Customer Reviews

The Ramapo Mountain People

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This is an excellent source of information covering the Ramapo Mountain People, a community of people who for the better part of almost 250 years have lived in the Ramapo Mountains and surrounding areas of Rockland County NY and Bergen and Passaic County NJ. These people are surrounded in controversy concerning their ethnicity, which has been labeled African American, American Indian, Dutch, German Palatine, French Creole. This book explores the ancestry and genealogy of the early members of this group and takes the reader through very personal and often controversial issues surrounding a very proud, but very private segment of Society. The book contains photographs of the areas inhabited by the Mountain People as well as photographs of some of the people interviewed. It allows the reader to experience the conflicts facing this community, through real experiences as told to the writer. The reader gets a feel for what it is like to be a Ramapo Mountain person. Some of the Ramapo Mountain People do not approve of this book, its contents or conclusions. I recommend this book if you have any interest in the history of these people.

This is a short, scholarly investigation into the origins of a cluster of people who have lived on the New York/New Jersey border for more than two centuries. They are popularly known to outsiders as the Jackson Whites, but this term is now considered derogatory. Like the people themselves, the origin of the term 'Jackson Whites' is shrouded in mystery. Some very far-fetched and lurid tales have been spun on the subject. The most popular story claims that a man named Jackson assembled a corral of white and black prostitutes for the use of British soldiers in Manhattan during the Revolutionary War, and the Ramapo people are descended from them, as well as some black slaves, Hessian deserters, and perhaps a few Indians. Cohen couldn't find a shred of evidence supporting this story. He did however establish that the Ramapo people were descended (at least in part) from pioneering ex-slaves and free people of color who had lived in the Hackensack, NJ area in the 1700s. Some of their descendants migrated to the Ramapo Mountains to work in the mines and factories during the 1800s (presumably others gradually dispersed into African-American communities elsewhere).

As you might imagine, some Ramapo people were annoyed at this book. Cohen, an outsider, seemed completely to disregard their own beliefs about their origins. One tradition had it that they were descended from local Indians, perhaps the Tuscaroras. Recently some of the Ramapo people have tried to establish themselves as an Indian tribe (first calling themselves the Ramapough Indians, and more recently the Ramapough Leni-Lenape Nation).

The Ramapo Mountain People is an excellent history of the people residing in an area bordering the NY/NJ State line within the Ramapo Mountains. The interviews give an indepth perspective of how this group view and classify themselves, as well as how outside influences have changed their way of life over the years. Covered are the controversies surrounding the origin of these people, and how they have come to live in the Mountains for almost 250 years alongside the Dutch and local Indians. Often referred to as "Jackson Whites", the subject of racism between themselves and outsiders (black and white) as well as within their own community, is well covered. The writers have done extensive research into this subject, and have given the reader an excellent insight to a community that has, for the most part, been left to their own devices by the outside world. Genealogies for the most common families are provided, and thought provoking arguments as to the exact nationality of the Mountain People is discussed. A wonderful source of information for all aspects of the lives for those known as Ramapo Mountain People.

Though this book never states it clearly, the Ramapo Mountain People are actually the very first residents of New Jersey! I have studied native American history in the New York/New Jersey region for more than 30 years and I don't think there is a more convincing case that the people Cohen identifies as Mountain People are the native (Indian), Dutch and African American people who first settled the region in the 1600s. This is an important book about a very important group of people! Shame on Donald Trump for maligning these people as "hillbillies" -- no native American group has lasted as long in the metropolitan New York/New Jersey area, and may God bless them!

In this book, the author attempts to deny the native American Indian origins of the Ramapough Mountain Indian tribe. One can immediately get an impression of his views from the cover, which is an uncomplimentary portrait of a Ramapough Mountain man. (He likens their shamanic medicine lore to devil worship!) He has done a great disservice to the tribe, who, although officially recognized by the states of New York and New Jersey, still lack recognition by the federal government. A much better accounting of the history of these people would be "Indians in the Ramapos" by Edward J Lenik. He, unlike D.S. Cohen, relies on well documented archeological evidence as well as land deeds, and oral and written history. Cohen seems to get his information from old newspaper articles and despite claiming to live among the Ramapough Indians for some time ignores the overwhelming evidence that these people are descended mainly from Dutch settlers, free African Americans, escaped slaves, and the original inhabitants of the Hudson Valley, the Lenni Lenape Indians, part of the Delaware/Munsee(Minisink) culture. The book has some interesting pictures and stories so if you are really interested in the subject, you can learn something about the Ramapough people here, but beware the prejudice of the author, who, sadly, continues the white man's historic condescension and disrespect of the tribe. I would be sure to look elsewhere for the real story, which is much more fascinating, heroic, and poignant then what is presented here.

I have read this book and this proves racism is still alive and well in America. The author claims he has 'established proof' of whom the Ramapough are but also acknowledges that a gap exists in the genealogical record between about 1790-1830 that prevented his assembling with exactitude individual relationships between most of the Hackensack Valley settlers and those of the Ramapo Mountains. So where is his proof?
Cohen also selected which families to choose for his book. There are many family names that he forgot to mention that have descendents enrolled on other Native American Tribal rolls. This book is full of fallicies starting with "living among the Ramapough for a year". Visiting a few people with booze and smokes during a 2-3 week period is not considered 'living among' anyone. If this was written about any other group of people, they would have sued for slander. If you must read it, go to the library and get it.