, "Kitaholėl (I love you very dearly)." These sweet-sounding American Indian words may never again be spoken on this earth. They are from the Lenape or Delaware Indian language. Only one fluent speaker of the language remains who was raised with Delaware as his first language. He is now 96 years old.

My name is Opataexkwe (White Flower Woman), or Nicky Kay Michael. I am a Lenape (Delaware Indian) woman who greatly desires to help preserve my ancestral language. I am asking you to help me support the efforts of our Language Preservation Committee to keep the language alive.

I competed successfully in the Isuzu Ironman Triathlon in Florida on November 4, 2000. This combined the events of swimming, biking and running for a total of 140.6 miles. I was the only known Native American Triathlete in this event. I am asking for your donation of support for our Language Preservation Project. This was a difficult race for me; but no more difficult than the race to help save my people's language.

Professionally, I am a full-time Ph.D. student in History at the University of Oklahoma. My MA is from Oklahoma State University, while my BA is from Stanford University.

Please take time to read the enclosed sheet. It will give you more information about the Lenape language and our efforts to preserve it. Without funding, our language cannot survive. I therefore ask for your much needed support.

Here is how you can help support my efforts. Just fill out the donation card below and send it to the address given.

For your generous support, I say Wanģshi (Thank you)! For helping my Delaware Tribe save our Lenape language, I say "Kitaholėl."

Sincerely,

Nicky Kay Michael

Information Section

Ironman Triathlon for Delaware Language Project

MORE INFORMATION

Who are the Lenape? - The Lenape, also known as Delaware Indians, once occupied all of New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, northern Delaware, and southeastern New York State. To many tribes the Lenape were known as "Grandfathers" because of their honored position as peacemakers.

With the arrival of Europeans, the Lenape were gradually forced westward out of their homeland. They moved to central Pennsylvania, then to Ohio. It was in Ohio in 1778 that they signed a treaty with the newly formed United States government. They were the first tribe to do so. But soon they again had to move, this time to Indiana, then Missouri, then Kansas, and finally to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

What is unique about the Lenape Language? - Lenape is in the Eastern Algonquian language family, and is related to Passamaquoddy (Maine) and Wampanoag (Martha’s Vineyard), as well as other Algonquian languages like Shawnee, Ojibwa, and Cree languages. The Lenape language was the language of trade used to talk to the earliest European settlers - the Dutch, Swedes, and English. Later, when the Order of the Arrow was formed in 1915 in the homeland of the Lenape, a dialect of Lenape was chosen for use in their ceremonies.

Why are Indian languages disappearing? - During the early part of the 20th century and earlier, the federal government had policies which aimed at assimilation. One of the strategies was to wipe out native languages and their use by Indian youth. Indian children were commonly sent to boarding schools. There, English was the only language allowed to be used, and they were punished severely for speaking their native languages.

The youngest generation of Lenape to have grown up using Lenape as their primary language were people born before 1920. Tribal members who grew up during the 1920s and 1930s often had parents with "mixed" marriages in that one parent was Delaware, while the other parent was another tribe or non-Indian. They grew up surrounded by white people. They often attended the local schools, and they took part in school and community activities just like the young non-Indian people. In some cases they moved with their parents to other parts of the country. For the most part the elders who spoke Lenape stayed in northeastern Oklahoma and tried to carry on the traditions of the past.

Why is Nicky Michael doing this pledge? - Not until 1990 did the Native American Languages Act pass, declaring that, "the official policy of the United States government (is) to preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop native languages." Unless there are radical changes and success at reversing language loss, within 60 years, of the 175 remaining native languages, we will see the extinction of 155 languages, with only 20 left. Only two million dollars have been set aside by the federal government to help preserve American Indian languages. Over 350 Tribes applied for funds in 1999 to help preserve their languages - only 29 were funded. So Nicky saw the need to find additional sources of funding, and that is why she is did this race as a donation format for the Lenape Language Project..

What will be done with the money donated? - The Lenape Language Project's primary goal is to produce a multimedia dictionary. The entries will include: the word spelled in the accepted Lenape orthography, a phonetic rendition, part of speech, use in sample sentence(s), a sound file of the word being pronounced by a native speaker, and a photograph or illustration of the item the word represents. We anticipate this project will take 3 to 4 years.

We have almost 1,000 audio and videotapes of the language made with various speakers. A great part of the expense of the project will go toward making archival quality copie

Donation Form

We are very happy to announce that Nicky Kay Michael successfully completed the Ironman Triathlon, (all 140.6 miles), on November 4, 2000.

If you would like to donate to the Lenape Language Project, here is what you need to do:

1. Sign up and list the amount you would like to donate on this form.

2. Please send the Donation Form to: The Delaware Tribe, Inc., Attn.: Comptroller – Ironman Donation, 220 NW Virginia Ave., Bartlesville OK 74003. Make checks payable to "Ironman for Delaware Language Preservation." You can also use your VISA or MasterCard.


Your Donation: $ _____________



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Informative Links

Delaware Tribal Website
Florida Ironman Triathlon
Delaware Language Pages

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