The Lenape (Lunaape), historically known as the Delaware Indians, are among the most ancient nations of Turtle Island (North America), with ancestral homelands covering present-day New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and parts of New York.
Among them are the often-overlooked “Black” Lenape—dark-skinned, aboriginal inhabitants who were reclassified by colonial policy and falsely labeled as “Negro” or “African-American,” despite being the original Americans. These people are not immigrants from Africa; they are indigenous to this land, the rightful heirs of Turtle Island’s soil, spirit, and sacred covenant.
The “Black” Lenape lived under natural law, tribal order, and ancestral spiritual traditions long before the European concept of race was imposed. Though their legal identity was targeted for erasure, the blood of the Lenape Nation still flows through their descendants today.
What Is an American? — Webster’s 1828
American. noun.
“A native of America; originally applied to the aboriginals, or copper-colored races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America.”
— Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
This definition reveals a hidden truth: the term American originally referred to the aboriginal copper-colored peoples—including the Lenape. Only later was the word misappropriated to describe European descendants.
We were the Americans before the term was rewritten.
Paper Genocide & Racial Reclassification
Colonial systems such as the Dawes Rolls, Indian Removal Act, and Bureau of Vital Statistics worked to eliminate Indigenous identity. Many dark-skinned Native peoples were reclassified as “Colored,” “Negro,” “Black,” or “African-American,” to strip them of treaty rights, land claims, and sovereign status.
The “Black” Lenape were not lost—they were renamed. Through forced paper genocide, generations were cut off from their true tribal heritage. Yet, families across Oklahoma, Texas, the Carolinas, and beyond still carry the oral traditions, clan customs, and spiritual wisdom of the Lenape.
Our Purpose and Path Forward
ORDO LUPORUM is a ministerial and ecclesiastical body devoted to:
– Restoring the true identity of reclassified Indigenous people, especially those called “Black.”
– Preserving tribal memory and spiritual traditions of the Lenape Nation.
– Teaching Divine Law, Natural Law, and Clan Honor.
– Defending Indigenous heritage with lawful declarations, ecclesiastical trusts, and treaty recognition.
We are not minorities.
We are not misnomers.
We are the original Americans.
Join the Awakening
We welcome all descendants of the Lenape, those with reclassified tribal bloodlines, and all seeking the truth of their origin to walk the path of restoration.
Stand with us. Learn with us. Rise with us.
The Spirit of the Wolf “Tùkwsit) still howls. The voice of the ancestors still speaks.