Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Join BPL Presents as we welcome filmmaker Julia Sy, Brad Killscrow—chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians—Joe Baker and Hadrien Coumans of Lenape Center as they present Aholkwësichikv: Beloved Ones, a documentary short in conversation with Lenape elders.Last year, filmmaker Julia Sy sat down with Lenape elders Joe Baker, Chief Brad Killscrow, Mike Pace, Curtis Zuniga, Annette Ketchum and Paula Pechonick to discuss the erasure of Lenape history. The Lenape are the original people of New York City and their homeland, Lenapehoking, once sprawled across the tri-state area, covering lower New York State, including all of New York City, the entirety of New Jersey, the eastern third of Pennsylvania, and portions of Delaware and Connecticut.In this conversation with Lenape elders, filmed in Bartlesvile, the seat of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, the elders gather to recall the history of Lenape forced removals and broken treaties, and their ongoing resilience. Their saga covers many places where the U.S. government planned to settle them, as they were continuously moved westward as US government priorities arose. The film also addresses the current U.S. climate and how it threatens to further erase Lenape culture, history and heritage.
Join BPL Presents as we welcome filmmaker Julia Sy, Brad Killscrow—chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians—Joe Baker and Hadrien Coumans of Lenape Center as they present Aholkwësichikv: Beloved Ones, a documentary short in conversation with Lenape elders.Last year, filmmaker Julia Sy sat down with Lenape elders Joe Baker, Chief Brad Killscrow, Mike Pace, Curtis Zuniga, Annette Ketchum and Paula Pechonick to discuss the erasure of Lenape history. The Lenape are the original people of New York City and their homeland, Lenapehoking, once sprawled across the tri-state area, covering lower New York State, including all of New York City, the entirety of New Jersey, the eastern third of Pennsylvania, and portions of Delaware and Connecticut.In this conversation with Lenape elders, filmed in Bartlesvile, the seat of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, the elders gather to recall the history of Lenape forced removals and broken treaties, and their ongoing resilience. Their saga covers many places where the U.S. government planned to settle them, as they were continuously moved westward as US government priorities arose. The film also addresses the current U.S. climate and how it threatens to further erase Lenape culture, history and heritage.
![Poetry Month Event [2021] | BPL Presents](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R17S5DsQtj0/mqdefault.jpg "Poetry Month Event [2021] | BPL Presents
This program was originally streamed on 4/28/2021")
