Native American Heritage Month
November 7, 2022
This November - we're celebrating Native American Heritage Month.
The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.
The indigenous people who inhabited the land that became Philadelphia were the Lenape. Many of our streets and towns [and stations] are from the Unami language spoken by the Lenape.
For example, the name Manayunk comes from the Lenape Indian word for the Schuylkill River “manaiung” which literally translates to “place to drink” in English. Passyunk got its name from Lenape word meaning "a place below the hills." And Wissahickon comes from the Lenni Lenape word wisameckham, for "catfish creek", a reference to the fish that were once plentiful in the Wissahickon Creek.
So this month - take some time and read up about the history of Native Americans - not just in our area but beyond.
