Ground blessing sets the stage for the next chapter of notorious Iliff book
share
DENVER — A patch of unassuming, green grass that sits in front of the Iliff School of Theology will soon be home to a memorial recognizing the school’s history of displaying a book that was bound in the skin of a murdered Native American man.
A recent ground-blessing ceremony at the memorial site featured Lenape elders and other Native Americans who helped bring this dark story to light. A crowd of Iliff faculty, students and other community members witnessed this next step in the healing process.
“Today was truly an event that says we are fulfilling our promises, our promises made to everyone,” said Lee Butler, the president of Iliff School of Theology.
The Denver theological graduate school proudly displayed this book of Christian history with this skin-binding for 80 years. The skin came from a Lenape man in 1779, who was murdered after a white man believed he was trespassing on his property. Someone flayed and tanned the man’s skin to create this cover. A minister received the book. He toured the country with it. In September 1893, the minister gifted the book to the Iliff School of Theology.
Video: Amanda Horvath, Rocky Mountain PBS
The school put the book on display behind glass until student protests prompted the school to take it down in 1974. The school removed the cover and gave the human remains to the American Indian Movement. However, the school forced those involved to sign a non-disclosure agreement, keeping any knowledge of the book hidden for decades afterwards.
In 2013, the then-new school president, Tom Wolfe, started working with Professor Emeritus George “Tink” Tinker to research and discuss this issue. In 2022, a group of Lenape elders traveled to Iliff to meet with school leaders. After three days of meetings, the elders provided five recommendations for the school.
“This day, this event, this moment is one that gives me a great sense of strength and commitment to move forward with the agreements that were made several years ago,” said Curtis Zunigha, an enrolled member of the Delaware Nation in Oklahoma, a Lenape elder and historian.
The five recommendations for the school are:
- Commit to a permanent relationship with Lenape elders
- Create an endowed professorship with a job description written by Lenape elders
- Add required curriculum for all Iliff students to understand the Papal Bulls and the Doctrine of Discovery and Domination
- Create a memorial and/or traveling display featuring passages of the book read by Iliff students
- Create an interpretive center to educate Indians and non-Indians on the truths of American history in relationship to Indigenous nations
In the three years since the Lenape elders made these recommendations, the group has continued to meet and work out details to fulfill those requests. Iliff also changed presidents, a potential concern because Wolfe was a main leader of this movement.
“The process of this endeavor here has not always been smooth and without interruption,” said Zunigha. “But the transition went well, and, I think today this ceremony has really added renewed strength to the commitment.”
The new president, who started in July 2023, is Lee Butler. He didn’t come into this book situation blind. Butler said he has known Tinker since 1988, and on a trip to Denver in 2014 he met with Tinker, who told him of his research on the book. The mission for healing in this situation reflects Butler’s previous work.
“It's been one of my commitments for years to do the work that will bring together Native Americans, the Indigenous Indians and African Americans, as well as bring about healing in the larger society,” said Butler.
Butler spoke at the beginning and end of the ceremony to make clear that Iliff continues to support the relationship with Lenape elders and the work on the five recommendations.
The previous president, Wolfe, traveled from the East Coast to attend the ceremony. He thanked the many people involved in this project, including the Lenape elders.
“I’m truly not exaggerating when I say that we remember you every day. We have personally learned from you that the quilt that you presented to me at our last gathering hangs on the wall of our home, in our living room. Our guests often ask us about the story of the quilt…our response is to tell them the story of the book,” said Wolfe.
Wolfe also thanked Tinker and his wife Loring Abeyta. Tinker is now a retired emeritus professor at Iliff and a citizen of the Osage Nation (Wazhazhe).
When it was his turn to address the crowd, Tinker became emotional.
“This is a day I…” said Tinker, unable to finish the sentence. “I’ve lived with this man every day I taught at Iliff.”
Tinker went on to thank Abeyta, who is also an adjunct professor at Iliff. She is the one who was able to teach this history of the book in the classroom, while Tinker said he couldn’t do it.
“This is hard stuff. We’re dealing with the presence of this man here to this day. He was attached to that book by that cover — his skin,” said Tinker.
Following the speeches, Tinker, Lenape elders and other Indigenous leaders in this project took turns blessing the grounds or making prayers to the Earth. They burned tobacco, sage, cedar or other spiritual and healing plants in the center circle. Several people also sang sacred songs in honor of the Lenape man killed or to help prepare the ground.
“It was the spiritual commitment that is the most impacting on me,” said Zunigha. “Take it to heart and want to be part of change, growth and development of the spirit, not just the spirit that we have within ourselves, but the spirit of this Mother Earth, which we came here today to honor and bless.”
The circle included the newest person to this process, Bently Spang, the artist the school selected to design this memorial for the Lenape man and what was done to him. Spang is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe; his connection to Colorado goes back generations.
“It's really a project that's about revealing the truth,” said Spang. “The work that I do [is with] these larger truths especially for native people. What we've experienced is not always known — the hardships, the genocide, the atrocities and whatnot.”
Spang doesn’t have an idea yet of what the memorial will look like. By walking the grounds himself, participating in this ceremony and meeting the Lenape elders, Spang said this project has led to some really good conversations.
“That's one of the things I was really attracted to this project is the dialog. And it's really part of our healing process to be able to talk about what happened and come up with solutions,” said Spang.
He said he expects the memorial will be designed and constructed within the next couple years.
Watch the original documentary production from Rocky Mountain PBS here:
Watch the original documentary production from Rocky Mountain PBS here:
Video: Rocky Mountain PBS
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.