The Land We’re On
Brooklyn Law School is located on Lenapehoking, the unceded ancestral homeland of people who were forcibly removed. We are committed to seeking ways to honor those people and help to repair this history. We are not satisfied with simply adding an acknowledgment sentence to our website or our building.
For the Law School, this means an ongoing commitment by our faculty, staff, and students to educate ourselves and others about the history of the Lenape People and other Native American Tribal Nations, as well as Native American law, through special programs, dedicated classes, and a wealth of resources collected in our Library. These efforts, which continue to evolve and grow, have been led by Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law Susan Herman, in collaboration with Associate Dean for Academic and Student Success and Associate Professor of Clinical Law Karen Porter; Professor of Legal Writing Joy Kanwar; Associate Librarian for International Law Jean Davis; Interim Arthur Pinto & Stephen Bohlen Associate Dean of Inclusion & Diversity Dominique Fowler, and many Brooklyn Law students who have worked with the Lenapehoking Working Group over several years.
Programs
The Law School has held a series of programs and workshops in collaboration with the Lenape Center to explore the culture and history of the original inhabitants of the land we're on, and to inform this educational initiative.
Read the stories of these initial programs here.
An additional program was held to discuss the book A Lenapehoking Anthology, published by the Lenape Center and the Brooklyn Public Library, which explores the personal journeys of people seeking welcome in their ancestral homeland, and discusses subjects like the myth of the purchase of Manhattan and the self-curation of Indigenous art and culture. (See the link to a related video below.)
In a 2023 program, “Brackeen and Beyond: A Fireside Chat,” curator and public historian Heather Bruegl, who is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, unpacked the Supreme Court’s Brackeen v. Haaland decision, which upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act.
Annual programs to honor Native American Heritage Month are ongoing.
Courses
Native American Law aims at a comprehensive understanding of Native American law, the history that has formed this law, and the impact on Tribal Nations and communities. It is taught by Tribal Law and Policy Specialist and Adjunct Professor of Law Precious Benally, who also worked with Law School librarians to develop a research guide (see Guides and Resources, below). Professor Benally is a citizen of the Diné Nation from Northern New Mexico.
Under the leadership of Professors Kanwar and Chris Beauchamp, the faculty has held discussions on how to ensure that Native American perspectives are appropriately included throughout our curriculum. A faculty toolkit created by faculty members and former student Zach Hirschfeld ’23 discusses cases that might be added to particular courses, and material that can provide a fuller context for cases or issues discussed.
As part of Professor Herman’s Constitutional Law course, for example, she provides a supplemental guide, “Native Americans and the Constitution,” which offers a brief introductory overview of the law and history of the relationship among the Indigenous people, the federal government, and the states, along with information on recent Supreme Court cases.
Former students, particularly Sarah Corsico ’24 and Nicole Reed ’24, led the outreach effort resulting in the addition of Professor Benally’s course to the curriculum and created and disseminated a questionnaire to gather information about student perspectives on the Law School’s efforts in this area.
Guides and Resources
Brooklyn Law School’s Native American Law research guide, originally developed to support the Native American Law course taught by Professor Benally, offers to the Brooklyn Law School community and the public at large a wealth of resources concerning casebooks; international law; the Lenape and Lenapehoking; scholarly legal articles; recent studies, reports, and data; federal law; tribal law; and more, for anyone seeking greater knowledge of Native American law.
Members of the Brooklyn Law School community also have access to HeinOnline’s searchable database: Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law.
Videos
Watch the short video “Return to Manahatta: The Return of the Lenape,” produced by the Lenape Center, which was shown at the Brooklyn Law School program.
A video of an event hosted by the New York Public Library, similar to that held by Brooklyn Law School, to discuss “A Lenapehoking Anthology” is available here.