Dedicated on November 13, 2022

The Indigenous Peoples Concerns team of the Racial Justice Ministry worked with Trinity Norwood and Rev. Dr. John R. Norwood of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation in New Jersey to prepare three Land and People Acknowledgements for use at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. These acknowledgements were dedicated during our worship service on November 13, 2022.

This shorter acknowledgement is for reading before meetings, placed in Happenings (UUCP’s worship bulletin) and for use on zoom:

The land and waterways upon which the congregants of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton gather and live are the ancestral and unceded Lenapehoking territory of the Lenni-Lenape nation. We honor the contributions of their ancestors, those now in the diaspora, and the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, Ramapough Lenape and Powhatan Renape who continue to live in the area we call New Jersey. We pledge to work with them to dismantle the legacy of oppression of Indigenous Peoples and to live in harmony.

This full acknowledgement has been framed and placed on a wall in Robinson Lounge as you enter the lounge from the outside. It is also noted, here, on the UUCP website:

The land and waterways upon which the congregants of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton gather and live are the ancestral and unceded Lenapehoking territory of the Lenni-Lenape people or Nations. Colonialists from outside countries, including ancestors of some of us, came and forced many of these people to move west and north after living here for thousands of years.

We honor those in the diaspora as well as those who continue to live in the area we now call New Jersey: the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation; the Ramapough Lenape Nation; and the Powhatan Renape Nation; the Nanticoke of Millsboro Delaware and the Lenape of Cheswold Delaware. We acknowledge descendants who continue to live here, on their homeland. We honor their presence and the contributions of their ancestors. We strive to increase our understanding, deepen our relationships and celebrate these nations.

In our acknowledgment of the continued presence of Lenape people in their homeland, we affirm the aspiration of the Lenape Chief Tamanend, that there be harmony between the Indigenous People of this land and the descendants of the immigrants to this land, “as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine.”

Placed on an outdoor plaque (in 2023) near the main entrance to UUCP:

We honor this ancestral land of the Lenni-Lenape Nation. May we live in harmony, caring for this sacred land.