Robert "Red Hawk" Ruth -Lenape Nation of PA

[NanticokePiney]

  When Bob Ruth first started hanging around Bill "Whipoorwill" Thompson and Carl "Wayandaga" Pierce in the 1980s He always claimed white. Then Bill decided "His heart was red" and held a ceremony making him Indian. A man named Larry "Bear" Peterson stood for Bob and recorded the event on camera.
  Now Bob is not only claiming Lenape descent but working alongside of a Anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania claiming his family preserved both the Lenape Language and the ceremonies. Something which did not happen among the Lenape in either Canada or Oklahoma
   Here is a link to the site and a picture of a "Misinkg" mask that was proported to be passed down in his family.

    http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/SASFrontiers/seldin.html   

[educatedindian]

He sells a language tape.
http://www.lenapenation.org/tradingpost.html

And took part in a language preservation conference.
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3615&Itemid=1

Articles about Lenape trying for recognition that mention him.
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0302&L=lgpolicy-list&P=3268

Honored as a vet.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1064338065

It does seem unlikely to me that he could be so widely recognized and worked with if what you say was true. Do you have anything else you could show us for evidence?

Thompson shows up online as having told a few Lenape stories. Pierce, well...apparently you yourself don't have kind words for him.

http://forum.americanindiantribe.com/viewtopic.php?t=5378&start=180

Obviously there's a lot more going on here that you know far more about than we do. Perhaps you could explain more about that ceremony and that group Ruth leads.

The Lenape Nation of PA.
http://www.lenapenation.org/txt/news.html

[NanticokePiney]

He sells a language tape.
http://www.lenapenation.org/tradingpost.html

And took part in a language preservation conference.
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3615&Itemid=1

Articles about Lenape trying for recognition that mention him.
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0302&L=lgpolicy-list&P=3268

Honored as a vet.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1064338065


Thompson shows up online as having told a few Lenape stories. Pierce, well...apparently you yourself don't have kind words for him.

http://forum.americanindiantribe.com/viewtopic.php?t=5378&start=180

Obviously there's a lot more going on here that you know far more about than we do. Perhaps you could explain more about that ceremony and that group Ruth leads.

  A top Lenape Linguist who I cannot mention yet states his language tape has the worst grammer and biggest mixture of dialects he's ever seen.
 He was honoring a Revolutionary War Vet in that Indian Country article. He is not a vet himself. He claimed he was Unami in it. Now he claims Stockbridge. I remember as a kid him claiming white.
  Pierce was my Paternal Great Uncle but I called him "Grandfather". I wandered around with him a lot when I was a young kid. When he "cursed" Rt. 55 in New Jersey my mother banned him from our home and forbade me from associating with him. He and Thompson performed a lot of adoption ceremonies. Making people Lenape. They would make them stand or kneel near a fire and smudge them and smoke plains style pipes while they sang or spoke ad-lib vocables. I thought it was silly when I was 10 and think it's down right disgusting now. 
  Edit:  The LNP were donated a farm ( The Jane Quick Farm), but the farm was returned to the owner. There is still a ongoing investigation by authorities so I can't mention much more.  

[frederica]

I meant to ask the other day and got side-tracked.  I wondered which dialect he had preserved. You have about 3 at least. And since it is a Living Language how did he compensate for change. I know Nora T. D.  came up with a few words.  Most of the fluent speakers passed somewhere between the 50' and 80's.  I would guess there is less than 2 percent, including Canada.

[NanticokePiney]

I meant to ask the other day and got side-tracked.  I wondered which dialect he had preserved. You have about 3 at least. And since it is a Living Language how did he compensate for change. I know Norma T. D.  came up with a few words.  Most of the fluent speakers passed somewhere between the 50' and 80's.  I would guess there is less than 2 percent, including Canada.

  It is dialects borrowed from different sources. Lucy Blaylock, Nora Thompson Dean, Mark Raymond Harrington, Ray Whritnour. One prayer they were using was made up of two prayers. One  used by Lucy and one used by Nora. 

[frederica]

okay, got it. I always forget about Ray for some reason. He is good at what he does.

