Lenapehoking at Brooklyn Public Library

Lenape Center Executive Director and Co-Founder, Joe Baker, talks about the turkey feather cape on display at the Lenapehoking exhibit. Rebecca Haff Lowry (Delaware Tribe of Indians) responded to Lenape Center’s challenge by creating this contemporary Turkey Feather Cape. Worn by both men and women in Lenapehoking, it provides not only a dramatic flourish to traditional dress but provides warmth and protection from seasonal weather. Lowry who has spent much of her adult life immersed in the culture of her husband’s Yurok culture, collaborated with her mother-in-law, (name) to create this cape. Note the addition of the dentalium shell collar (shells used as adornment by Tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast to Alaska and Tribes of the Great Plains through trade) reflecting the cross influence of cultures that have always inspired traditional design.