The National Park Service's proposal to remove a William Penn statue from a historic site in Philadelphia –- quickly withdrawn amid a backlash — wasn't a priority for some of the Native Americans the agency was required to consult with as it prepared to renovate the deteriorating plaza. Uprooting the statue of Pennsylvania's founder from Welcome Park also wasn't a major point of discussion as park service officials and tribal representatives met to plan the renovation over video last year, said Jeremy Johnson, director of cultural education for the Delaware Tribe of Indians.
The Delaware Nation is bridging a 1,400-mile gap to reclaim its heritage with a new Tribal Historic Preservation Office on the ancestral homelands of its Lenape ancestors. Headquartered in Anadarko, Oklahoma, the Delaware Nation set up the new office at Lehigh University in eastern Pennsylvania as part of a larger effort to protect its cultural resources and deal more effectively with tribal consultation and repatriation efforts. The office on Lehigh's campus will be staffed by the Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), non-tribal citizen Katelyn Lucas.