[CosmicOppossum]

I'm from Pennsylvania and one thing I know for sure is that while officially there are no Indian people left in PA there are MANY mixed bloods in them thar hills. I'm one of them. How do I know my identity? My family told me. I have medical conditions including Lupus thatended up in a variety of DNA testing. I have relatives who are geneology freaks and I even joined in and found that my great grandma Elizabeth Wilson had attended the Carlisle Indian school.
    I knew and to a degree befriended Carl Pierce. He was a colorful man who helped a cousin of mine to sobriety. Still, I never fully trusted "Grandfather" as he insisted on being called. I declined any of his "roll cards". Knowing who I am is all I need. Was Carl in fact NDN? That was never clear as a fact.
     You know, the whole damned identity thing gets confused and can be painful. Wayandaga was both a good man and a charlatan. He helped people and he hurt some.
    The real bad perpetrator was a guy called 3 Crows, he was studying under Wyanadaga and smoking dope in his "peace pipe". I had arguments with him!
    Could Carl's cousin confirm to me if Carl was in fact Native. iI always wondered. Has Ula, his very kind wife passed on?
Thanks,
    Cosmic Oppossum
   

[NanticokePiney]

Was Carl in fact NDN? That was never clear as a fact.
     You know, the whole damned identity thing gets confused and can be painful. Wayandaga was both a good man and a charlatan. He helped people and he hurt some.
    Could Carl's cousin confirm to me if Carl was in fact Native. iI always wondered. Has Ula, his very kind wife passed on?
Thanks,
    Cosmic Oppossum
   

   Carl was from the Nanticoke/Moor community in Alloway. He was Indian. He was also my Uncle/Grandfather.

[Kevin]

I think that mask is a flat-out hoax - the patina on it is not right for starters, looks more polished, too much 'shine' on it from something manmade. Then look closely at the eye holes and how fresh the wood is on the inside, no apparent aging at all. Any reputable person in the wood antiques type of business would IMO quickly label this as a recent reproduction - the mouth, eyes, eyebrows are way too crisp and clean and I got a crisp $20 says there are no wear marks on the inside,  nor back right behind the eyes on the edge where hands would have grabbed the mask to put it on, though the picture does not allow for close examination.

[NanticokePiney]

I think that mask is a flat-out hoax - the patina on it is not right for starters, looks more polished, too much 'shine' on it from something manmade. Then look closely at the eye holes and how fresh the wood is on the inside, no apparent aging at all. Any reputable person in the wood antiques type of business would IMO quickly label this as a recent reproduction - the mouth, eyes, eyebrows are way too crisp and clean and I got a crisp $20 says there are no wear marks on the inside,  nor back right behind the eyes on the edge where hands would have grabbed the mask to put it on, though the picture does not allow for close examination.

  The eye holes were cut with a spade bit. They show the cracks the bit makes when it grabs. The nose and mouth were not carved out 3 dimensionally. They look like they were done with a router or a crafter's wood chisel. I have a real Misingk hanging on my wall in my library. It looks nothing like this. Nor does any other Misingk in museums around the country. 

[CosmicOppossum]

Thanks Nanticoke Piney for clarifying Wayandaga's identitty as Native. Does anyone know what ever became of his wife Ulla?
    I agree the mask is a modern reproduction made with modern tools. It looks obvious.
Cosmic Oppossum

[NanticokePiney]

Thanks Nanticoke Piney for clarifying Wayandaga's identitty as Native. Does anyone know what ever became of his wife Ulla?
Cosmic Oppossum

  She still lives up there in the same place. Grandpop Buster is buried under a tree in her yard.

[NanticokePiney]

  Some long but not too boring reading on the Lenape Nation P.A. and Bob Ruth.

  http://woodlandindians.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4349&p=1

[wolfhawaii]

Checked out the site, saw the photos, I can see why you are P.O'd.  Some people never seem to get over craft week at camp.

[MatoSiWin]

NantiCoke, thanks for the link.  Wow... that was a lot to read, but it was fascinating.  I can't believe a University Museum was so stupid.  And they didn't even acknowledge it after it was exposed by so many people.  At least the Powwow permit was denied.  Did they ever say what the reason for the denial was... i didn't ssee that part.